Born in Kharkiv in 1947 and died in 2021, Viktor Kochetov represents the Kharkiv school of photography.
He studied at the Lyatoshyn School of Music in Kharkiv. In 1968, he became very interested in photography. In 1978, he continued his studies at the Ukrainian Polytechnic Institute by correspondence, specializing in metal cutting machines and tools, where he studied only a few years. He started to work as a photographer in film and photographic laboratories, in the photo studio of the House of Amateur Photographers and the Union of Amateur Photographers of the Regional Chamber of Trade Unions, as a photo correspondent for various newspapers and also at the Southern Railway Company. Although he was not a member of any photographic group, he was in close contact with members of the Vremya group, including Boris Mikhailov and Yuri Rupin. The techniques of toning and manual coloring of photographs are typical of the Kharkiv movement. Much of his work is created with his son Sergiy Kochetov.