Interview with top photographer, journalist and editor-in-chief of the magazine - Lil Safonova
— How did you come up with the idea of creating a magazine?
— Oh, that’s an interesting story! I would have never assumed in my life that I would do something like that, because I have not even studied design etc. Yes, as a child I worked as a journalist + TV correspondent, an author of scripts and a presenter in one person on local TV, where I was invited after one fateful video, but this is how my journalistic career seems to have ended! I wanted to become a serious journalist, I have always known how to write and speak, but my parents did not believe that from such a far away province (as where I grew up) it was possible to enter the Faculty of Journalism in Moscow without connections and big money, they believed that there was no chance at all and therefore my dream was shattered at the age of 16 and I followed a scientific direction (at the same Moscow State University, where I wanted to enter the journalism faculty). I must say that I didn’t take after my father in a sense. I’m more of the black sheep of the family. I am the only creative person in my family. Then for many years I did not bring up the idea of journalism at all, but in 2020, in the wake of the pandemic, I was left for some time completely without work and without hope. Half of the projects that ensured me income went bankrupt or laid me off, because they could not pay me, there was no filming, many studios were closing down. And at that time I had already been published for 2 years in a huge number of different magazines, as a photographer, hoping to become more famous (in order to attract more customers) and occasionally as an author of articles, and I thought it was interesting, besides, I could see many mistakes in some other magazines. Some magazines excited me, while others needed to be improved, corrected in my opinion, I was just itching to do that. And I also wanted to break away from Russian earnings, since it seemed unpredictable and I decided to start earning remotely in dollars (even a small income in dollars is significant for Russians, taking into account the exchange rate). So the situation was quite a commonplace, I tried to survive again and looked for ways to do it. It was the easiest thing for me to create a magazine, because I didn’t have to rent a room or travel somewhere, pay someone a salary. All I needed was a computer and my head and my ideas, and I implemented it all inside one small room.
I learned the design and layout myself from scratch using free video tutorials on YouTube from the famous design bloggers and publishers. It took 2-3 months.
— What influenced and inspired you while creating the magazine?
— PASSION, FASHION and OBSESSION
+ Style icons, haute couture, supermodels such as Gia Carangi, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, rock stars and specifically the season of American Horror Story — The hotel — which became just an aesthetic orgasm thanks to Lady Gaga’s participation, design and acting, personal mood, gothic, the Agatha Christie group, perfectionism, the desire to broadcast my ideas to the world and help others, help talents become recognizable. Beauty will save the world — that was the foundation.
— What can you delegate to your assistants, and what do you do only on your own?
— All the layout and design is done by me and only me! But maybe someday I will find a designer, however, I will control everything he will be doing, so that it is still stylish and not bland. All Interviews are created by me. Assistants are engaged in translations into English (more precisely, I translate myself, and they check for errors and figures of speech), assistants edit photos for publications, if necessary. All voice and video interviews in English are done by my colleagues, as I am still not good at English yet, but I prepare the questions in advance and pass them on (however, they can improvise a little, too). My colleagues are fully engaged in filling the web site, creating and editing video clips, but I keep track of everything that happens and say what to upload and what to write in due place, it’s all under my control, which also really eats up a lot of time. Personally I am also engaged in social networks and promotion, casting photos and people within the issue, and sometimes I personally shoot video reviews at events, but it is not me who contacts celebrities from different countries, negotiates an agreement, I just get a consent or a refusal, and after that if they say yes, we start our cooperation.
— How do you choose who will be on the cover? What makes you decide on what celebrities are to appear on the pages of the magazine?
— There are actually many criteria! For example, sometimes there is just a theme of the issue, and I consider which of all those who sent applications, have revealed this topic most coolly, then I can choose it on the cover or on the back cover. But if there are celebrities, as we are not a magazine with a well-known name like “ VOGUE,”in this case, of course, celebrities are a priority, however, we do not take everyone in sight. I judge by how like-minded this person is, if he is to my liking, whose art is really impressive and it doesn’t matter at all whether this creative project is 1 year old or 30 years old! Of course, I am especially empathetic to childhood idols, but they will not necessarily be on the cover! The magazine has its own style, I choose stylish, charismatic people for the cover or relevant for today. I can easily refuse a blogger with 3 million subscribers to be on the cover if he does not seem to be an interesting person to me, but I am very likely to take an artist with 1000 subscribers, but really talented and the one who melts hearts. I definitely watch movies, videos of a person, listen to music, try to understand and feel him, and only then make a decision.
— By what criteria do you select people who are interesting for the magazine?
— Basically, I have answered this in the previous question. But in general, let’s say, the issue should have at least 1 celebrity from the world of music or cinema, 1 designer or artist, 1-2 models — are the minimum set, the rest is pure casting. I receive about 100 applications per month, including unknown photographers and artists, and I choose the truly most talented, usually 7-12 people, I reject the rest, but they can try again and again, because their work is also different. Well, everything should be within the main themes of the magazine — fashion, style, art, music, cinema. That is, we don’t write about weddings, healthy food or family life, no matter how good the photos are, we are unlikely to accept them (with the exception of the advertising block).
— How can a photographer get into your magazine?
— Send your photographs to the casting (at least 2-3), the photos must be unpublished in other magazines, or better anywhere (exclusive), we better accept such photos. Check out our style and quality of photos that suit us, you can see them in our social networks and on the website, try to fit into the style of the magazine, then the chances are great! There are guaranteed paid publications, but even they pass the casting (the requirements are a little milder, but they still exist, and we can also reject such publications)!
— Do you have a dream to cover some topic that you so far just can’t get close to?
-It’s hardly a dream, I kind of write about everything I want! Well, I would like to talk about politics in Russia and the world, but, probably, while I am living in Russia, it will cost me too much, so I will refrain for now, expressing this only indirectly through creativity and hints! In general, I would dream of doing interviews with Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Mila Jovovich, doing photoshoots with them. As for men, it is not so important to me with whom. Well, except that Johnny Depp is especially impressive) Johnny Depp is my special affection, I see a lot of similarities with him in myself, he is very versatile and in every role he is at ease — whether he is an aristocrat or a vampire or a dirty pirate, he is not a hostage of one style or image, so I’m delighted.
It’s not a woman’s admiration for a man, it’s more, I kind of see myself in him (or him in myself ahahaha).
I’m just like that, this is not a game! I don’t belong to any style, I can be a pirate with a bottle of rum, I can be a fairy princess or a crazy hatter, I think this is not a movie, but my real essence, so, of course, Johnny Depp is the first idol. Note that he is harmonious in every role. I would also like to just talk, get acquainted with such legends as Steve Tyler, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Nikki Sixx, they are very cool, I would just like to shake hands with them and feel their energy, there are fewer and fewer such people!
— What is the most successful material of all issues from your point of view?
— Over the last year I have learned about hundreds of interesting destinies of very famous and ,on contrary, completely unknown people, and all this has been equally insanely interesting, I am proud of many reports and interviews, so it’s hard for me to accentuate. However, if we speak biasedly and based on my personal preferences, I got huge delight from working with Rebekah Graf, it seems that I could not even do the layout normally with excitement! She talked about two of the coolest movies (one of which I’m just a fan, this is from Netflix’s Dirt) and provided the most exclusive behind-the-scenes photos with the Motley Crue band and backstage photos with superstars! It was a great and very informative interview.
— When will Måneskin be on the cover?
— Aaah! I get aroused even from this phrase ahahahahahah. Actually, I think it is quite possible, but now I am in no rush. I have Raimondo Rossi — the owner of the Style Resercher magazine from Italy and the author of the book Vogue, and in general he said that he would do everything hahahaha, (it is much easier for him, since he has much more connections and opportunities than me + he is Italian ). So, he promised me Damiano))) I believe and pray
— Why do you being Russian publish the magazine in America and on EU platforms?
-Because magazines live only there))). The Russian publishing industry is on the verge of extinction, look at the print quality and the size of the magazines and ask yourself a question — how often do you buy them? Who usually buys them? Unfortunately, in Russia, this business is unprofitable, you can only sell content online and then in a blog format — which means free of charge, but with the prospect of growth and earnings from advertising. And I love printed gloss, I love touching magazines with my hands, flipping through, I love good quality publications, I love printed books, not electronic ones! Therefore, of course, I was looking for a place where there would be demand and love similar to mine for it. And the platforms are also “live”, alas, all Western and Western readers are more active, as shown by social networks.
This has nothing to do with love for the West or Russia, it is just a logical approach to business. + we have very many western celebs, and the world famous artists, as a rule, are not Russians (except for some supermodels)
— Why is the magazine in English? Is it aimed at a Western audience?
— I have answered essentially in the previous question. English is the international language, the most widely spoken in the world. I want the whole world to read us, not single countries, therefore, writing in English is just more logical, it’s like singing in English and you will be understood everywhere. I don’t exclude the Russian version, they often ask, I don’t mind, but I don’t produce a double layout myself yet, I need more resources, people and money. There will be, of course, a completely Russian version, too, if all goes well.
— Why did you name it Moscow tonight?
-I love Moscow very much, or rather no, Moscow loves me very much! It proved it from the first days! It opened hundreds of doors for me, taught me so many things. There are a lot of negative talks about Moscow, but it has always been very kind and generous to me, this is really my hometown now. Here I have made incredible friends, here unfamiliar people have helped me unselfishly and have always been kind, here they have given me the best education, here I have given birth to my children, and Moscow has also hosted all members of my family, and they are all quite successful in their careers. How can I not love her? In Russia, I cannot go far from Moscow, except for the suburbs. I love the streets of Moscow, namely the old Moscow ones, many squares. There were so many memories, emotions, tears, love and happiness here, I love every shabby fence and my old Soviet entrance. I love Arbat to the shivers! Something like that.
Well, this is just a commercially viable name, since the word Moscow is known to the whole world.
— Is there a development plan or do you plan as you progress?
— There is a plan, yes, but it is very illusory, let’s say, it depends on fortune a lot, I cannot jump over my head. I do everything I can for development and advancement, the rest is decided there from above (or from below hahahaha), I don’t know where, but definitely somewhere they decide. And everything depends on them, and I gradually pick up speed.
— Your expectations about the magazine from the beginning — did they come true or not, what surprised, disappointed? Expectations / Reality?
-This is the very case when reality surpasses all expectations! Initially, I just wanted to create a small magazine that would slowly develop and would just be, let’s say, my additional business and another financial cushion at this difficult time, I didn’t even think about any celebs or ratings! It never occurred to me that this was possible and that someone would be interested in this in the next couple of years. However, this began to happen almost immediately, literally in the first issue in November, several very interesting people from the field of art submitted an application to me, they brought a couple of celebrities (and world famous ones),
and already in the third month from the birth of the magazine there was a Hollywood actress on the cover. And then everything is like a snowball.
I never looked for anyone, did not send mailings on social networks to attract someone, did not offer publications to the stars myself (except for only 3 ones for the whole year, but these are sooooo big celebrities and I did not succeed, since, apparently, none of them reads personal messages on IG, messages remained unread).The rest of the time I just accepted ready-made applications, dozens and even hundreds of applications, the stars and their representatives wrote to me themselves, brought friends and so on! What disappointed me? There is no such. But there were initially plans to cooperate with some familiar media people, and I thought they would help me a little at the start, however, they did not seem to be particularly interested and did not show much attention to my calls, but as one friend of mine said, when some doors close, others open! And I always add: sometimes doors are closed, but the whole GATES are opened. So here, instead of the people I was hoping for, others came! Out of nowhere! These are talented musicians and producers from Israel, France and Germany, a couple of people from the USA, and all these people have completely disinterestedly helped me and still help me, bringing me and introducing me to more and more celebrities around the world. I do not name their names because I don’t think they would like it yet, but everything has its time. What surprised me? Oh, the big help of Russia! Strange as it may sound! I didn’t expect Russia to support me this way. Usually our people are not very responsive in such cases (I judge from my own experience), and also our show biz, well what can I say, is the most pretentious and arrogant in the world))) hahahaha. It’s easier to approach Madonna than to our Prima Donna. But completely unexpectedly, and even in a difficult period for me personally psychologically, it was the Russian guys from the media and TV who began to pull me out, invite me to events, accredit me to major events as the media, Russian photographers filled up submissions with excellent photographs and even paid ( quite a lot for Russians) for shipping magazines from the United States. And it continues to this day. Moreover, the Russian rock-metal community of the very top and pop also responded to me! The coverage turned out to be almost 100 percent, PR agents, producers, artists in all media directions of Russia appeared in cooperation! And they are so kind to me, and they write to me every day, and they help, and they bring people, I absolutely do not waste time searching or promoting. This is really a breakdown of the stereotype in my head! I didn’t expect to be received so warmly, i melted …
— What could you wish yourself for your magazine?
-Aahahahahah, not to close down!
I would like it to increase its financial income so that I do not change my mind about doing it (after all, money is an important motivator), since I still invest more strength and energy than I get back
But I understand that this is ok for the first couple of years of work. And … i want a large office somewhere in New York or Paris))) so that it is more like a gallery — an exhibition with a small office part, there will be works of art, books and, of course, magazines!
He will be extremely stylish and a little vampire)))). And we’ll have meetings and balls hahahahaha!
Thanks everyone for the great questions!
Los Angeles, October 2021
All photos by Victoria Viva
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