This picture was taken during a honeymoon in the Maldives. It was the first time in many years that we allowed ourselves a few days off work. I rented a movie about a desert island where it’s always summer and I wanted to capture that with this shot. When I look at this image I think of our honeymoon and how we just spent our days doing yoga, eating local food and lying on the sand with a cocktail in hand.
Udaipur is a fantastic city in India. We stayed at the Taj Lake Palace, because we had heard so much about it. It is a colonial palace that is set in the middle of a lake and accessible only by boat. When we arrived I remember rose petals falling from the roof. Is that not a fairy tale? We didn’t really plan this shot, we just went out on to one of the terraces and we knew that we had to take a picture right there. Nataly’s outfit was also in harmony with the Udaipur landscape. I couldn’t get enough of this place.
To reach the Wadi Rum desert is really difficult, but not to have shot there when we were in Jordan would have been a crime. We spent the night in a Bedouin camp, then took a balloon ride at dawn to capture the perfect shot. We climbed into a large wicker basket and slowly began to rise above the ground. The balloon rose so high that our Jeep looked like a small dot below us. This shot captures the beauty of the world. It is full of freedom and love – not only the love we have for each other, but the whole world!
Gardens by the Bay was the first place we visited and it's one of the amazing things to do in Singapore. We immediately fell in love with this place that’s filled with thousands of plants, glass domes, lush gardens and waterfalls. For me it was a perfect day. The sun was in the sky and I was with my beautiful Nataly. We walked around the city, people watching, eating ice cream, and we were completely oblivious to the time.
From since she was a child, Nataly longed to get married in a fairy tale castle. So we decided to tie the knot at Zhavoronki Hall in Moscow. We knew that the shot on our wedding day would be one of the most anticipated frames in our collection. It was incredibly emotional. We were surrounded by flamingos, unicorns and clouds. I knew that Nataly was sporting a big smile. I could feel it, even when she had her back to me (laughs).
