My name is Jewgenia Rücker and I am 29 years old. I was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan on the border with China. At the age of 8 we moved to Germany, where I got my first DSLR when I was about 19. I have always loved taking photos on holiday, colour combinations have excited me especially in the Mediterranean. In 2019, I started my own photography business alongside university and a part-time job. Last year I moved to Vienna and now I work in marketing for a start-up and as a self-employed photographer.
With photography, I want to show how I see the world through my eyes and capture the slightly fleeting moments. Especially the small moments or things that are inconspicuous at first are important to me. I was particularly drawn to nature and outdoor photography, as this involves a lot of travelling and getting out of your comfort zone when you have to get up early for sunrise. Through this, I have already met many great people and am in a small photography collective with which we want to bring the world around us closer to our community.
For me as an all-rounder and scanner personality, it was and is a challenge to find my own style. I like so many different editing styles and colour combinations. Maybe I have it, but I do not see it as clearly as others do.
I love playing with light and especially backlighting. The light creates a very special mood, particularly shortly after sunrise and in the evening hours. But what I have learned over the last few years is that contrary to many opinions or older tips you can also take beautiful photos in the midday sun if you just know how to use the light.
When I am on the road, I sometimes set myself the challenge to take only one, max. 2 lenses with me. That way you have to adapt yourself and not the lenses, you have to move around more and look for newer angles. Sometimes I regret not taking all the lenses with me, but that way you stay actively creative and get to know the surroundings differently.
I love my 70-300 mm f4-5.6 L from Canon. With my 7D Mark II I have a longer focal length because of the crop factor. This gives me more possibilities in wildlife photography. However, a lens with 500 mm or 600 mm would be a dream.
The Canon 50 mm f1.8 fixed lens is also part of my basic equipment. I did not understand the use of it for a long time until I took portraits for friends. The sharpness and the bokeh are just great!
I do the post-processing with Lightroom, if I want to remove larger things or need finer work, I also use Photoshop. But this is less often the case.
I made it into a few categories, e.g. #Travel2020, #Animals2020, #Rural2020 and #Kiss2020. And every time it is a small honour to be among the best photos and it is nice to have your work appreciated. As a result, I have had opportunities for my photos to be published in various online magazines, such as Forbes online magazine, Dailymail.uk, Boredpanda, Insider Business and many others.
What I particularly appreciate about Agora is the support of the Agora team and the chance to get into well-known magazines.
One nomination in particular stands out in my memory, as my picture was published worldwide, from the USA to Europe, Indonesia and Australia. It was a photo I took in Italy in a national park in the early hours of the morning. It was a cool April morning and the sun’s rays were fighting their way through the pine trees, which formed beautiful avenues. There was hardly anyone out yet, just a few walkers with their dogs and riders using the park and surrounding areas for distance training. It was the perfect moment, if one can speak of perfect moments, when the stranger appeared in the distance of the avenue.
I think the minimalism and the contrast stand out in the picture. You can also see the relation between the person and the huge pine trees. I also particularly like sunbeams fighting their way through trees and clearings. I can imagine that it was exactly these components that the community liked.
As well as the top 50 nominations at Agora, I had made it into the top 100 at the EyeEm Awards 2019 with over 1 million entries, and the top 10 in The Great Outdoors category with over 170,000 entries. The award took place in Berlin as part of the Berlin Photo Week, where all the top 100 were presented and the winners were awarded.
As I mentioned, I currently only work as a photographer on the side. But the medium-term goal is to work as a full-time photographer, to travel and experience a lot, to do small exhibitions, work with conservation organisations and act as ambassadors, thus bring people a little closer to nature. Because we only want to protect what we know and love. That is why this mission is so important to me.
With the way I work, I want to show that you do not have to focus on a very specific style or adapt your photos just to make everything look homogeneous. Because every moment, every experience, every shooting has its own special mood, which I also want to reflect in the pictures. Because when I look at a picture, I do not just want to have a visual reminder, I also want to put myself back emotionally into the situation and the surroundings.
That is why the picture does not have to be technically perfect, for example. I find a certain blurriness even on the model at sunset by the sea so beautiful.
What helps me a lot is to look at 2-3 role models, how they work with light, with colours, with angles and composition. Photograph their motifs to simply understand their workflow. YouTube videos are also a wonderful help, as are certain presets to understand how your roles work and how to adjust colours. Set yourself challenges and, for example, small projects week by week or month by month, be brave and try out a lot. Learn to understand how your camera works. And it’s not about understanding the complete technique, but how you can create certain moods with your camera. Because in photography, practice is the key.
If you want to see more of my work and my world, follow me on
Agora @hi.jewi,
Instagram @hi.jewi
facebook @hi.jewi.
There I also share stories behind my work and show you a part of my personality. On my website www.hijewi.com, I talk about my travels in German and give tips on where to find beautiful places without traveling so far.