First on the list will be Krasnodar-born (Southern Russia) Valeriia Milenina, whose journey in art started when she studied in an art school for children in her hometown. There, she got acquainted with the great artists of the past, such as Rembrandt. The photographer was fascinated with the use of light and shadows in his paintings. So later in her art career, she made an ohmage self-portrait series, in which Milenina managed to master Rembrandt's technique, but in her case, the medium was photography. The sfumato she transfers to her imagery adds some mystery to it. It is also peculiar how the artist manages to use the caravaggescque approach, where it is impossible to spot the source of light.
Of course, classical painters are not the only source of inspiration for Milenina. Some of her works use the aesthetics of Russian avant-garde photomontages similar to El Lizitsky.
This way the photographer continues the tradition of early art practices, when photography as an art medium was a novelty.

It is obvious that Milenina’s practice cannot be named “a new word in art.” Her ideas are based on using the world's cultural heritage and rearranging it according to her needs. All in all, it demonstrates the artist's ability to understand the nature of creative quotation and adaptation of visual languages of the past to the present situation.

Vadym Yatsun is a Ukrainian photographer based in London. He Has created a quite recognizable style in his images. A fan of futuristic aesthetics, the photographer playfully combines a jazzy color pallet with costume designs similar to those in the early Soviet film Aelita (1924). One can also trace some glimpses of imagery in modern video games. This makes his photographs look still but remain dynamic at the same time.
Low-key backgrounds make Yatsun's images show out-of-this-world beings. Furthermore, even though the photographer produces all of his series in a studio, he does his best to make his models look like they are living their lives and nobody is watching them through a lens.

Anastasiia Bekhtereva tries to transfer minimalist aesthetics into photography. She is a rare example of a photographer who prefers not to work with landscapes and live models.
Since the very first moment Bekhtereva took a camera in her hands, she understood that so-called objecthood is her true passion. Her photographs contain images of minimalistic objects that are similar to Richard Serra and Soll LeVitt's art. By doing this, Bekhtereva works with Roland Barth's concept of the death of the author, which remains one of the most critical markers on how to spot contemporary art. Another important moment for this photographer is that by creating such imagery, she tries to structure the world that surrounds her.

Of course, Bekhtereva’s work's close connection with aesthetic neutrality makes her objects look like props for interior design. Such comments are understandable—the artist is working on the borderline of digital art and photography, making it hard for some viewers to understand the real purpose of her work. Possibly, if the artist includes some elements that will enrich her practice, it will make her works more recognizable in the field.

Artem Skripnikov is a Slavic photographer based in Uzbekistan. Like De Kiriko, Skripnikov is interested in the metaphysical nature of things. His isolated landscapes and snapshot-like images are pure manifestations of this. All his photographs demonstrate a man-made world, but the humans themselves are absent. This way, the photographer creates an open form, where the photographer allows the viewer to auto-curate the visual narrative of his images and the story that may lie behind them. It allows Skripnikov to create an intimate atmosphere between the creator and his recipient.

The atmosphere Skripnikov creates in his oeuvre assumes that there is always a person missing in the picture. By doing that, the photographer produces a number of portraits that never were. Such a move is popular among artists who make installations. However, Skripnikov adopts this visual element and enriches the hidden narrative of his works.

Daniil Iova is a Ukrainian photographer whose love for landscapes is evident in every photograph he makes. Since early childhood, Iova has adored paintings by Isaac Levitan and Ivan Aivazovsky. He was shocked at how majestically the artists of the past could work with a brush and paints as if they had a professional photo camera in their hands.
While forming as a photo artist, Iova searched for his approach but could never overcome his love for landscapes. It is peculiar that sometimes people can be found in his images. However, they cannot be called models in a traditional way. The photographer just needs they to be a part of the composition.