Katia (Moscow)
Moscow is a town whith many opportunities for a photographer. Girls have a natural elegance and class and I had the courage to ask for a pose a couple of times. This picture was shot on the stairs to "
Vielka Lozhka", a striving Russian fast-food outlet serving traditional russian cuisine where you can eat something healthy and affordable. The name means Fork & Spoon.
This was a hot summer evening and several of us went out to enjoy the cool air and the quietness of the night. Summer is usually nice and warm here, the Russians tend to make the most profit of these long days and don't wait the weekend to go out and party. Russian towns are mostly safe in the evening, it seems to me.
Summer was by the way very cold and rainy in the northern half of Western Europe, including half of France. Comes another cold summer like this one and it could effectively cool down the West European global-warming crowd. After the acid rains and global warming craze, why not try the ice-age panic ?
I stayed a while in this little town, lovely people. The children knew I was a foreigner and were happy to pose for pictures. I am not sure this cat was really happy though, and it looked impatient to run free... The buildings were old housing blocks from the Soviet era, but there was nothing of the crime and violence associated with derelict public housing in France. Different people, different destinies, I guess.
Once more, I'll say how much I am impressed by Russian cemeteries. They are often a haven of peace where untamed, lush vegetation (with both high grass and big trees) takes over this home of eternal rest, and the quite anarchic way they are disposed makes the place more human. I may create a special album for these cemetery pictures.
If you have the opportunity to have a car in Russia, use it day and night Driving in the cities and suburbs in the night opens the door to an uncomparable, eerie dimension, where the street lights (or the lack of it) offer theater-like flashes like this one. This building facing a large square is a former Local Soviet Administration building, the equivalent of a city hall.
We were in this bar in a small bourgade with Lena, Lisa and her son Gleb. I took his pictures as we waited for our order. I love to walk in bars and small eateries in exotic countries, the colors and interior architecture are always different.
Summer is when the samovar goes outdoor. Nothing better than drinking tea in the garden at the end of the afternoon while tending the vegetables or preparing the banya. This is a pre-revolutionary samovar, it bears all sorts of engraved stamps, which made the experience more valuable. You will find that in Russia, you can drink tons of tea and still get asleep easily later in the night. This is another russian mystery that wouldn't reproduce at home, I would stay awake all night, looking at the ceiling my eyes wide open if I tried to drink half much tea here...
The Russian winter may be far, but people prepare already : everywhere, wood is chopped and gathered near the houses. People's life in the Russian countryside and villages is intimitely intertwined with the natural cycles. Plus most people eat vegetables and fruits grown in their own gardens, and as far as I could check, these are 100% organic. I spoke to villagers who told me that they picked potatoe-beetles one by one when their crops were infested and would burn them all in a can.
My photo exhibition in Russia led me to several interviews like this one by a Nizhni Novgorod daily. The woman I spoke to here had heard that I was fascinated by Samogon stories, but she selected this beautiful portrait of babouchka (grandma in russian) for her article (link to the
original picture). Much of the article is about my work on wine and vintners.
