Zheka Khalétsky

Zheka Khalétsky is a fine art photographer based in Porto.
He was born on the opposite side of the continent, in Karelia, and grew up among its forests and lakes. He has since lived across Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Portugal — but none of the cities, and none of the climates, ever washed that northern landscape out of him. He seems content with the role: the one on nature's side, a stranger in town. Fascinated by crowds without drawing much from them, he leaves a place as soon as it gets too familiar.
Photography came late, and by way of loss. After twenty years in journalism, public relations, and advertising, he lost his faith in the Word — and art turned out to be the only confession left to him.
He works with nothing but his eye and a manual camera. The picture is finished when the shutter closes: the tone, the color, the framing all decided in that moment, not built afterward at a screen.
His images are his life stories.