I live the ideals of the universal artist of the Renaissance, infinitely curious and inventive. I combine film, photography, design and writing. I am fortunate to use equally well my left and my right brain. I am good at both factual, data-driven thinking, as well as at emotional, intuitive idea generation. I feel comfortable with change, ambiguity and the unknown. I draw on my perseverance to achieve expert results in any activity and prefer high risk / high reward opportunities. That said, I prefer calculated risk to gambling. I favor independent work but also enjoy collaboration in small teams of brilliant professionals. I value professionalism, non-conformism and commitment to quality. I learn every day and work on constant self-betterment. I prefer frankness, honesty, trust and the win-win approach. I result from a mix of Russian, French, Swiss and American cultures. I speak and write informal, business, technical, legal and lyrical English, French and Russian. I have amassed a lot of thoughts and experiences and I relish the opportunities to share what I know.
I wrote, found financing, co-produced, invented unique cinema gear, developed unorthodox filming techniques, directed, shot, recorded on-location and ADR sound, edited and post-produced 2 features and several shorts in a span of 3 years without any prior training or experience in filmmaking.
I specialize in realistic, thought-provoking, emotional and artistic vision that breaks free from mass-entertainment trends and canons, with emphasis on color, minimalism, aesthetics, experimental editing and music.
Technically, I operate the A-camera, whether on steadicam, hand-held rig, dolly, Technocrane or Russian Arm. And while I prefer a minimalist approach, I know when to add an HMI or hide several RGB+W LED fresnels on-set for a 360° setup.
I designed and sewed various unique carrying solutions (pouches, bags, backpacks) for cinema, bike and computer gear using ultra-light, ultra-strong, high-tech materials.
I designed and built new cinema rig elements such as handles, padding, monitor hoods, using both hand-tools and CNC machinery.
JOURNALIST AND WRITER / ANATOLYIVANOV.COM / PARIS, FRANCE / 2001 - 2024
I have published articles in various print and web magazines on the themes of photography and outdoor sports: Photographer.Ru / Russia (premier photography web-portal), Trail Attitude / France (first printed magazine dedicated to trail running in France), BackpackingLight.com / USA (world leading web-magazine about lightweight backpacking).
I self-publish essays, technical articles and interviews on the subjects of art theory, film, photography, 2D and 3D art, literature, music, design, ego and society, sport, technology, business and logistics.
SENIOR WEB DESIGNER / RAZORFISH WEB AGENCY / PARIS, FRANCE / 2001
I designed new websites for Biogaran (French pharmaceutical company specialized in generic drugs), Dane-Elec (second largest computer memory manufacturer in the world).
I maintained and created additional web pages for L’Oréal (leading world cosmetics company), Danone (leading world foods company), Marie Claire Maison Magazine (leading home decoration magazine in France).
I developed a banner-based web marketing campaign for Leclerc (largest supermarkets chain in France).
I actively participated in direct mail campaigns, advertising campaigns, sales meetings.
I carried out operational procedures.
I contributed to database marketing and management.
ASSISTANT TO DIRECTORS OF SIPA ICONO AND SIPA IMAGE (INTERNSHIP) / SIPA PRESS PHOTO AGENCY / PARIS, FRANCE / 1998
I initiated and carried out marketing research and then created a new database of potential clients for SIPA ICONO department.
I phone-marketed the Corbis Collections (distributed in those days by the SIPA IMAGE department) to advertising agencies in Paris.
ASSISTANT TO DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE PHOTOGRAPHY (INTERNSHIP) / MAGNUM PHOTOS AGENCY / PARIS, FRANCE / 1998
I grew and updated prospective clients’ database by merging existing data, buying and sourcing new data.
I participated in corporate clients prospecting.
I created photographers’ portfolios.
I helped with stock photography sales to corporate clients.
I participated in advertising shoots for clients like France Telecom.
ASSISTANT TO MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BERLITZ PARIS (INTERNSHIP) / BERLITZ LANGUAGE SCHOOL / PARIS, FRANCE / 1997
I managed clients database of Berlitz Paris.
I carried out a direct mail marketing campaign “Cours spécial vacances”.
VISA OFFICER / TOURTRANS VOYAGE TOURIST AGENCY / MOSCOW, RUSSIA / 1996 - 1997
I was responsible for French visa delivery to tourist groups (over 60 tourists per day).
I managed extremely tight deadlines, difficult negotiations with the French Embassy in Moscow officials, and permanent financial danger in case the visas were not delivered (agencies bought transportation tickets before visa delivery, without possibility of exchange or reimbursement).
LANGUAGES
Perfectly trilingual Russian - English - French. Professional speaking and writing in all three. Basics of German.
LEADERSHIP & TEAM MANAGEMENT
I’ve been leading multicultural teams of up to 150 people (within the Dunbar number) in 3 languages across the globe (except Antarctica).
25 years of teaching & mentoring others a wide spectrum of skills and systems: branding, financing, negotiation, sales, logistics, stress management, languages & vocalization (voice acting), drawing, cinematography, sound engineering, photography, programming, fabrication & construction, running, climbing, yachting, strength training, yoga (hatha, pranayama, mantra, Vedic philosophy), history, macroeconomics, physics…
My main management principles since 1999 have remained: to lead by my own example, to give others maximum creative freedom within a well-defined vision corridor, to invest in people’s idiosyncrasies (results over processes), to re-use the best tools and practices from other industries and sciences, to push for excellence, minimalism and precision (Made in Switzerland).
Recording in challenging situations (jet engines, strong wind, night clubs, low level voice far away from mic…), music and on-location-sound editing, ADR and sound design, EQ, compression, noise reduction and spectral repair, mixing and mastering.
I have developed and use custom DAM solutions for aggregated audio over 200 hours.
COMPUTER SKILLS / CODE / INTERNATIONALIZATION AND LOCALIZATION
Being a trilingual EN/FR/RU, I naturally gravitate towards multicultural, global projects.
Even my own site is such a project, available in 3 languages.
Things got better with almost universal support of Unicode (we used all sorts of hacks before that… like accented Latin letters in Russian encoding 🤦🏻♂️), but even today the infrastructure to provide “better than AI translation” involves quite a bit of thinking, from SQL schemas to icons’ choice.
Throughout the decades, I continue to prefer minimal Linux installs, using Git and Unison for deployment, although I use hypervisors and app containers from time to time.
I have a polarized, love-hate relationship with AI, especially LLMs, which have appropriated human knowledge, especially the arts, science and code. The essence of what sets our creative species apart. Still, I stay informed since the days of GPT3. We extensively use OpenAI’s voice-to-text API in our day-to-day utilities. Despite being on a paid corporate plan, some of ChatGPT’s code suggestions have been bug-ridden if not disastrous, like wiping a local Git repo and files. Worse than a junior dev. However, he’s proven invaluable as a research assistant and conversationalist, facilitating deep discussions on topics like economics, behavioral psychology, cognitive biases, and game theory.
Sewing high-tech fabrics (polyester, nylon, silnylon, Dyneema…), advanced elements (YKK waterproof zippers…), foams, into objects with stress loads over 15 kg (33 lbs).
DESIGN / CONSTRUCTION SKILLS
34 years of construction / renovation experience and invention of tools, methods and finished builds, both to live / work in and to film on soundstage: reinforced concrete, timber, drywall, electrical / lighting, HVAC (including compressor / ventilator units tuning), water / sewer, plastering, tiling, painting.
LOGISTICS SKILLS
26 years of logistics experience, especially with high-value, low volume goods such as photography film, custom cinema gear prototypes (from incoming required materials and components to outgoing finished devices), dangerous goods transport (lithium batteries), permanent and temporary (ATA carnet) import / export from / to the EU, Switzerland, USA, Russia, China… Any size, custom packaging design (from envelopes to palletized goods shipping in containers), partnerships with UPS, FedEx / TNT, DPD, DHL, GLS, Kuehne+Nagel, DB Schenker, Geodis, national postal and customs services.
MUSICAL SKILLS
I used to play piano, I now mostly play acoustic rhythm guitar, with emphasis on improvisation and pre-existing music re-arrangement for film.
FIRST PRINCIPLES / MATH, LOGIC, PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, SOCIOLOGY
The breadth and depth of my skills may seem exaggerated or improbable for a "creative type," but the explanation is straightforward. You’re looking at the combination of:
Mensa-level IQ
In-born curiosity (I score high on openness to new experiences).
Soviet educational system’s emphasis on Popperian epistemology and hard sciences. I was lucky to catch a wide curriculum of math, physics, chemistry and logic before the fall of the USSR. That communist symbol hammered a coherent corpus of matrix operations, non-euclidean geometry, multidimensional vector spaces, Newtonian and relativistic physics, particle-wave functions and polymers… became my foundational knowledge to sickle the harvest of applied subjects such as programming, LLMs, material science, electrical circuits and Carnot pumps.
French educational system’s emphasis on complex socio-political processes, structured rhetoric, statistical analysis, and rational reasoning
Time — I’m not a 9to5, weekend & vacations type of person, which allowed me to shave off a year here, 2 years there and “live” several lives and careers…
Parallelization — I went through the Soviet/Russian and French education systems simultaneously — although I lost on the carefree days of childhood, I turned pro at age 17.
everything else is just the logical intersection of those factors
examples: TIG welding to me isn’t “metal glue” but plasma, oxidation, crystalline metal deformation, electron flow, and amps. A programming language isn’t a “boot camp routine” but a mathematical abstraction flavored with syntax sugar.
EDUCATION
ACTION COMMERCIALE APPLIQUÉE À LA PHOTOGRAPHIE / ESCP Europe / PARIS, FRANCE / 1997 - 1999
Marketing applied to photography program at a leading business school of the Paris Chamber of Commerce (originally established in 1819).
Subjects included, among others: marketing, macroeconomics, international trade, negotiation, business law and accounting.
TOEFL (TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE) / PARIS, FRANCE / 1998
Score 277 (computer test; max. score: 300).
DALF (DIPLÔME APPROFONDI DE LA LANGUE FRANÇAISE) / MOSCOW, RUSSIA / 1997
One of the best Moscow schools specialized in English language; it has initiated active cultural exchanges with English-speaking countries in 1989. A UNESCO associated school visited by Queen Elizabeth II and featured in Russian media.
I represented the school in painting and drawing competitions.
I ran sprints in Moscow as a member of youth sprint running team at the Bratiev Znamenskih athletics stadium.
I now run long distance (over 15 km / 10 mi).
Instead of organized competitions, I prefer solo, self-sufficient, timed long runs over unknown terrain (day and night).
SPORT / CYCLING
Fast and long road cycling for fun and transportation, urban and intercity, with a preference for folding bikes.
Instead of organized competitions, I prefer solo, timed rides and ultra-light self-sufficient touring.
Bike assembly, redesign and repair.
SPORT / CLIMBING
I prefer outdoor bouldering and waterfall ice climbing, but also climb one-pitch outdoor sport routes and multi-pitch sport and trad routes in the Alps, as well as some alpinism routes (light and fast alpine style).
I have knowledge and experience of rope access and big-wall techniques for photography shoots.
SPORT / BACKPACKING
Lightweight and fast backpacking in any season and any terrain.