Jeremy Nichol March 15, 2012

Putin Supporters. Moscow, Russia

Jeremy Nicholl (b.1957, Northern Ireland) bought his first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, when he was eight years old. Some 16 years later he finally went professional, working first as a freelance at the Times, Sunday Times and various UK magazines, then as a contract photographer at the Independent. After working throughout Europe, in Africa and the USA, he has since 1991 specialized in the former Soviet Union, and his work from there has been widely published and exhibited, and won a number of awards, including at World Press Photo. He believes he was fated to work in Russia: he took his first pictures there on a school trip aged thirteen, with that Kodak Instamatic.

About the Photograph:

“It’s politics, but not as we know it. Nashi [meaning "Ours"] is a pro-Kremlin youth group dreamt up by Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s chief ideologist. Essentially they’re a remodeled version of the Komsomol, the old Communist youth movement, and are wheeled out whenever the authorities need some socially acceptable patriotic youth on the TV news. On this occasion 70,000 of them were dressed up as Dyed Moroz and Snegurichka [Father Frost and the Snow Maiden] at a rally to wish happy new year to veterans of World War Two, or the Great Patriotic War as it’s known in Russia. It was of course all very controlled: city center streets sealed off, entrance only to those with an invitation, dozens of state TV cameras in prime positions to capture the onstage action with the veterans. Most of this was ignored by the kids: many are bussed in from out of town, so for them it’s largely a free day out to the big city. Here they’re just leaving past the rows of riot cops who would of course be arresting them if this wasn’t an officially approved demonstration.”

Max Sher March 5, 2012

From the Series Amerika. Kemerovo, Russia 2011

Max Sher (b.1975, Russia) was raised and educated in Siberia and France. Since 2006 he has been photographing in various Russian regions (Caucasus, Siberia, Urals, Astrakhan, etc.) as well as in Belarus, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kazakhstan, China, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine as part of his personal projects and on commissions. His work appeared in Courrier International, Monocle, Esquire (Russia), le Monde, Libération, Ogoniok, Independent Magazine, Afisha, Bolshoi Gorod, Russian Reporter, Snob, GEO Traveler, Foto8, Private, Der Spiegel, Forbes.ru, Newsweek Japan, etc. and was exhibited in St.Petersburg, Vienna, Moscow, Bratislava, among others. Max was nominated for KLM Paul Huf Awards in 2008. He is currently based in Moscow.

About the Photograph:

“The idea of the title was taken from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment – one of the characters before shooting himself says to the person present at the scene: ‘If anybody asks you tell them I went to America”. In the Russian literature, the imaginary, celestial ‘Amerika’ is synonym for escape, nothingness, imagination, ‘emigration’ from life into the super sensual world of ideas and imagery. My Amerika has no story behind it, it reflects a certain state of mind and soul during my stay in Siberia, where I had lived from the age of 11 to 23 – a difficult and formative period in my life. I went back to my old home after a long absence during the most melancholic season to come to terms with that period and to photograph.”

Olya Ivanova December 1, 2011

Vova and Nose. Siberia, Russia 2009

Olya Ivanova (b.1981, Russia) received a BA in literature and worked as a copywriter with global advertising agencies in Moscow until her boyfriend gave her an old film camera. She is a self taught photographer who has been heavily influenced by the work of Alec Soth and Guillaume Herbaut. Olya currently shoots for magazines including Monocle, Psychologies, Time Out, Russian Reporter and others. Her photographs has been exhibited in Moscow at the Solyanka Gallery, Fotoweek in Washington, DC  and the Museum of the Fine Arts in Denys-Puech of Rodez France. Her work has been recognized by the Photo Circle Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania and the Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Honorable mention in Portraiture, UK.

About the Photograph:

“This picture was shot in Gorelovka, a village in Siberia 800 km from Novosibirsk. It was for a story about hermits living in a village that historically was a place to escape and hide. Many years ago Christian old believers came here to avoid church reform. Then ‘kulaks’ (wealthy peasants) chose this place to escape from Stalin’s repressions. Now many ‘new world antagonists’ settle here to live without passports, personal tax numbers, church and government. Vova is not a hermit, he is just a local, who works as a stove-man in winter and as a saw mill worker in summertime. Each day we visited and started with beer and finished with vodka, the usual life here. We listened to his old gramophone or rode on his Soviet bike across the fields to drink from a natural source of water. It was pure happiness. Vova was sitting behind the stove, it was the end of September and quite cold. His cat Nose all of a sudden jumped on his shoulder and stared at me. “

Diana Markosian October 13, 2011

Russia’s Traveling Circus, Moscow 2010

Diana Markosian (b.1989, Russia) is a freelance photojournalist and multimedia producer working out of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Although she has only been seriously involved with photography since Spring 2010, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Reuters, Observer, Vanity Fair, Slate, CNN International, MSNBC, and Human Rights Watch. She is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Diana attended the Eddie Adams Workshop in October 2011 and is also the recipient of the Alfred DuPont Fellowship and a winner of Columbia University’s College Photographer of the Year.

About the Photograph:

“This image was taken in a small town in the outskirts of Moscow. I had recently moved to Russia, where I began working on a piece about the traveling circus. It was the last day of August. The summer month ended in thunderstorms and rain. When I approached the gazebo, the area was desolate with people hiding from the rain.  I walked inside the trailer to dry off. Within minutes, a crowd of people lined outside, waiting to buy their ticket for the night’s performance. The trailer itself was pretty tiny, which made it difficult for one to peek inside. I took this photo about a dozen times before landing on this image.”

Serge Van Cauwenbergh July 18, 2011

Olga, Chernobyl, Russia 2006

Serge Van Cauwenbergh (b. 1973, Belgium) is a documentary and humanitarian photographer covering social issues, creating photo essays for ngo’s and humanitarian aid organizations. He is mainly a self-taught photographer, but also completed a degree in Photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He is interested in how people are dealing with the circumstances they have to live in; how are they handling new opportunities or changes in today’s society; how are they coping with the consequences of a disaster, depression, decease or dementia. He focuses on elements in their life that are perishable, details that are often overlooked and will otherwise be forgotten in time.

About the Photograph:

“In 2006 I visited Ukraine and the Zones of Exclusion to work on a photo essay about Chernobyl and the aftermath of the disaster.  I was introduced to several elderly people who are still living in Chernobyl and the surrounding areas. They witnessed everything up close and returned to their houses weeks and months after the nuclear disaster, some even claim they never left the area. Olga is one of them. Her house is located just outside the town center of Chernobyl. The moment I entered the porch she told me that photographers and film crew regularly visit the area, some even dare to shoot in her yard without asking permission first.  She has always been a housewife, her husband was working for the community service. He passed away a few years ago. About the disaster itself she remembers that everything went very chaotic and information was scarce. At that time the true scale of the disaster was concealed, she says. From all of my visits in the area I learned that these people are still very disappointed how the government dealt with this disaster.”

Bieke Depoorter July 8, 2011

Vladivostok, Russia, 2009

Bieke Depoorter (b.1986, Belgium) graduated  from the Royal Academy of Arts in Ghent in 2009 with a Masters degree in photography. She mainly works on personal projects, in which she looks for the intimacy of families where she’s part of for one night. In 2009, she traveled through Russia for her project «Oe menia» (With me), which won the Magnum Expression Award. In Autumn 2011, she will publish her first book with Lannoo (The Netherlands) and the designers Mevis and Van Deurisen.

About the Photograph:

“I took this picture during my second trip through Russia in the winter of 2008/2009. I met the woman a few days before, in the train, on my way to Vladivostok. We managed to meet again when I crossed her little village. As always, she didn’t speak English and I didn’t understand Russian but the moments with her were very quiet, intense and powerful.  I spend the night on her coach in her small old house. We watched pictures from the past and she invited me for a walk in her neighborhood. It was dark and freezing cold. We had to walk arm in arm because of the ice. She gave me one of her old bags to put my camera in, to protect me against thief’s.  In a little cold cafe that looked down over a frozen lake where some people where doing slipping tricks with their cars, we drank tea and walked back home.  Back in the warm house, she gave me a flowered pajama, watched the Russian The bold and the Beautiful and went to sleep.” (more…)

Alexander Aksakov June 8, 2011

Epiphany Night, St.Petersburg, Russia 2011

Alexander Aksakov (b. 1986, Russia) is a freelance photographer based in St. Petersburg. He started photographing life in cities and roads of Russia in 2005 during his first experience as a hitchhiker. While studying at the university he decided not to work as a marketeer, but would concentrate on photography. In 2007 he was invited by several Syktyvkar (Komi Republic, Russia) newspapers as a freelance photographer. After graduating in 2009 he was put into the army and served for a year as a fireman in Plesetsk, the space launching site. He lives and works in St. Petersburg shooting mainly for St. Petersburg and making personal documentary projects and essays.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph was made on my way home from an assignment. I saw large group of people swimming in the Neva river covered with ice. Somebody fired a flash in front of me at the moment I pressed the shutter. It’s believed that sinking into cold water for three times helps wash away your sins and become closer to God. In Russia it’s a very popular ritual and sometimes even people who don’t really believe in God take part in it. It doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside. People sink even if it’s -30C outside or colder. Those who have tried it say they feel lighter and better and their problems disappear.  That’s the idea of epiphany: people washing off their sins and getting closer to heaven.

Sasha Maslov September 20, 2010

Prisoners watching theater. Kharkiv, Ukraine

Sasha Maslov ( b.1984, Ukraine) was Inspired and taught by his father, Guennadi Maslov, and later his teacher and mentor, Oleg Shishkov, he became an aspiring young photographer who now resides in New York city. Sasha works in editorial photography and is best known for his social documentary projects around Eastern Europe, especially in his native country.

About the Photograph:

“Here at one of the penal colonies in Kharkiv, Ukraine there is depressing view of endless gray walls with barbwire on the background of even grayer sky. Time has ceased to exist these walls. It’s difficult to imagine that people would attempt to seek out something uplifting within the small reality tucked into that of another. But human nature will keep you from dropping your head completely and even when caught in the deepest shaft we can find the strength to seek out traces of light. In the fall of 2005 I documented a group of prisoners who, with the support from one of the local theaters, made an effort to organize a theatrical troupe and stage a play. The play was written by Jonathan Swift long time ago in Ireland and has very little to do with prison reality in Ukraine of 2005. It was extremely moving to observe the inmates mastering acting transitioning from prison slang to calling one another sir and lord, from wearing drab uniforms to donning wigs and bright costumes; as they transform, rehearsing and then performing for the crowd of their inmates and guards.”

Graeme Jennings November 2, 2009

Kuliga, Russia 2008

Graeme Jennings (b. 1978, New Zealand)  grew up in Auckland and completed a course in photography at the Unitec Institute of Technology in 1998. In 2001 he moved to England and freelanced as a news photographer and traveled extensively throughout Eastern Europe. Graeme has  photographed the impact of landmines in Bosnia Herzegovina for the NGO Norwegian Peoples Aid. He has also under taken assignments in Azerbaijan, and the southern Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia, where he has photographed internally displaced populations for the Danish Refugee Council.  Graeme’s work has  appeared in GEO and the British Journal of photography.  In 2008 he moved to the States and is currently based in Washington D.C.

About the Photograph:

“I took this photograph in the small village of Kuliga – A former collective farm with a population of twelve. The village is located in the Komi Republic, a region located in the far north of the Russian European plain.  The elderly woman in the foreground is on her way home after visiting  a friend for tea in a nearby house. Following the dissolution of socialism and the subsequent economic reforms of the 1990’s, the collective farms and state run enterprises that provided a means of employment and prosperity for rural villages were forced to close. The few who have remained are mostly the old and alienated, struggling with a lack of identity and resolve. With an entire ideology suddenly gone, along with the lack of employment opportunities, the social fabric of the Russian village has slowly fallen apart.  Of the approximate 150,000 of Russia’s rural villages, over 13,000 have been abandoned altogether as more and more people migrate to the cities.”

Guy Martin October 23, 2009

Young Cossack Recruits, Novopavlovsk, Russia 2007

Guy Martin (b.1983, England) graduated from the University of Wales in 2006. He began pursuing long term projects, one of which ‘Trading over the Borderline’ won him the Guardian/Observer Hodge student award. His other projects include work in: Georgia, Sudan, Uganda, Turkey, Northern Iraq, Russia. His photographs have appeared in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, FADER Magazine, the British Journal of Photography amongst other publications. In 2007 and 2009 Guy was named in the MAGENTA foundations top emerging photographers. In 2008 he also had work from his Cossack project shown in the National Portrait Gallery. Guy is now based in Cornwall, England, continuing his work on personal projects and freelancing for national and international magazines. He is represented internationally by Zuma Press.

About the Photograph:

“This photograph is part of a three year personal project looking at the rise and re-birth of the Cossack movement in Southern Russia and the Caucasuss. My initial goal was to spend time in Cossack only military schools, finding out what was so different about Cossack traditions and customs. This picture was made on a baking hot spring day. My interpreter told me that there was going to be a Cossack summer camp opening in the district and that we should go down and try and visit the place and speak to a few of the residents. The image was made almost immediately after stepping out of the car. My previous experience of Cossacks in the region were from veterans of the Chechen war, Afghanistan and disillusioned, nationalist, adolescent boys desperate for a fight and to feel part of something. The girl, almost too pretty to be wearing combat fatigues stood out from the crowd of boys she was with. She looked at me for a split second and then turned back into the crowd. Walking past her later I found she was carrying a loaded handgun.”

(more…)

Michal Chelbin December 8, 2008

Xenia in the Playground, Russia 2003

Michal Chelbin (b.1974, Israel) is currently based in New York City. She has been shown in solo and group  exhibits in the US and Europe, most recently at the Andrea Meislin Gallery in New York. Her recent publications include Art Forum, American Photo, PDN , New York Arts Magazine, Aperture, B&W Magazine, and the LA Times. Her editorial work has been published in the New York Times, The New Yorker and  New York Magazine. Michal’s monograph entitled “Strangely Familiar: Acrobats, Athletes and other traveling troupes” was published in April 2008 by Aperture. Her next monograph will be published by Twin Palms in fall 2009.

About the Photograph:
Like with other subjects I worked a lot with this girl, . She was one of those people who didn’t need any instructions in front of the camera. She didn’t understand Hebrew and I didn’t speak Russian but I felt we understood each other perfectly It was the first color image of this series. I actually shot it in black and white  but when we finished, and started to go back to the apartment something didn’t feel right. So I returned, made the whole thing again, this time in color. It’s entitled “Xenia on the Playground”,  and I’d like to think of my playground as somewhere between the private and the public, between fiction and documentary.

Alexandra Demenkova October 22, 2008

From the series “Territory of Broken Dreams” 2007

Alexandra Demenkova (b.1980, Russia)  graduated from the Herzen State Pedagogical University with a degree in Foreign Languages. She has been a documentary photographer since 2004 and worked with Interpress Photo Agency (2003) and the New Eurasia Foundation (2006, 2007) and currently works with Agency Photographer.ru. Alexandra was awarded Best Photo Correspondent of the Year (St. Petersburg, 2004-2006) and was a the finalist of Descubrimientos, PhotoEspana in 2007. Alexandra was  part of the World Press Photo Masterclass in 2007 and was chosen as an artist in residence with Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunstenin in 2008. She participated in exhibitions and festivals in Russia, Kazakhstan, UK, Finland, Poland, Turkey and Spain.

About the Photograph:

“This photo was taken in Shuvaevo, about 300 km northeast of Moscow. For many inhabitants of big cities in Russia, the rest of the country simply doesn’t exist. Yet you don’t have to go far from Moscow or Saint Petersburg to find dying villages, where people live in a state of extreme deprivation with abandoned old people who have spent their lives working on collective farms; middle-aged men and women who have no jobs, rarely young people or children. Villages that used to be thriving, with shops, libraries and clubs, now number only a handful of occupied houses. There is no community spirit or social life. Instead of a bucolic rural life, there is despair, alcohol abuse, crime and solitude. This is a phenomenon of life in Russia, villages that have disappeared in a country which used to be an agricultural one. Skachok, a man who lives alone and is an alcoholic, is going to drink a cup of substitute vodka, which costs 17 rubles per half liter, less than one US dollar.