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Alex的攝影作品鮮少出現人物，略帶灰色調的畫面，更有寂靜的空靈感。

在許多往返的信件中觀察到Alex他其實不同於他的作品那樣的「冷」，反而是個充滿生活熱情的大男生，我想也是因為他擁有對於環境特別的熱情，能夠捕捉到平時難以看到的城市另一面，迅速將我們抽離屬於城市紛擾的那一面。

Alex,你好啊！可否請你跟MyDesy的讀者自我介紹一下。

大家好，我是Alex Gaidouk。我是住在紐約布魯克林區的俄國攝影師。

請問我們可以在哪裡看見你的作品咧？

我的網站 www.minwave.com 或者是Fllickr www.flickr.com/photos/soviet)

請問你從何時開始你的攝影生涯？

我從2004年住在路易司安那州的時候開始培養起攝影的興趣，大概就是在那時後我開始探索郊區的環境，也因為這樣我開始背著我的相機去記錄這些郊區的影像。

很快地，我開始對拍攝這些廢棄的建築物沒有興趣了，反而開始對其他形式的景象產生好奇。千萬不要誤會我認為郊區這些廢棄的房子不有趣，其實它們仍然很有意思，只是當時這些房子並沒有那麼多有趣的主題可以探討。

攝影本來是我在大學的時候非常喜愛的興趣，當2008年我從學校畢業之後到了紐約，那時候我真的不知道我要做什麼。我壓根都沒想過要從事攝影，主要的原因是因為我沒有自信。很幸運地，當時有個人鼓勵我並且告訴我應該要開始我的第一步，這也成就了今天的我。我非常感謝她，因為如果不是她的話，我今天可能完全不一樣。

你有受過傳統的設計教育嗎？還是你的設計技巧都來自於自學呢？而你的第一份工作是什麼呢？

我就讀於紐澳良的Liberal Arts School。我在那裡開始我的攝影生涯，我想那時候我想要成為一個攝影師。我在那裡從來沒有上過任何一堂攝影課，因為當時的課表實在是沒有一個適當的時間可以讓我去選修，另外就是我不希望整天都待在學校等著下一堂課的到來。

我的第一張工作上的照片是當我剛搬到紐約的時候拍攝的，我當時在一間攝影實驗室工作一段非常短的時間。我的工作是掃描負片，然後把他印出來。

除了攝影之外，可以跟我們分享你所喜歡的「玩意兒」

我想是一隻秋田犬吧！這張照片是我去年十一月去Rockaway Beach拍攝的。我很喜歡這張照片的感覺，一隻狗站在霧裡面的感覺。當我拍完照之後，那隻狗開始向我跑來然後跑到我身邊來舔我的手，一直到我把手收回來牠才停止。牠真的好可愛，我希望有一天能夠有一隻像這樣的狗。

你曾經有過靈感枯竭的時候嗎？當你遇到靈感枯竭時你會怎麼辦呢？

當然，我想難免都會遇到這樣的情況。我已經找到對付這種情形最好的方法，那就是試著不要去想它，把你的注意力轉移到其他事情上一陣子，然後你的創意過一陣子就會回來了。

最糟糕的就是你一直強迫你自己去思考，如果你這麼做的話，那肯定你是做不出什麼好東西的。我想這個方法可以用再生命中的很多地方，很多時候最好就是試著放手讓他自己運轉。

什麼是你攝影作品的關鍵元素呢？

說真的，到現在我還不知道我的創作核心是什麼。我想我還在進化的過程中吧。之前我會說我的核心創作概念是「簡單」。

我不喜歡把畫面裡充斥著一些複雜的構件，最近，我發現我自己的觀點正在改變中。我不知道這樣是更好或更糟，但是我會去思考如果現在的我再拍跟之前一樣的照片的話會變成怎麼樣。我發現我最近的照片裡面有越來越多的人物出現，之前我都不自覺的避開人。

什麼樣的東西能夠刺激你的創意想法呢？

天氣。

我一直都很喜歡拍攝天氣。但是從我開始在戶外拍攝之後，我就對於天空和光線非常挑剔。我通常喜歡在朦朧的天氣下拍攝，所以從我的窗戶向外面拍攝灰色的天空對我來說是非常棒的。我最喜歡拍攝的就是霧，不過很可惜的是在紐約很難拍攝得到霧。電影也很吸引我。我很喜歡80年代電影的模糊感，那對我來說是很棒的啓發。

是什麼原因會讓你想要拿起相機拍張照呢？是什麼原因促使你想成為一名攝影師呢？

這說起來有很多原因，形狀、材質、光線等。這些都是讓我變成攝影師的眾多因素，基本上感覺對我來說是最重要的原因。例如，如果我在一個晴天的午後看到一個忙碌的超市停車場，我一定會停下來拍它。如果說是什麼原因，我猜會是想要讓它變得簡單，這就是我的熱情。

說真的，如果我走進一個頹圮空曠的停車場，而身上沒有帶相機，會讓我覺得崩潰的不是那裡的環境而是無法讓我盡情攝影的感覺，這應該是我身體裡面潛在讓我變成攝影師的主要原因。

可以跟我們介紹一下你所始用的攝影器材是什麼嗎？或者是你還使用什麼樣的工具來發揮你的創作呢？

現在，我用Nikon D700拍攝。我也有Mamiya 7，不過因為很多原因讓我不太使用它，例如說處理底片的成本，希望這以後不會再是個問題。軟體的話，我則是使用Adobe Lightroom 和 Photoshop處理我的日常工作。

請問關於未來你有什麼樣的計畫？而最近有在進行什麼有趣、讓你感到非常興奮的事？

我正準備要好好地工作存一筆錢，等錢存夠了，我想要去歐洲和亞洲好好的旅遊，當然，我一定會好好地拍攝一番。我也希望能夠在旅行的途中愛上一座城市或者一個地方，也許可能就搬到那邊去，在一個農場當個樵夫，然後利用其他時間拍照。

這對我來說是一個非常理想的生活，至少目前的我是這樣覺得。在動身出發去旅遊之前，我一定會先把我的設備升級，我希望能夠擁有Sinar 4x5 還有一些鏡頭給我的D700。 現在，我正慢慢地在拍攝紐澳良的一些地方，我已經在這裡3個禮拜了，我還有很多照片要拍。


你最欣賞哪一種人？為什麼？

我很欣賞那些對他們現在的工作充滿熱情的人，即使他們還沒賺到錢。

在什麼樣的情形嚇你會覺得攝影像是玩樂，而什麼時候對你來說是工作，你是如何在這兩者中取得平衡？

我想攝影對我來說是個充滿樂趣和嚴肅的工作。當我拍攝的時候，我喜歡四處走走到處看看來觀察環境，然後用我的相機拍攝下來，這部份對我來說相當有趣。但是，我看待後製的程序相當嚴肅。這並不是說我在後製的部份投入程度相當高，而是我覺得我沒辦法看著電腦螢幕好幾個小時之後，還覺得它有趣。這也是為什麼我在最後總是會分心的原因了。

你可以跟我們介紹一下你的工作環境嗎？

感謝Alex接受我們的訪問，在此想請Alex給與一些剛入門或者想要入門的設計人朋友一些建議吧

我想我需要一些給我自己的建議。我會說堅持下去，而且不要停止做你所喜愛的事情。如果你對你的工作有足夠的熱情的話，你最後一定會受到關注的，我絕對相信。

Hello Alex, Please introduce yourself to MyDesy readers.

Hello. My name is Alex Gaidouk. I'm a Russian-born photographer living in Brooklyn, New York.

Where Can we find you (Twitter/Site/Blog/….)

My website is www.minwave.com However, I usually post new work on flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/soviet) before it gets sorted and placed on my website.

How did you get started in the field? How long have you been photographer?

I picked up photography as a hobby in 2004, while living in Louisiana. It was around that time that I also got into urban exploration, so I began to document my adventures with my camera and it grew from there. Soon I became less interested in shooting abandoned buildings and drawn more to other types of scenes. Don't get me wrong, abandoned buildings are still very fun to explore, but they don't make for very interesting subject matter a lot of the time. Photography was my beloved hobby while I was in college. After graduating in late 2008, I came to New York, and at the time I didn't really know what I wanted to do with myself. I never even thought about pursuing photography, though, because I didn't have very much confidence in myself. Luckily, there was a person who believed in me and gave me the encouragement I needed to take the right steps which led me to where I am now. I'm very thankful for that. I would probably be doing something completely different now if not for her.

Did you attend a traditional design school or study by yourself? What was your first photo related job?

I attended a liberal arts school in New Orleans. I studied film there, I think at the time I wanted to become a cinematographer. I didn't take a single photography class while there because they were all at odd hours and didn't really fit in with my schedule, and I didn't want to hang around campus for hours, waiting. My first photo related job was when I moved to New York; I worked at a photo lab/retouching house for a very short time. My job was to scan negatives on a drum scanner and make prints with both inkjet and lightjet printers.

Out of all your work what is your favorite piece and why?

Right now I would say it's this one, It's an akita inu I encountered on my visit to Rockaway Beach last November. I really like the mood of it... A lone dog in the fog. Right after I took that shot, he started running toward me, and when he reached me, he licked my hand until I pulled it away. He was so sweet. I want a dog like him one day.

Do you ever get stuck with creativity block? What would you do to get out of it?

Sure, I think it happens to everyone at some point. I've found that the best solution is to just try and not think about it. Put your focus toward other things for a while, and your creativity will come back on its own. The worst thing you can do is to try and force it. Doing that is a surefire way to produce inferior work. I think that principle can be applied to many other problems in life. A lot of times it's best to just take the hands-off approach.

What is the main concept and key element in your work?

To be honest, I'm not very sure what that is today. I think I'm in the process of an evolutionary change. Before, my answer would have been "simplicity". I don't like to clutter the frame with useless things, however, lately, I feel like my vision's been changing. Whether it's for better or worse, I don't know, but I sometimes wonder if I would have taken the same photos today that I shot years ago. I still think my compositions are generally pretty minimal, but I've found myself to be including people more and more in my photos, something I subconsciously avoided before.

What stimulate your creative idea?

The weather. I almost always feel like shooting, but I'm very picky about the sky and light since I almost always shoot outside. I generally like to shoot on hazy/overcast days, so looking out of my window and seeing  a flat grey sky is definitely stimulating. My absolute favorite condition to shoot in is fog, however. It's a pity that foggy days/nights are so rare in NYC. Movies also stimulate me. I'm very much into obscure cinema of the 80s and a lot of the imagery from that is inspirational to me.

What makes you to want to take a photograph? What drives you to be a photographer?

It can be a number of things; shapes, textures, light; these are all things that draw me in for various reasons. The overall mood is also a big factor. For instance, if I see a busy supermarket parking lot on a sunny afternoon, I will walk right by and not give it a second look, however, if I see that same parking lot completely empty on a grey Sunday morning, I will definitely stop and shoot it. As for what drives me... I guess to put it simply, it's just a passion I have. To tell the truth, I'd be pretty devastated if I walked by that empty parking lot and didn't have my camera with me, so maybe what drives me is not wanting to feel that devastation.

What photographic equipment and any applications do you use to create your works ?

Right now I shoot with a Nikon D700. I also have a Mamiya 7 which I sadly don't use due to various circumstances, like the cost of processing film. Hopefully that won't be a problem for much longer, though. As for software, I use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop in my daily workflow.

What are your plans for the future? Any creative work coming up, or that you're currently working on, that you're excited about?

I plan on working and saving money for a while. Once I get enough saved up, I would like to travel around Europe and Asia, of course I'd be shooting a lot then! I also hope to fall in love with a city or area on my travels, and maybe move there for a while, work on a farm or as a lumberjack or something simple like that, and go shoot in my free time. That would be the ideal life for me, at least right now. I'd also like to get some better photo equipment before setting off for my travels. Ideally, I'd like to get a Sinar 4x5 system and a couple of better lenses for my D700.     
Right now I'm just slowly working on photos from my recent visit to New Orleans, Louisiana. I was there for 3 weeks, so naturally I have a lot of photos to go through.

How do you come up with a balance between commercial products and more personal projects?

I actually haven't done any commercial work. I've been strictly working on personal projects. That's not to say I wouldn't be interested if someone approached me with an interesting idea, it just hasn't happened yet.

Who do you admire most? Why?

I admire anyone who has a real passion for their work, even if they don't make a lot of money with it.

To what extent does photography feel like play, and when does it feel like work? What do you do to keep things fun? 

I think photography is equally fun and serious for me. When I shoot, I like to just walk around and look at things, make observations, and capture them with my camera--that part of the process is very fun for me. However, I take a serious approach in regards to the post processing. That's not to say it's a really involved process that I put a lot of thought into, I just don't think you can have fun looking at a computer screen for hours (which is why I always end up getting distracted.)

Thanks for the interview Alex! Is there any advice that you'd like to give aspiring photographer and designers who are working hard to grow professionally?

I feel like I need some kind of advice myself! Well, I would say just keep at it and never stop doing what you love. If you are passionate enough and your work reflects that, you'll get noticed eventually. I firmly believe that.