Blog Of The Week: “Time Through Photo” by Maksim Zav’alov

For about four months, Maksim Zav’alov has been making images with a hand held Polaroid card and then uploading them onto his Instagram account with hastag #timethroughphoto. Today, the 19 year old photographer’s blog has more than 40,000 subscribers.

Zav’alov started doing mobile photography in October 2013 when he moved to Khabarovsk to attend school. The first image appeared one year. Later the tag name was created “#timethroughphoto.” This tag unites Instagram users who upload images with a similar shooting technique.

His move to a new city became the main inspiration for Zav’alov, “The first time it was tough – new people, new environment, everything is absolutely new and unusual. Step by step, I made new friends and the new city got more comfortable. On the fifth week I stopped confusing the bus routes.”

Zav’alov uses Instax mini 8 camera and spends about an hour to make a single picture. “Imagine that you only have one chance to make a photo,” says Zav’alov to Bird In Flight. “You need to consider all the details to get the image you will be happy with. It is difficult, because you can’t come home and Photoshop the Polariod card.”