VOLHA SHUKAILA
Volha Shukaila is a Belarusian photojournalist and photo editor based in Warsaw, Poland. She was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1988. She started her career as a photojournalist at the end of 2012.
Volha graduated from the Minsk State Technological College with a degree in photography and from the Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts with a degree in culturology.
Volha had experience in studio, wedding and commercial photography before starting her career in photojournalism. She was greatly influenced by a course in photojournalism taught by Andrei Polikanov, Yuri Kozyrev, Tatiana Plotnikova and Stanley Greene.
Volha started her career in 2014 as a photo editor and part-time photojournalist at TUT.BY Media - the largest independent online media in Belarus. Her favourite topics were working with agency archives, creating thematic photo collections, editing reportages and photo stories. From 2019 to 2020 she taught photo editing at the Belarusian State University (Faculty of Advanced Studies and Retraining). From 2017 to June 2021, Volha worked at TUT.BY as a staff photojournalist. On 18 May 2021, her media was blocked and destroyed by the authorities, and 15 of her colleagues were arrested, including the CEO, editor-in-chief, journalists and others. Volha was forced to leave the country for safety reasons.
Her professional interests include human rights, social issues, women's empowerment and the environment.
Open to working in Poland and the EU.
E-mail: o.shukailo@gmail.com
Telegram: volhashu
Facebook: volha.shukaila
Instagram: volha.shukaila.pro
EDUCATION
2016 – Workshop «Understanding the truth of Conflict Photography. Personal/moral decisions & physical/logistical knowledge on the subject». Christopher Morris, TIME magazine. Minsk, Belarus.
2016 – On-line course «Photo composition». Artem Chernov, Photopolygon.com project
2014 – Workshop «Personal project: photo, multimedia, promotion». Pep Bonet, NOOR. Vilnius, Lithuania.
2014 – Workshop «Create your multimedia project». Andrei Lenkevich. Minsk, Belarus.
2013 – Workshop «Contemporary photography and personal projects». Stanley Greene, NOOR. Vilnius, Lithuania.
2013 – Photo school at Belarus Press Photo Competition «Working on personal projects». Andrei Polikanov, Yuri Kozyrev,Tatiana Plotnikova. Minsk, Belarus.
2011 – Workshop «The way to success. Photo stories. Work with news agencies» - free listener. Sergey Maximishin. Minsk, Belarus.
2010 – 2015 - Balarusian State University of Culture and Arts. Minsk, Belarus.
2005 – 2009 - Minsk State Technological College. Minsk, Belarus.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Freelance photojournalist – from June 2021.
Photojournalist – Belarusian portal TUT.BY from 2014 to 2021.
Photo editor – Belarusian portal TUT.BY from 2014 to 2017.
Assistant of wedding and commercial photographers - from 2010 to 2013.
Photographer, editor, teacher, manager - Photocompany Znyata from 2009 to 2012.
Works published in TUT.BY, IMENA, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, SLEEK magazine and others.
OTHER
Coordinator and participant of the photo exhibitions “SPRAVAZDACHA. Best pictures of TUT.BY photo department” from 2015 until 2019.
Backstage photographer for “HER STORY” documentary project. Macedonia, 2018.
Languages: Belarusian, Russian, English, Polish.
Hobby: solo traveling, rock climbing.