- r7dii
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About Dmitry Rogozhkin
Photographer, known online as r7dii — a path from drawing to fine art photography.
Biography
From Malmyzh to the camera
Dmitry Rogozhkin was born and raised in the small town of Malmyzh. He has no formal artistic education, but he always liked to draw — and that habit later helped him gain entry to the University of Architecture.
In 2011 he bought a Canon PowerShot 20x, which at the time cost $250. For him that was a lot of money. He photographed with that camera for a year, then set it aside for a year and worked through that period to earn enough for a Canon 7D while he was in his first year of university.
Somewhere within the following year, photography became a more convenient form of self-expression for him than drawing or painting. The artist, as he puts it, is a state of soul.
Milestones
Key steps along the way
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2011
Purchased a Canon PowerShot 20x for $250 and photographed with it for a year.
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First year of university
Set the compact camera aside, earned money through that year, and bought a Canon 7D.
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After the Canon 7D
Photography became his primary way of self-expression, ahead of drawing and painting.
In his own words
Artist is a state of soul
Somewhere along the way, photography became for me a more convenient way of self-expression than drawing or painting. That shift did not happen in a studio or a classroom; it happened gradually, in a small town, with a modest camera and a habit of noticing things. The page you are reading now traces that route — from a childhood spent sketching whatever caught my eye, through an architectural education that opened one door while another closed, to a practice built on patience, learning and a lot of trial and error.
I was born and raised in Malmyzh, a small town whose quiet streets and surrounding landscapes still shape how I look at light and form. I had no formal artistic training, yet drawing was always something I returned to — it taught me to slow down, to observe, and to compose a frame in my mind before raising a camera. That habit of looking, rather than any technical shortcut, turned out to be the foundation everything else was built on.
Architecture was the unexpected doorway in. The habit of drawing helped me gain entry to the University of Architecture, and studying buildings gave me a structural sense of space, proportion and rhythm that later surfaced in my photographs. When I bought a Canon PowerShot 20x, the money for it represented a real sacrifice, and I photographed with that camera for a year before setting it aside for a while to earn enough for a better one.
Over the years, the work carried itself forward. Shooting became a way to earn, to teach and to share, and social networks helped my images travel further than any local exhibition could reach. Workshops, tutorials and a growing portfolio followed, each one a place where the artist in me could keep learning in public. What began as a convenient alternative to a brush has turned into a working artistic life built on attention, persistence and craft.
Today the practice feels like a conversation between the person I was and the person I keep becoming. The gallery, the shop and the tutorials all grew out of that same curiosity, and I continue to treat every frame as a chance to notice something others pass by. If you are curious about the process, the shop and the contact pages are open, and the works themselves speak best when given a little room to breathe.
Somewhere in a year photography became for me a more convenient way of self-expression than drawing or painting.
Where to go next
Keep exploring
Workshops
Master classes and seminars held in cities across Russia, the CIS and abroad.
Interviews
Conversations about creative process, approach and the road to professional photography.