Capturing Russia from white to black, north to south, east to west

Posts Tagged "photojournalism"

Dasha: Student from Komi

Dasha- Student from Komi (1)Dasha was standing by a Moscow metro station in her red winter hat, red pants and Timberland-style boots and on her way to St Petersburg for the long weekend. She said she lives in a small town in Komi Republic in Russia's Northwest, where she is finishing highschool. She wants to study economics next year in St Petersburg, finding the atmosphere in that city better than in Moscow.

Tajik Butcher in Moscow (2)

Tajik Butcher in Moscow (2)

This Tajik-native has been working at Dorogomilovsky as a butcher for about 10 years. I asked him what he recommends and he was quick to answer: Dagastani lamb. He said the meat was soft and tasty.

Azeri Fruit Seller in Moscow

Azeri Fruit Seller in Moscow

I am going to post a few portraits from popular Moscow food market Dorogomilovsky, where i spent an hour shooting and talking with some workers. I will kick it off with the oldest veteran I met. This Baku-native said he has been working at the market for more than two decades. He sells fruits and vegetables. When I passed by, he was completing an order for one of my favorite Moscow restaurants. He said business has gotten tougher. 

Georgian Fruit Seller in Moscow

Georgian Fruit Seller in Moscow

She sells fresh and dried fruit from the Caucasus and Central Asia at the Moscow food market. Like many workers there, she grew up far from Moscow. She said she was Georgian, but raised in Abkhazia, and moved to Tblisi after the Georgia-Abkhaz war.

Alex: Moscow Skateboardist

Alex: Moscow Skateboardist

Alex just graduated with a degree in oil & gas engineering, which should promise a good job outlook. But he isn't keen on working in Siberia... Or necessarily in the industry. For the time being, he is more interested in skateboarding and street fashion.

Andrei: Skateboardist (2)

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)

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.

Russian Soldier Says Farewell

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

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. 
 

Refugee from Uzbekistan

Refugee from Uzbekistan

Moscow Portrait: Normally, I walk up to people and ask to take their photos. He walked up to me as I ate a pirozhki near a Kiosk and asked "are you a journalist?" I have been asked that quite alot over the years in Russia and I assume it is because I am a foreigner carrying a camera in a non-touristic neighborhood/region. He told me an interesting story, though I have not sought to verify it. He said he was from Bukhara in Uzbekistan and fled for fear of arrest. He said he often criticized his government, that one of his brothers is in jail while another is living in my hometown of Brooklyn, having received political asylum. He said he hopes to get political asylum in Europe or the US. In the meantime, he lives in Moscow working as a volunteer at an NGO. 
 

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