Meet Dina Belenko | Still life photographer and magician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dina Belenko and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dina, what is the most important factor behind your success?
A major problem with The Reason of My Success Speech is Survivorship bias. This is a lottery winner telling you not to stop buying lottery tickets (which is clearly an unwise investment plan: people who play the lottery lose far more money than they win). Talks from people who took risks and became successful can give us a false impression about the likelihood of success in any other field of endeavor. So, mind the Survivorship bias. This is the first tool from your Rationalist Toolkit that will actually let you win.

For example! I can tell you to ignore marketing and just be creative. Because this is what I was doing for years. Did it work out for me? Yes! Is this the best strategy? I don’t think so.
There’s no a magic recipe that will work for everyone. You are allowed to ignore crucial parts of business, but they should be YOUR OWN crucial parts.

But never ignore something that brought you to this way in the first place. I enjoy taking photos and coming up with ideas. So I’m making this part essential. And I’m never forcing myself to do the essential parts, I actually enjoy them. I don’t enjoy doing some aspects of my work as a photographer (like taxes or marketing), but that I can delegate.
If you want to delegate something that makes you an artist (say, make Midjorney do all your work for you), you need to seriously rethink your career.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a creative still life photographer, coffee cup magician and a master of story driven images. I have a deep interested in the life of mundane, ordinary things and their ability to express complex concepts in relation to humans. Things can tell what they saw, who held them, who accidentally broke them, and who lovingly gathered up the pieces and repaired them. In every single thing, there is a sense of human presence, something invisible but clear. I’m trying to unravel these stories and retell them through the language of photography.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I moved to LA recently. I still have no idea where to buy milk, but I do know most of the best museums and galleries! And a couple of very good libraries.

Here’s the list of my favorites:
Honor Fraser Gallery
Hammer Museum
Getty Center
CA Science Center
Natural History Museum
Brand Library & Art Center
Long Beach Museum of Art
Griffith Observatory
(not quite LA, but still) Palm Springs Museum of Art

Also, The Iliad Bookshop is divine!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The most important book in my library is “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” by AI specialist Eliezer Yudkowsky. It’s essentially an educational book on cognitive science and biases wrapped in the guise of fanfiction — a clever, engaging, and touching narrative. It features Harry Potter embracing the ideals of science and Enlightenment, Draco Malfoy developing actual character and intellect, and Voldemort transforming from a cartoonish villain into a genuinely intriguing antagonist. I mentioned my Rationality Toolkit. This is there you start.

Website: dinabelenko.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dinabelenko/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinabelenkophotos

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DinaBelenko

Other: https://t.me/WhateverMake

Image Credits
Dina Belenko