A Man with a Dream

Works calling into the infinite open...
Masterpieces, filled with the vital energy of Mother Nature, reflecting the deep essence of her untouched corners...

The above comment is what critics and artists say about the works of Sergey Melnikoff. It seems that Nature itself favors this master of photographic art and lavishes on him extraordinary opportunities to create photographs that are unique in their splendor, power and conviction. These days, people talk about a legendary traveler and photographer, and how the lens of his camera mysteriously captures that special moment that offers the essence of our planet’s beauty.

The artist’s entire life was spent on never-ending roads of India, Tibet, Pamir, Hindu Kush; on the pilgrimage over the inner sacrum areas of Ladakh, Bhutan, Mustang, Sikkim, Kashmir; and on the passage to the enigmatic world of yoga in the Himalayan monasteries. All this exceptional experience brought the magic and the mystique into the work of the Maestro.

When he creates, an unidentifiable wave of nature’s splendor seems to flow out of his photographs. It appears that the Earth empowers this artist with all her supremacy in their common mission to preserve an eloquent and graphic treasure of the planet for future generations. Perhaps, the Earth gracefully grants wishes of this earthling since he is initiated to one of her higher graces?

Unique artworks created by Sergey Melnikoff, have found their honored places among the collections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, former President of the United States George W. Bush, the King of Nepal, the Sultan of Brunei, His Holiness the Patriarch of All Georgia Ilya II, and many other celebrities.

That being said, the accomplished artist claims that he is not a classical photographer. He asserts that, even though in his creative work, more often than not, he resorts to unique equipments, and employs special assistance and aircraft to take a single photograph. He, nevertheless, relies primarily on two things – a basic knowledge of photography (which he actually never studied) and the trust in his own convictions and intuitive sense.

– I wait for that exact moment when Nature completes her magic and finally gives birth to what I want to show in a photograph, – says the artist.

Having received three college degrees, the artist made a decision to leave this worldly life behind and, with a camera in his hands, disappeared on the dusty roads of Asia in search for the meaning of life.

He became known as an “eternal traveler.” Drawn to the beauty of Nature’s monuments, he chases the sun across the globe. He also became a source of a persistent rumor saying that this highland photographer has a gift to disperse a solid blanket of clouds in the sky, and make the sun and the cloud cooperate to color white snow with the hues he wants. Rumor has it, that he is even capable of ceasing the pouring rain at that very moment when his massive camera is on its tripod, and he is ready to capture the timeless beauty of the surroundings.

These stories are passed around by many well-known climbers, who happened to come across a man carrying his eighteen-pound (ten-kilogram) camera to impossible heights of various snow-steeped peaks of the world. Similar tales about this crusader are also narrated by the journalists who were fortunate to partake in his extraordinary expeditions.

Quite a few prominent names in the history of photography became a part of its legacy. All the known creators of today were once pioneers and became founders of entire schools of photographic art. It is easy to become famous, even notorious, when traveling on an unexplored path. Sergey Melnikoff chose the toughest way. He decided to find his talent in landscape photography – the supreme test for a photographer – where the competition is more than abundant, where one famous name piles upon another, and where, it seems, there is no place left for a novice.

But our Maestro succeeded. His artwork, though still in a whisper, yet more and more often, is put into an unparalleled category of its own. MELNIKOFF art is increasingly being formed into a separate school of photography.

The metaphysics of Sergey Melnikoff’s photographs is truly something elusive and incomprehensible. It is not just something that rests entirely upon his personalized Fuji equipment, or upon the mastery of natural light arrangement, or the heliofilters and photo materials, and other inventive paraphernalia prefixed by the word “photo.” Instead, Sergey Melnikoff’s artwork is something irrational, with a strong aftertaste of secrecy and mystery – precisely the two concepts that comprise the uniqueness of his creative work. He is a photographer who can feel at once the lure of beauty and the call of truth. The best words to describe his artistic touch are “pure delight,” which is a feeling anyone can experience while in the presence of his photographs.

Art MELNIKOFF – is an incomparable «music» of photography!


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