Russian born Nikita Zolotarev (aka Nikitzo) is both a make-up artist and commercial photographer who works and lives in Leipzig, Germany. With food, fashion and tabletop work and his credit, it is his stunning ballet and contortionist photos that I find the most compelling.
Zolotarev is best known for the calendars he has shot of world-renowned contortionist Julia Gunthel, who goes by the stage name Zlata. I'm not sure if the two are merely business partners or a couple, but both Nikita and Julia were born in Russia, both now live in Leipzig, he has taken almost all her photos for the past several years, travels with her (she has a son) and together they own and run Zlata Media.
The Telegraph covered her 2012 calendar, The Daily Mail featured her 2013 calendar and HuffPo recently covered her new 2014 Calendar, but I wanted to share with you the best from those as well as some of his lesser known photography.
above: photographer and make-up artist Nikita Zolotarev in his studio
I have chosen some of my favorites from the breadth of his work to share with you so you, too, can marvel at both the flexibility of his models, and the beauty of his work.
And although not featuring contorted models, here are some of his other fashion photography:
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Nikita is also a make-up artist. Below he is applying the makeup on Julia Gunthel for the cover of her 2014 Zlata Calendar:
The final cover of the 2014 Zlata Calendar by Nikitzo:
You can purchase the 2014 calendar here
all images courtesy of Nikitzo