Yuri Norshteyn: On My Image of My Grandfather Leib

My Grandfather Leib

Yuri Norshteyn

1970s

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This picture didn’t just happen through my clicking the shutter… life made it. By the time of the picture, my grandpa had survived the death of his two eldest sons. One committed suicide when he was 48; the other, my father, died in his 51st year. The youngest, Uncle Iosif, didn’t live to see 50. Grandfather was a brave soldier; he fought in the First World War, winning three soldier’s crosses. Looking at this picture, I remembered the old self-portrait of Rembrandt, the one that he made after the death of his son Titus. His smile reflects the sadness of the world… how it comes to all those who suffer; how, as a result, he knows the true meaning of it all…

 2 September 2016

Искусство СССP Soviet Art

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20 September 2014. Our Great Russian Motherland… Morning Breaks in Moscow… It Ain’t Called the Centre for Nothin’

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Moscow… the Centre… the beating heart of Holy Rus wakes up…

My source didn’t say who the photographer was… damn…

BMD

1 October 2013. A Photo Essay. Our Great Russian Motherland… The Kola Peninsula in Autumn

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One of the most northernmost parts of Russia is the Kola Peninsula. The ice-free port of Murmansk is here, along with the main Northern Fleet bases of Polyarny and Severomorsk. The Peninsula lies completely within Murmansk Oblast, and virtually all of the oblast’s territory is on the Peninsula. This is one of the most militarily-significant regions in Russia, the main base for Russia’s submarine strategic nuclear deterrent force is here (although Sevmash, the builder of all Russian nuclear-powered submarines, is in Severodvinsk near Arkhangelsk). Nevertheless, most of the Peninsula is wild, with the total population of 800,000 spread over an area of 144,900 square kilometres (55,946 square miles)… 40 percent of the population is in the single city of Murmansk. Most of the people live in a small area between Polyarny on the Barents Sea and Kandalaksha on the White Sea.

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17 November 2012. A Photo Spread. Our Great Russian Motherland… Up on the Roof… in Piter

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Mood music… Up on the Roof by the Drifters

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St Petersburg, as seen from a rooftop vantage-point. There are nutters who’re dangerous, there are nutters who’re harmless, there are nutters who’re humorous, and there are nutters who’re kinda fun. These “roofies” appear to be of the last sort. It’s kinda nuts to go crawling over roofs, but you’ve gotta admit, they take arse-kicking photos… these snaps are by daredevil photographer Sergei Degtyaryov.

Give ’em a tip of the jug…

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