In Russia, they suddenly remembered the existence of Viktor Lyagushkin as his photograph from the sylvenite mines was featured on the cover of the June 2025 edition of the magazine “Вокруг света” (“Around the World”). The fee he receives will be donated to support those affected by Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Look what I have! I am holding something very special! My bat cover feature story, Night Shift, is inside National Geographic Magazine — Georgia!
It’s all over: terrifying moments when nothing worked, when we couldn’t find bat colonies and perform photo shooting or the animals escaped and stultified our efforts; moments full of joy when we got more than expected; hot summer fieldwork when we dreamed the night would come quickly and bring some coolness.
Stunning bat photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin (Vitya, CONGRATULATIONS!), ten spreads, 3,000 words, 67 days in the field.
It is winter here in Georgia, and our wingy models are hibernating. Sleep well, my bats; we did a great job!
Many thanks to the editorial team of National Geographic Magazine – Georgia for the fantastic work and great layout and your hints and ideas! Ruso and Katie, you are the best! Thank you, chiropterologists Ioseb (Soso) Natradze, Giorgi Sheklashvili, Alexander Bukhnikashvili, and Andrey Kandaurov, for your patience, friendly support, and knowledge; it was so lovely to work with you! Many thanks to Valeri Barbaqadze for your expertise in caves and to Amiran and Irina Tkabladze for your kindness and hospitality.
Two huge materials at once: about the world’s first art gallery under the ice, which opened on the White Sea on the basis of the touristic center “Arctic Circle” within the framework of our team’s project “Until the ice melts”.
And a second one is a long article about how the shooting for our project “White Sea Bestiary” took place: about creativity, mysticism and photography in the article by Bogdana Vashchenko for those who know German.
– Viktor, do you have a photograph of the bottom by chance? (a question in the messenger)
– Of course, I have! Bottom is my level!
And here’s a photo of the White sea Bottom on the cover of Ogoniok magazine #28, 2020. Ogoniok is one of the oldest weekly illustrated magazines in Russia, its first issue is dated of 1899.
October 4, Moscow hosted the presentation of the sixth issue of Yevgeny Feldman’s slick magazine Svoy, which was completely dedicated to Viktor Lyagushkin’s art. Photos and stories “from caves and seas” on the pages of the new issue, and even more remarkable stories by Viktor during the presentation captivated the audience.
Photos from the presentation by Tatyana Mordvinova.
Cover story by me, Bogdana Vashchenko, illustrated with photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin in National Geographic (Georgia) about cave dwelling creatures, and also about issues appeared for the prominent touristic Prometheus cave and how to fix them.
Marvelous Viktor’s picture of the Black sea bottlenose dolphin is on cover of Asian Diver Magazine issue 2 (137)/15. And a story about afalinas (local name for bottlenose dolphins originated from Greek) by Bogdana Vashchenko “A Glimpse of Hope: Tales From the Black Sea” inside!
Wonderfull photography from Orda Cave by Viktor as a cover for Scuba Diving Magazine March/April 2014 issue! I love the Magazine designers work: using bright colors of my gear for the text they did the photo even more stunning.