Maria Snegireva

In 2010 Maria Snegireva left her career as a designer at the lifestyle magazine Marie Claire UA to combine her passions of photography and design. Although she had no formal art school training, Maria came armed with talent and Photoshop skills, and set out to forge her own signature brand of dream-like photo collage. Today she’s a professional artist and is known on Shutterstock by the contributor name Sniegirova Mariia.

Maria uses photos to create dream scenes of her own imagination, adding vintage effects for a bit more whimsy. She draws inspiration from nature and the friends and objects that surround her. “I sometimes buy a beautiful dress and think, maybe this would look perfect in some puffy clouds,” she says. During photo shoots, she tries to determine the moods of her friends to better create what she refers to as her “mini theater”—appropriate, since her images feel like they encapsulate short stories.

Maria has had great success as a Shutterstock contributor, which helps to cross-pollinate her own business as an artist. Her work is a favorite among the Shutterstock in-house design team, and her collection is brimming with visual delights and dynamic mini narratives. See her photos below and check out her curated gallery here.