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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Long Lens: Alexander Stepanenko
In our Long Lens feature, we ask our members about a long-term project or photo essay they are working on. We want to encourage and discover the passion behind a portrait series or a photo essay that tells a story or highlights a social issue.
“ I shoot the forgotten hinterland and the difficult life led by the inhabitants.”
—Alexander Stepanenko
Photographing the Russian Heartland
Alexander Stepanenko, a photographer from Murmansk, has been documenting Russian villages for the past 27 years. After Stepanenko joined Your Shot in 2013, his work was soon recognized by editors. See his photo selected for today’s Photo of the Day on the National Geographic website.
Of the many projects he’s worked on, his most compelling are “The Saami of Russia” and “Everday Arkhangelsk Village.” Says Stepanenko: “I am inspired by nature, by the open spaces of our north, and by my meetings with interesting people.” Here, he talks about both of these bodies of work.
The photo essay “Everyday Archangelsk Village,” started in 1987, [includes] photographs in which I try to show the problems of the real people of Russia, specifically in the small village of Ozerki in the district of Arkhangelsk. There is no work, the youth leave the village, old people die. Now there are only a few residents in Ozerki.
However, these people are special because of their diligence, simplicity, sincerity, hospitality, and patience. These people are good, but they have a lot of problems. They are fulfilling different destinies than those of today’s youth. It is nostalgic and sad to see these dying villages. I use photography to bear witness to the past.
I began working on “The Saami of Russia” in 1991, and I continue to photograph these reindeer herders. I started using black-and-white film and then moved to color film and now to digital. It is a story about the revival of consciousness of the Saami people, who have lived for many centuries on the Kola Peninsula in harmony with nature. Some of the Saami people have already died, but their children and grandchildren are still alive with the bright memory of them.
The tree fixedly stands on the ground only with deep and strong roots. He fears neither wind nor cold. The man who knows and holds dear his “roots”—family and friends, dear and beloved—confidently walks on Mother Earth with pure soul and a strong spirit!
See more of Alexander’s photos in his Your Shot Gallery.
http://yourshotblog.nationalgeograp...link_fbp201427stepanenko&utm_campaign=Content
In our Long Lens feature, we ask our members about a long-term project or photo essay they are working on. We want to encourage and discover the passion behind a portrait series or a photo essay that tells a story or highlights a social issue.
“ I shoot the forgotten hinterland and the difficult life led by the inhabitants.”
—Alexander Stepanenko
Photographing the Russian Heartland
Alexander Stepanenko, a photographer from Murmansk, has been documenting Russian villages for the past 27 years. After Stepanenko joined Your Shot in 2013, his work was soon recognized by editors. See his photo selected for today’s Photo of the Day on the National Geographic website.
Of the many projects he’s worked on, his most compelling are “The Saami of Russia” and “Everday Arkhangelsk Village.” Says Stepanenko: “I am inspired by nature, by the open spaces of our north, and by my meetings with interesting people.” Here, he talks about both of these bodies of work.
The photo essay “Everyday Archangelsk Village,” started in 1987, [includes] photographs in which I try to show the problems of the real people of Russia, specifically in the small village of Ozerki in the district of Arkhangelsk. There is no work, the youth leave the village, old people die. Now there are only a few residents in Ozerki.
However, these people are special because of their diligence, simplicity, sincerity, hospitality, and patience. These people are good, but they have a lot of problems. They are fulfilling different destinies than those of today’s youth. It is nostalgic and sad to see these dying villages. I use photography to bear witness to the past.
I began working on “The Saami of Russia” in 1991, and I continue to photograph these reindeer herders. I started using black-and-white film and then moved to color film and now to digital. It is a story about the revival of consciousness of the Saami people, who have lived for many centuries on the Kola Peninsula in harmony with nature. Some of the Saami people have already died, but their children and grandchildren are still alive with the bright memory of them.
The tree fixedly stands on the ground only with deep and strong roots. He fears neither wind nor cold. The man who knows and holds dear his “roots”—family and friends, dear and beloved—confidently walks on Mother Earth with pure soul and a strong spirit!
See more of Alexander’s photos in his Your Shot Gallery.
http://yourshotblog.nationalgeograp...link_fbp201427stepanenko&utm_campaign=Content
