Maria Shumanovich

I’m a Photographer and Visual Artist.
My work is not just about capturing a moment — it’s about finding that delicate line between documentary and imagination, between what’s real and what’s slightly dreamt.

I studied photography, analog techniques, and film direction as part of my MFA (Master of Fine Arts) program, a background that shaped my approach to visual storytelling across both still and moving images.

I create images where emotion matters more than pose. I’m not interested in polished perfection. I’m drawn to fleeting moments — moments in between — quiet, poetic, a little raw.

I shoot both digital and film. Film is my heartbeat. I love it for its imperfections — for the grain, the softness, the blur, and colors you can’t recreate digitally.
Film photography is about atmosphere, texture, and nostalgia.

My photography is a visual narrative. I don’t chase variety for the sake of variety. Each image is part of a larger story. The goal is never “pretty.” The goal is honest, deep, strange, alive.

With every project, I evolve. I used to be afraid of that instability — of how each shoot can felt different, how each new body of work seemed stronger than the last.

But now I see: this is what it means to be an artist.
Growth isn’t a weakness — it’s a form of freedom.
I don’t want to stay the same. I want to stay real.

That’s where freedom lives.
That’s where art begins.