{"id":42407,"date":"2025-09-26T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muse.international\/?p=42407"},"modified":"2025-09-17T03:57:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T03:57:43","slug":"interview-alexandra-surkova-european-photography-awards-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/interview-alexandra-surkova-european-photography-awards-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Encounters of the Week with Alexandra Surkova"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Trained in journalism and diplomacy, Alexandra Surkova never expected to trade suits for camouflage, but a chance gift sparked her transformation into a wildlife photographer. Today, she pursues the challenge of capturing not just images but the raw presence of the animals she encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Alexandra Surkova Q1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you so much! Honestly, I never thought I\u2019d end up as a wildlife photographer. I studied journalism and diplomacy\u2014so technically I was supposed to wear suits, not camouflage. But life had other plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What inspired me? A very unexpected gift. A stranger who followed me on Instagram liked the street photos I was taking with my very first camera, and instead of sending a postcard, he sent me a Sony 200\u2013600mm lens. That was the turning point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My first wildlife shots were terrible\u2014I\u2019m pretty sure even the squirrels looked embarrassed for me. But little by little, I got hooked. What started as \u201clet\u2019s see if I can take a nice picture\u201d turned into \u201clet\u2019s survive +50\u00baC just in case a lynx might show up or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, the journey has been full of missed shots, unforgettable encounters, and many moments\u2014especially at 4 a.m. when the alarm goes off\u2014when I thought: \u201cWhy am I doing this to myself?\u201d But then, the animal appears, you press the shutter, and you remember exactly why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So yes, it started as curiosity, became an obsession, and now it\u2019s a lifestyle (one that includes permanently muddy shoes and way too many hard drives).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It was early May, and spring had finally reached even the most remote parts of the Finnish taiga. Nature was bursting back to life when suddenly, snow began to fall. Soft flakes started to dance between the trees, and as if the scene wasn\u2019t magical enough, a wolf appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was playful, chasing ravens through the forest like a pup rediscovering joy. Then, in one surreal moment, he spotted a raven perched high on a branch and leapt toward it\u2014as if he too could fly. The raven didn\u2019t even flinch, but I nearly forgot to breathe as I pressed the shutter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winning with this image feels deeply meaningful to me. It\u2019s not just about the photo\u2014it\u2019s about being there, witnessing that fleeting, impossible moment. For me, it\u2019s a reminder of why I chose this path: photography is not only about capturing beauty, but about being present when nature decides to gift you its stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/angeljsanchez\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"broken_link external\"><i class=\"icon-instagram\" style=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.angeljsanchez.com\/angeljsanchez\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"external\"><i class=\"icon-globe-line\" style=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/?p=27215\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trained in journalism and diplomacy, Alexandra Surkova never expected to trade suits for camouflage, but a chance gift sparked her transformation into a wildlife photographer. Today,<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":42348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[372,553,463],"tags":[548,483],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Interview with Alexandra Surkova | European Photography Awards Winner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trained in journalism and diplomacy, Alexandra Surkova never expected to trade suits for camouflage, but a chance gift sparked her...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/interview-alexandra-surkova-european-photography-awards-winner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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