Photographer Lapshin Vladimir Germanovich gave people his view of the world: landscapes of Ukraine and its collegiality, Donbass heaps and miner's fate. He has achieved international recognition. The sudden death of V. Lapshin overshadowed his admirers.
From biography
Lapshin Vladimir Germanovich was born in 1954 in the city of Kotelnich, Kirov Region. The family moved to Ukraine in Gorlovka. He began to get involved in photography at the age of 14, when his mother presented the Smena camera. This gift has become an indispensable friend for him. Despite the fact that he could use only one hand, Vladimir began to train. The first photo he took during sports in the eighth grade was published in the newspaper.
Creativity of the photographer
When V. Lapshin worked as the head of the photo studio, classes with children brought certain results. The works of his students were considered the best. After graduating from the faculty of photojournalism, he began to thoroughly engage in artistic photography. First he shot landscapes, then there was the theme "Ukraine Cathedral." The mining topic has long remained relevant. Then he was captured by heaps, which, together with the miners, made him an international photo artist.
Landscape sadness
In the landscape shots of V. Lapshin most often the sky is cloudy, but not dark. The time of year is summer, the beginning of autumn, less often winter. The rivers are shallow. Low town buildings on the shore of the water surface. Autumn alley, all strewn with yellow leaf fall. Evening sunset, and the grass on the horizon as if peering into it. Many pictures with landscapes around the heaps. A lonely little birch tree that grew among low heaps. In the distance, the heap is visible, and grass-feather grass grows nearby, not bending under the pressure of the wind.
Cathedral Ukraine
His photographs on the theme of "Cathedral Ukraine" remind of the main quality of Christians - the unity of all in love and faith, that the experience of such beauty is a holy feeling. Temples directed to the sky, their internal painting, the process of worship - all this was seen by the observant eye of V. Lapshin.
The fate of the miner in sight
The hard, often ungrateful and dangerous work of the miners is reflected in the photographs of V. Lapshin in their guises, in appearance, in their facial expressions. Dark faces in which the hope for a better life sometimes shines through
Here is one of the shots. The miner sits bending over and covers his face with his hands. Maybe this is his first working day, and he is tired. Or maybe he miraculously survived. After all, he is the support of the whole family. And it always has been. He is grateful to fate that he survived. V. Lapshin, creating the images of miners, wanted to reflect their specific post-working condition, their inner composure, responsibility of a family man.
Heaps - a symbol of native places
Beauty and this happens
Not a paradise
Like another planet
There is freedom and freedom
Such alluring interesting landscapes
True creation
Fantastic feast for the eyes
These are impressions of what catches the eye in the heaps of photographs. The photographer as if says: "There is beauty in everything, you just need to see it." V. Lapshin showed skill in creating terricone landscapes. As a true artist, V. Lapshin suddenly saw pristine beauty in these rough industrial wastes and tried to convey it to people. His waste heaps mystically fascinate and arouse strong emotions. To many this world seems wonderful. Otherwise, these images resemble a fantasy world, as attractive as on Mars, on the Moon, but empty, dead, where, perhaps, there will be no sprouts of life. Therefore, these landscapes can cause sadness. It becomes a pity for this volcanic desert.
Thus, the photographer, creating Martian landscapes on the site of abandoned mines, wanted to arouse feelings among the audience. And what they will be depends on each person.
About heaps
The word "terricon" consists of two French roots: terril - dump of the breed and conique - conical. Man creates them artificially when waste from various industries is poured. Inside the heaps, reactions can occur that lead to sunbathing and explosions. Environmentalists are concerned about the appearance of heaps and raise the problem of their landscaping. Adults living in these places protect children from such extreme sports, convincing them that it is possible to fail and burn out.
Happy theme
V. Lapshin was a rating wedding photographer. Taking pictures of young husband and wife, I wanted to catch their joyful-enthusiastic state, their inner strength for a long family life. An interesting picture shows a man’s palm on which two wedding rings lie. The palm is open and the man is open to the woman. He is ready to put on a wedding ring, he is ready to get engaged - that is, go hand in hand with a woman for many years.
