Yola Monakhov - new author on The F Blog

My name is Yola Monakhov. I am a photographer working in both color and black-and-white film, mostly in large format, but in medium format, as well. I consider myself a traditional photographer, in that I follow the code of photographic investigation, never knowing beforehand how something should be pictured, but discovering meaning through the process of photography.






I was born in Russia and grew up in New York, where I immigrated as a child with my family. I completed my MFA in 2007 at Columbia University in New York, where, in 1998, I also received an MA in Italian Literature. In the intervening years, I worked as an editorial photographer primarily overseas and in crisis areas, and increasingly started devoting time to the pursuit of my own work. I am a contributing photographer to The New Yorker magazine and teach photography at Columbia University and at Mercer County Community College.


My latest project, of which I am including five images, is still very open. Since I have been teaching Photo 1, I have become deeply enamored with black and white film and its possibilities. I am photographing in uptown Manhattan, around where I live, and downtown, in the financial district, where I currently have a studio residency through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. For this work, I am focusing on architecture as landscape, and on portraiture, in the studio and in the streets.

Photos and text © Yola Monakhov

The F Blog sends good vibrations to you Yola. We are happy to have you here and we can´t wait to see more of your work!