Everything is illuminated: photographer Alexey Tikhonov brings the light

In Inhabited Universe, St Petersburg-based photographer Alexey Tikhonov plays with light and darkness in the natural environment to create a series of hauntingly beautiful images. "Everywhere people live, they bring light," says Tikhonov, who studied electrical engineering and philosophy before turning to photography, and who now shoots for magazines including National Geographic Russia, Afisha and Russian Reporter. "The result is that the external world becomes even darker, which creates the impression that civilisation ends with light."