LEO MALEVANCHIK

Biography

Leo Malevanchik Bio

Originally from Moscow, Russia Leo Malevanchik has been living in San Diego since the early 2000s. It is become a cliché to write that your love for photography began with your first camera and sleepless nights at your bathroom converted into a make shift darkroom. But that was exactly how it began. 

The first pictures he took hypnotized him. These were black and white images of his friends doing their things. They were probably very bad. It did not matter. Later that year he met these guys from the rock group. He became a part of Moscow underground rock scene and spent next 2 years on the road photographing young Moscow and St. Petersburg musicians, hippies, and all kinds of characters. Speaking about a dream job. He enrolled himself in the class of famous Russian photographer and art historian Alexander Lapin and later graduated from New York Institute of Photography. 

In the last decade Leo created an impressive portfolio. He is a member of American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). He won the Grand Prix in the American Photographic Artists (APA) National Competition in 2006. Leo’s photographs were exhibited at the Art of Photography Show in San Diego. His art is featured in a number of private collections and published in a book “In the Room with Strangers” He cannot live without taking photographs. It gives him an opportunity to meet people, to explore their hopes, dreams, and insecurities. He regularly covers events, life music performances, and fashion shows around the world.