While admiring the boat-lined riverside in the historical town of Kargopol in the north of Russia one early September evening, a polite 29 year-old Russian man walked up to me and asked if I could... Continue reading →
Russian Village Teacher Shares Views
Lunino: Dying Russian Village
The yellow-colored 1970s LuAZ went up and down quickly like a canoe in choppy waters, forcing my driver Valery to rapidly turn the driving wheel left and right to ease the impact. The engine screamed... Continue reading →
Suzdal: Golden Ring Gem
As you climb down from Suzdal’s 14th century Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery and cross the Kamenka River via a narrow, wooden foot bridge below, you come onto a street lined with beautiful one- and two-story homes that... Continue reading →
How Irish Dance Came to Kazan
Three adults are lacing up their worn black leather shoes as they sit against a wall in this worn-out, 30-square meter basement room on a quiet street in the center of Kazan, a Russian city... Continue reading →
Solovki’s Inspiring Remoteness
The early evening autumn sun threw its rays over the makeshift grassy soccer field located on the side of a village dirt road, creating greater than life-size shadows of the men playing on it. Ranging in... Continue reading →
Moscow Industrial ‘Museum’
Most people probably find the so-called Museum of Industrial Culture like I did…they stumble upon it while on a walk in Moscow’s Kuzminki Park. Situated off a road near the edge of the large park... Continue reading →
Alfa Future People Concert
Mikhail Fridman, arguable Russia’s richest man at the moment, walked across the flat, grassy field 415 kilometers east of Moscow accompanied by two people giving him – seemingly – an update on the electronic dance music (EDM)... Continue reading →
NYC Themed Clothing Series
While making the 30 minute walk one summer evening in 2013 from my Moscow office to my apartment, crossing Red Square, I passed three people wearing shirts with ‘Brooklyn’ written somewhere on it. I had... Continue reading →
Dancing at Gorky Park
There are no restrictions, so they all come – young, old, experienced, beginners, Russians, foreigners, workers, students, male, female – to dance for an hour or more along the Moscow River as the sun sets.... Continue reading →
St. Petersburg Shoe Makers
On a quiet street eight kilometers south of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg stands the sprawling, red-brick, six-story Victoria Shoe Factory, which looks like so many pre-revolutionary factories around Russia. Built in 1914 during Czarist... Continue reading →
Moscow Tie & Hat Maker
Like so many other entrepreneurs, Sergei, 38, said he started his Moscow tie and hat production business by accident. Sergei, who grew up in the Siberian city of Tomsk, moved to Moscow about nine years... Continue reading →
Georgian Shoe Repair Store
As I walked through historic Batumi on a cloudy May weekday afternoon, I noticed an old shoe repair store and popped in a for look. There I found Roco and Robert working away on chairs behind... Continue reading →
Russia’s Trendy Barbershops
From Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean to St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland, American-style barbershops are popping up all over Russia these days like mushrooms after a rainstorm despite the nation’s worst economic slowdown... Continue reading →
Ivolginsky: Russian Buddhist Center
Despite more than a decade living in Russia and reading about its culture, I had never heard of the Buddhist spiritual center Ivolginsky Datsan until I arrived in Eastern Siberia. The ”Lhasa” of Russia, Ivolginsky... Continue reading →
Dagestan: Pawn Shops & Building Spree
Russia’s north Caucasus province of Dagestan is considered to be an economically depressed region. In fact, Russian state new agency RIA Novosti’s research division named it the country’s poorest region for 2013. Here is a... Continue reading →
Russian Motorbike Season Opening
Russian motorbike club Night Wolves held their annual ‘season opening’ event in Moscow, attended today by hundreds of motorcyclists. The rally starts at the Night Wolves headquarters at the edge of Moscow at 12:40 pm, travels... Continue reading →
Moscow Flea Market
About a 150 came to the court yard at the Moscow Museum on a cold, windy Sunday to sell their old goods – stuffed dolls, clothing, Communist memorabilia, sunglasses and jewelry – to the several thousand visitors... Continue reading →
Sakhalin: 8 Things I Learned
The Russian province of Sakhalin, an island north of Japan, has always been associated in my mind with oil and gas projects, earthquakes or nasty snow storms. Other than it once belonging to Japan, I... Continue reading →
Vladivostok: Impressions from Visit
Vladivostok: Impressions from Visit The budget hotel I stayed at first had no hot water. Then, after a hard rain storm, had no running water at all for a day or two. The city’s sloping... Continue reading →
Rostov Meat Market Visit
Rostov Meat Market Visit Outdoor and indoor markets tend to be colorful places no matter what country you are in – China, Russia or the USA. Moscow used to have plenty of them, but with... Continue reading →
Eight Shades of Putin Grey
Eight Shades of Putin Grey You can’t escape seeing images of Russian President Vladimir Putin around Moscow, be it shirts with his portrait, refrigerator magnets, iPhone covers, plastic or metallic busts. Outside the TASS news... Continue reading →
Winter Wakeboarding in Russia
Winter Wakeboarding in Russia With 15 years in Russia behind me, I was asked by a Russian publication if I would like to talk about my life here. As I love photographing around Russia, I... Continue reading →
Transnistria: Visit to Breakaway Region
Transnistria: Visit to Breakaway Region ”Back in the USSR” is what one Moldovan tour guided calls his one-day car excursion to Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, a Moldovan breakaway region. That tour guide’s title is probably... Continue reading →
Moscow: Epiphany Celebration
Moscow: Epiphany Celebration If there is one Russian religious event that captures Western imagination, it is perhaps Epiphany, which recalls the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan River. The Russian Orthodox faithful remember... Continue reading →
Moscow: Cold, Sunny Winter Days
Moscow: Cold, Sunny Winter Days Like many foreigners living in Moscow, I dreaded the long Russian winter. The thick grey skies, the short days, the constant snow, the ice-covered sidewalks that make walking a sport.... Continue reading →
Moscow: New Year’s Celebration
Moscow: New Year’s Celebration Unlike in the US and Europe, New Year’s is Russia’s main winter holiday with plenty of gift giving, food and decorated trees. Many Russians take off on Dec. 31, which in any... Continue reading →
Moscow: Photos of Snow Storm
I woke up early Dec. 25 to a massive snow storm in Moscow that paralyzed traffic in my area and – based on many news reports – resulted in the worst traffic in Moscow in... Continue reading →
Russian Students Discuss Dreams, Work
A Visit to Moscow’s Top Economics University While working as a stock broker for an international investment bank in Moscow, I was asked once a year to participate in the firm’s recruitment program by speaking to Russian university students about... Continue reading →
Visit to Russian ‘Ghost’ Village
Visit to a Russian ‘Ghost’ Village Russia continues today to experience an outflow of people from its villages to cities and towns, a process that is longer-term good for its economy and budget. Yes, it has... Continue reading →
Holiday Lighting in Moscow
Holiday Lights and Decorations in Moscow Over the past few years, Moscow has done a pretty good job at decorating the city for the New Year and Orthodox Christmas celebrations. Lights brighten up the city center... Continue reading →