Posts Tagged "Moscow"
Andrei: Skateboardist
Another shot of Andrei with his skateboard.
Andrei: Skateboardist (2)
Andrei is trying to develop his own brand of street clothing and said he had a few items, like shirts, already made.
Gleb: Skateboardist (2)
As I tried to take Gleb's photo, two intoxicated men came over to ask for money and have their photo taken. They were rather rambunctious and Gleb found them funny. I took this photo as he laughed along with them.
Gleb: Skateboardist
The pins on Gleb's coat say it all - he is Russian and a self-proclaimed playboy.
Russian Soldier Says Farewell
Moscow: I caught this warm moment when I exited the Kremlin grounds this evening. By the looks of it, this young man is probably heading off for a while to serve and was hugging his teary girlfriend.
Margarita: Moscow Artist from Baku
Moscow Street Portrait: I must have passed her 100 times over the years without ever noticing her until she started chating with me as I took photos on Old Arbat pedestrian street. Margarita sells her artwork on Old Arbat during good weather; when its raining or snowing, she sets up shop in the busy pedestrian underground near Red Square. She said she grew up in a Jewish family in Baku, Azerbaijan and moved during perestroika to Moscow, where she worked as an architect, painting in her free time. In 1999, she joined the group of artists that sold their work in the pedestrian underpass in front of Red Square, a narrow corridor that handles more people on a daily basis than probably all the museums in Moscow combined. The artists have long since been cleared from that corridor, but Margarita still ventures there late in the evening when it's raining/snowing. I asked her what the most memoriable moment was all these years of selling paintings. She said that on her very first day in the Red Square underpass, a man - whom she thinks was American - bought a painting for $50, a large sum at the time. "That sale confirmed that I was an artist." It helped her earn respect from other artists in the underpath she said. She used part of the money from the sale to buy several bottles of Russian champagne to celebrate her success with the fellow artists.
Russia-NYC Series 38
Albert, a 3rd year economics student, works part-time as a salesman for Russian clothing chain 21Shop on Old Arbat. The chain sells a mixture of colorful Russian and foreign 'street style' clothing and accessorites, including this schoolbag with 'Brooklyn' written on the straps.
Russia-NYC Series 37
Another shot of Kolya, in the NYC hat, and his friend Ruslan, a sound engineer. Ruslan said in a strong English accent that he recently returned home from a long stay in the UK and is impressed by the changes he noticed in Moscow, something I have heard quite a few times.
Russia-NYC Series 36
Kolya, a engineer and fashionista, was crossing the pedestrian bridge behind Christ the Savior church on a chilly Moscow Autumn day sporting a NYC hat.
Russia-NYC Series 35
To anyone in NYC, these hats stand for the Yankees. In Russia, where baseball is basically non-existent, its simply stands for New York City. Valentin and Sofia, first-year law students, were walking together in snowy Moscow when I passed them. Valentin said he and Sofia recently met in university. Valentin said he wants to continue studying after getting a law degree and go into politics because there a lot of things he would like to change. One issue close to his heart is secondary education, which he feels forces high school students to learn useless material.
