I'm Yuriy, a Sarasota Family Photographer - and I'm the One Who Shows Up

I have worked professionally in photography and video since 2015.

My creative life started before photography. I spent about ten years working with music as a DJ, producer, and event organizer. Later I moved into weddings, photography, and filmmaking.

Today I photograph much more than families. I also work with architecture, real estate, and yachts, so I am constantly dealing with changing light, difficult spaces, reflections, weather, and locations that never behave exactly the same way twice.

But family photography is different.

That part of photography I learned somewhere else.

I am a father of three.

That does not mean every child instantly loves having a camera pointed at them. It means I do not expect them to.

If a two-year-old decides the photo session is over, repeatedly asking for a smile usually makes things worse.

So I change the plan.

I might let the child play with the sand or go toward the water while I photograph what happens around them. Sometimes I start photographing Mom and Dad instead. It is surprising how often a child who wanted nothing to do with pictures suddenly becomes very interested when nobody is asking them to participate.

There is no single trick that works with every child.

I watch what is happening and adjust.

I adjust the image rather than applying one filter to the entire gallery and exporting everything the same way. I work on color and light, clean distracting backgrounds, and remove strangers when they interfere with a good photograph.

That matters on a busy Sarasota beach. There can be hundreds of people around us while we are shooting and very few of them need to remain in your final family photograph.

I also want skin to look like real skin.

My goal is a polished photograph without making a person look artificial.

The same principle applies to everything else I edit - clean what distracts, keep what belongs.

I regularly work with families on Siesta Key, Lido Key, Longboat Key, and Anna Maria Island.

Photographing the same coastline again and again teaches you things that are difficult to learn from a location guide.

You learn how quickly the beach changes as the sun moves. Which areas become crowded. How very light sand works with clothing. When a resort location gives us better shade than the beach. When it makes sense to stay where the family is vacationing instead of sending everyone across town.

And when a beach is crowded, I know that it is not necessarily a problem. I can work around people while we photograph and remove distracting strangers from finished images when necessary.

I would rather solve those things for a family than make them solve them before they arrive.

All four beaches, compared