When you look at a classical painting, you see that the canvas is filled with various levels from ordinary people and soldiers to kings, angels and then, finally, God, with a few little pieces of landscape here and there. My idea, having grown up with this imprint, was to develop photos with very little empty spaces.

Are there consistent social types to be found in the herds of skiiers, blissed-out ravers, or oblivious beach-goers Vitali photographs? What do they look like? How do we experience these different beaches? Is there any difference between our own beach experiences, or are we essentially doing the same thing, again and again and again?

Because photography is the only art form that is made by machines, not by the human hand, you have to know your machine well – otherwise you just accept what Mr Eastman thinks your colour should be, explains Vitali, who works with both digital and analogue cameras.

When somebody asks me where a picture was taken, for me it’s just a disaster. It’s defeat. Because the pictures are not about the place.

The difference between my picture and somebody else’s pictures is in their making. It is documentary photography, but it is also art and my real artistic contribution is the performative act of making the picture.