Blog Of The Week: Backstage With Darian Volkova

24 year old Darian Volkova works at Saint Petersburg Ballet Theatre. She shoots everything, whatever is around her, and uploads the photos to her Instagram. She has more than 3,000 photos and more than 36,000 subscribers.

Darian started her ballet career when she was seven, and became interested in photography five years ago. “My boyfriend gave me a Canon camera that shoots film as a gift. Very quickly I learned how important timing is in creating shots,” she said to Bird In Flight. Now, Darian uses film as well as digital cameras to take images for her Soul In Feet blog, and shoots with her phone for Instagram. She also studies the history of ballet photography, gives lectures and runs workshops on how to shoot ballet.

Volkova’s photos depict her ballet troupe, prima-ballerinas, and herself. “I used to only make photos of people I have asked to participate in the project,” says Darian. “But now a lot of the dancers want to be involved. It means that professionals love what I’m doing. That’s the best praise.”

With the hashtag #InsideBalletStory, the ballet dancer also publishes small stories about the theater’s European tour, relationships inside the troupe, and professional diets. Also Darian is preparing information for a blog about backstage life of dancers where she will, for example, reveal what ballerinas carry in their bags.