Snapshots of Modern Russia

While back in Boston last month for holiday, I kept getting asked the question by friends, and even by my family members, “Do you like living in Russia? What’s it like?”

My answer was, “Once you get settled into your daily routine, life in Russia is pretty normal. I have my friends, work, and family. Life in Russia really isn’t that different than life in Boston, Miami, or St. Louis.” I’m not quite sure everyone believed me because what Westerners think they know of Russia is based mainly on what they read in the Western press. Even those folks who have traveled to Russia still only come away with a tourist’s perspective.

So I was pleased to see that there is a new project called Colours of Russia (see video below), which like the coffee table book from 20+ years ago called, “A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union” seeks to give outsiders a glimpse into the everyday life of Russia. I have watched the 5 minute slideshow and I think the producers have done a pretty decent job of capturing the nuances and juxtapositions of modern Russia. I urge you to take a couple minutes and watch the film. I think you will find that you come away with a new appreciation for the Russia that I call home.

Here’s how the photographer Michael Hockney described the project:

..This was only the beginning. A country the size of Russia cannot be realistically exemplified with a few thousand images. It will take hundreds of thousands. Colours of Russia has been released on the foundation studies in order to begin the long road of visual redress. What is important to understand is that the images are designed to meet the curiosity of non-Russians from a non-Russian perspective. It is not meant to be a bible on Russia, that I cannot do because I am not Russian. That I leave to my truly gifted Russian colleagues. What many Russians do not understand is that outside of Russia all we are presented with is negative imagery. I was asked by a Russian colleague, “why did you take a picture of a telephone booth”. He did not understand my reasoning. Vladimir, I said, where I come from people think crime is everywhere here and that there are big social problems. That is what they are told. So I take a picture of a pristinely clean telephone booth in an average place to demonstrate it is not vandalized. If it is not vandalized that tells people something…..ah, he said, now I understand. Often the simplest picture can destroy years of misrepresentative images.

Tagged as: photos, russia