BF: «BPh*: Why do you refute “digital” photography, and even any “digital” interference into work of art creation?»
Samat: «Samat: This is my philosophy, and, say, the law of my Creative journey. I am a landscape artist in photography. Yet, my principles reflect the idea that each of my works should remind people that any Nature creation is unique, and each Moment of its existence is inimitable and valuable in essence. A digital file is a sequence of 0's and 1's. Once created, the file may be reiterated. While Nature and its creations cannot recur. Each of my reproduced works is inimitable. An ordinary eye, very likely, could not find differences between pictures but they do exist!».
BF: «What is creativity in photography for you?»
Samat: «Perhaps the main feeling that guides me in creating a work is the feeling of color, color form, texture. My task is to convey to the viewer as accurately as possible the music of color created by Nature and heard by me in the most distant and beautiful secluded places of our earth».
BF: «Isn't your work, then, a simple copy of reality that you avoid talking about digital technologies?»
Samat: «Not at all. My works are not copies, but rather, my “trophies”, which I often won in the fight against the elements, the inaccessibility of shooting locations, and to be completely honest, these are, perhaps, Revelations that opened before me precisely then and at those moments when Hope and strength almost left me ».
BF: «You are often compared to the American photographer and even called the "Russian" Christopher Burkett. Are you really similar? »
Samat: «I learned from Burkett about optical printing techniques and how to work with Cibachrome materials, which are unique today. But vision and photography - never. I'm self-taught».
BF: «Why did you choose such a rare, and most importantly, expensive printing method?»
Samat: «Indeed, there are still a couple of authors working in the technique of sibachrome in the world. The color symphonies of Nature can be played on ordinary instruments, but I prefer the Stradivarius ». BF: «Can you name those photographers who influenced your formation as an artist in photography? »
Samat: «There are no such names among photographers. There are painters. One of them is Zurab Tsereteli». BF: «Don't you think that pictures of nature, as they say, will not come to the sophisticated and spoiled Moscow public?»
Samat: «I am doing an exhibition of an almost complete collection of my photographs, not because I count on audience success, although I would be glad for such attention, but because the time has come. Nature itself today stops humanity from insane «vertical racing. I feel my responsibility to act as a Guide to the world of Divine Beauty for at least some people and give the tired city dweller the opportunity to enjoy the true beauty of Nature, without digital intermediaries and surrogates». *BF - BIG PHOTO-REMIERA