Marina Kotidze — Cyprus: +357 9445 2145

«He does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural”

William Shakespeare

My name is Marina. Despite what my name suggests, I was born in Moscow, Russia — about as far from the sea as you can get. When I started photographing nearly 15 years ago, I never imagined I’d one day be living in Cyprus.

And yet, here I am. In Cyprus for almost three years now, and I’ve never been more deeply involved in photography than I am here. Commercial and creative shoots, street photography, contests and exhibitions — they’ve become the central part of my life. Last year, I won the Grand Prix in the photo marathon organized by Φωτογραφική Εταιρία Κύπρου, and my project for the exhibition at Παλιά Ηλεκτρική was sold on opening night.

I still shoot with the same camera I used 15 years ago (Sony A-900). Technically, not much has changed — but the context has changed, and so have I. Today, I no longer introduce myself as “a photographer from Russia.” I introduce myself as a photographer from Cyprus. And to me, that’s both a privilege and a responsibility.

My photographic style is close to documentary, even though I mostly work with psychological portraits (when I’m not photographing the city or nature). For me, a portrait is a story and a character — revealed without embellishment, with genuine interest and empathy for the subject. More than half the time I don’t edit my images at all, and the photographs are presented exactly as they were captured — straight from the camera, without any post-processing.

That’s how I see. That’s how I shoot. And that’s what I want to show.