DIMA IN HIS OWN WORDS

If I had to fit a small story into a period of life as tiny as this scrap of paper, I wouldn’t succeed — not even under the finest press in the world.

This November was both very dark and deeply joyful for me. There is no contradiction in that, not at all. I was broken by my own foolishness and the actions that led to a worsening of my diagnosis. My depressive episode returned, and ahead of me were two weeks of a harsh, strict diet. I was preparing for a bodybuilding competition in Spain, in Salou — a gentle, warm place even in November. Given everything mentioned above, the preparation did not go in the best or most proper way.

At the same time, I experienced many revelations about my path in life — what I need to do and where I should be going. This is important to me: to search for and understand myself, as well as the world around me. That is why, despite the inconvenience and the bad timing, I decided to take a small trip and escape routine and the loud, screaming city of Paris. It pressed somewhere deep inside. In it, you feel like a stranger, as if you don’t belong to yourself — though, in fairness, Paris is undeniably enchanting.

I remember dreaming of moving here, and now I am here… yet something had been happening inside me all this time. Tick-tock, tick-tock. A time bomb had been activated, and it reshaped the way I felt about where and how I exist.

This trip became a breath of fresh, warm, seaside air for me. A wind of freedom mixed with the awareness that I would have to return.

Perhaps it was felt in the studio that day, when we finished the shoot. The entire process flowed smoothly, naturally. My body did what my inner artist commanded. But without the professional and extraordinary eye of the photographer, these images would not exist in this reality. He truly knows how to value a moment, how to make it freeze in its best form. He knows how to put you at ease, to joke at the right moment, or to listen when the subject is serious — to support and to guide.

In short, a genuine and sincere professional — a master with a big heart, embodied as a big Caucasian Santa Claus.

In this Story:

1-21. In this Story: Dima wears printed tank top and briefs KVRT STVFF, white briefs PRISMA, black and grey briefs BUDDY, and black briefs ERIC & FRIENDS

DIGITAL COVER