Interview with me in Leica liker blog:

#17 PAVEL KOSENKO, Moscow (Russia) Street Photographer

(in english)

Do you know what it a “bull”? It’s a reindeer. They stand in separate herds, or right next to chums in a small corral. By the way, do you know what corral is? It’s an enclosure for deer. It is usually quite large, with enough space for conducting veterinary and zootechnical treatment. Sometimes small corrals are made up for the “bulls”, so that they are always within reach. Large ones are made up rarely, usually twice a year – in the spring and summer, for the piece count (corralization) and marking the herd. Otherwise, deer graze in an open field, procuring reindeer moss with their hoofs within 3-5 km from chum. And do you know what is a “piece”? It’s a part of a herd that departed the main group and went roaming God knows where.

It’s not difficult to trace the “piece” and get it back to the herd in winter. Deer rarely go further than 5 km within one night, which, compared to the size of tundra is just a block away. It’s more complicated when a “piece” joins the herd of the neighboring brigade, since it’s hard to separate them without a corral. Even if there are 10 heads in the “piece” it’s quite some problem, what to expect, when there are 200…

It does occur quite rarely. The “pieces” sometimes do leave the herd, it does indeed happen. But the probability that it would come across another herd in the vast territory of tundra, is very small. Moreover, the migration routes of deer are predetermined and mutually agreed upon in advance. But it does happen every now and then. And if it does, want it or not, the brigades need to catch the “alien” deer and get them back to their herd.

To witness this large scale operation you need to have quite some luck. Matvey, our guide in tundra, said that he has seen it for the first time in the last 10 years. Usually you catch deer for meat, and you only need just 1-2 heads. It takes some 10-15 minutes, maybe even less. Thus, the major part of the photos documenting the process are set acts. Photographers simply do not have enough time to get good photos within such a short period of time, and ask reindeer herdsmen later on to pose, as if they are noosing with tynzyan (Nenets noose for catching deer). I have seen myself a few times how this kind of set acts are taking place.

This time, though, the situation was completely different. The process of catching 200 heads, took… 2 whole days! Not counting an extra day for the preparations. Both me and Sasha Sorin had a chance to watch this process for 5 hours, and even to participate in it. We could have continued to take part, but we were tapped out by then – running in banks of snow, sinking into it up to your waist is quite tiresome.

So, here are some photos from the large scale deer catch. With some comments.

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We wake up before dawn. It’s -10 in chum, quite cold notwithstanding the Arctic sleeping bag and thermal underwear. I was happy to realize that the body that leaned to me throughout the night and made me feel quite uneasy, belonged to a dog.

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While the man on duty heats the potbelly stove, I force myself to get out of the sleeping bag, dress up as fast as possible, and run out to the toilet. Outside temperature is -20, it’s windy and beautiful. The sled is turned on one side, so that dogs don’t get on it.

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After having some tea, we get into the snowmobile, and drive for some 15 km to the meeting point of the two brigades – there, were the mixed herd stands. Here come also the reindeer herdsmen from the other chum – on snowmobiles and sleds.

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The task is to separate about 200 heads from the herd with some 1000 or more.

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Sun rises, and the fog is thinning.

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There’s a cloud above the herd, it’s the breath of the deer. Inside the herd it is usually 5-10 (and sometimes more) warmer than in an open field.

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Anything yummy? The “bull” gets interested. Deer like salt a lot, it’s enough to spill a pinch of salt, they would surely try to lick it.

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We start to rake the herd to a better position – vast open field, bordered on both sides with a river bend, and, thus, with a gorge with high trees and deep snow.

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The herd is pocketed by the snowmobiles and sleds, pushing it in the needed direction. Dogs take active part in the process.

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The herd is positioned, reindeer herdsmen position themselves in the field.

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Other reindeer herdsmen direct the deer from all sides of the field, so that they run directly through the line of the catcher. A deer would never tromp a man. Even if a man would appear on its way unexpectedly, a deer would make a sharp turn, in the worst case covering a man with a pile of snow. The probability of getting injured, of course, remains, but it’s very small.

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Before noosing with tynzyan, the catchers watch the deer running by attentively. Despite the fact that the deer have a mark on their ear, reindeer herdsmen recognize almost all of the deer in the herd by sight. And not only that, they even know how they are related between each other – which one is a mum, which one is son, etc.

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It’s not scary to be in the open field, even if sometimes, deer run by very closely.

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– There it is, catch it! – the reindeer herdsman shouts, and nooses the tynzyan.

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It’s easier to catch a deer that has horns. Otherwise, you have to noose the neck or feet. It’s not always that the tyanzyan reaches its aim – according to my observations it happens in about half of the cases. I tried to noose, but none of my 5 attempts was successful.

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It’s not enough to noose the deer, you also need to hold down the running deer, approach it and cast it on the ground. A deer is cast, holding it to the ground and twisting the horns. If there are no horns, you need to twist the head. In any case, you can’t do it alone. It takes at least two – one casts it and the other ties its feet from one side, forefoot and hindfoot. In such a way, the deer cannot move, and simply lies on a ground, waiting.

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There is nothing bad, however, awaiting them in this case. When the catch is over, the main herd is directed aside, while the captured deer are untied and moved in the opposite direction.

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It’s unusual to see so many people together in tundra – there was about 20 of us.

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When we had caught (or rather photographed) enough, we moved back. There are still more than 100 km on snowmobiles to Naryan Mar, where we need to get today by all means. On route, we stop by the chum of the fourth brigade to have some tea and warm up. There are women and children here, and thus, it’s tidy and the food is tasty.

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30 km further, we stop by the private chums, where people, who are called here “farmers”, are staying, get a package from them to take with us, and move further towards the town. The sun already sets, last 90 km we make in complete darkness.

It was an unforgettable trip. Many thanks to our guides, the “rulers” of tundra, Matvey and Igor Nikolayevich. You can also read a story about this trip, written by Alexandr Sorin in his blog.

My thanks to Karen Hovhannisian for translating this post in English.

Let me share with you 18 photos I took in Eveno-Bytantaysky National District (Sakha Republic, Russia) last month.

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Let me share with you a set of photos by Nikos Economopoulos, © Magnum Photos. In the main black&white, but also some color.

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In this photo we see Alexx Webb :)

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Some color photos:

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Nikos Economopoulos

“I prefer to spend my time in my corner of the world: south Europe and west Asia, where I understand the codes and can make connections. ”BiographyNikos Economopoulos was born in Greece. After studying law in Parma, Italy, he worked as a journalist in his native country. Meanwhile, he pursued photography, and in 1988 he began a long-term project in Greece and Turkey. He photographed whatever he came across on his daily walks: street scenes, public gatherings, solitary meanderers, or deserted landscapes. In 1990 Economopoulos joined Magnum, and his photographs began to appear in newspapers and magazines worldwide. In the same year he started to take photographs in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and the former Yugoslavia, investigating the territorial, ethnic and religious tensions of the region, as well as the endurance of traditional social and religious rites. This work earned him the Mother Jones Award in 1992.

Supported and encouraged by the charity Little Brothers of the Poor, Economopoulos undertook a project on poverty and exclusion in Europe, focusing on Gypsy communities in Greece.

From 1995 to 1996 he photographed lignite miners and the Muslim minority in Greece. In 1997-98, he photographed people living along the Green Line dividing southern and northern Cyprus; illegal immigrants at the Greek-Albanian border; and young residents of Tokyo. During this period he also worked in Macedonia, Albania, Turkey, Corsica, and along the Greek-Turkish border.

In 1999 and 2000, he covered the mass emigration of ethnic Albanians fleeing Kosovo. Concurrently he completed a commission from the University of the Aegean on the preservation of the region’s storytelling tradition. He was given the Abdi Ipektsi Award for peace and friendship between Greece and Turkey in 2001. A retrospective of his work was shown in 2002 at the Benaki Museum in Athens.

It is the first time that I had the chance to go to the place where cold is permanently present. A couple of weeks earlier, several of my colleagues and I have been contacted by representatives of the two ministries of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) – the Ministry of Federal Relations and Communications, and the Ministry of Business and Tourism. They invited us to take part in a big festival called “Winter starts from Yakutia”, which is held in early December each year.

This is not just a celebration, but also one of the key brands of Yakutia. With this event the real winter starts, when Russian Father Frost from Great Ustyug comes to visit the Yakut Lord of Cold, Winter and the Kingdom of Permafrost whose name is Chiskhaan. Together they (drink vodka) celebrate the coming of Symbol Cold, which then starts its pre-new year’s trip through Russia.

Of course, I accepted the invitation to discover Yakutsk with pleasure and don’t regret it at all. On the contrary! This was an amazing trip with great people, bright impressions and intensive events. I am not very good in relating the complete sequence of events, and I don’t really like doing that, but I would like to share with you some of my personal impressions.

Below you will find 7 of the most impressive moments of my trip to Yakutsk. They are not shown in order of importance, as it is quite difficult to classify them. They come in the order in which they came up to my mind when I wrote this article.

1. Geography and climate

The Republic of Sakha is the largest region of Russia. Yakutia area represents 2/3 of the Western European area, it is 6 times larger than France and 13 times larger than the UK . Yakutia represents 1/5 part of whole Russia.

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Many people know that winters in Yakutia are long and cold, and summers are short. But only few know that summer is relatively warm and sometimes even hot. In winter, temperatures can drop at as low as -60 or lower (the overall record is -71.2), and in summer it can rise up to +40. With such a difference, the amplitude of seasonal temperature reaches about 110 degrees.

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Yakutsk welcomed us with an intense warming. One day before our arrival, the temperature was -44, and the day we arrived it increased to -30. “It is warm”, say locals about such weather. Before this trip, I have heard many times from different people that -40 in Yakutia it is not the same as -40 in our latitudes. Meaning that -40 there is like -20 in Moscow region. I don’t know about -40 (the lowest temperature that we could experience was -35), but with -30 it felt exactly the same as -30 in Moscow. So if you come here, dress warmly!

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Most of Yakutia is located in the permafrost. The earth crust is frozen between 500m in depth (near Yakutsk) to 1500m or more (in northern areas). In summer, the earth melts in depth of about 1-1,5m maximum. Surprising but true, this is enough for growing vegetables. People say that in the south of Yakutia they have even learned to gather the harvest of watermelons.

What is more complicated is the graves for people. No one, of course, digs out his relatives, but most probably they look about the same as when they were buried. Actually, thanks to this particular climate, in this region people not only constantly find bones and tusks of ancient animals, but also a well-preserved mummies of wild horses, mammoths and woolly rhinos at the age of two or three dozen millennia.

2. Girls, Girls, Girls again

They are extremely beautiful!!! I have always been sensitive to the Asian looking eyes, but Yakut girls knocked me on the spot. So, here I lie knocked out and it is impossible for me to photograph them. Actually, I thought it was possible, but then I saw this photograph of Petya Lovigin, and realized that competing with him in the shooting of female beauty of Yakutia is beyond me.

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«Aita» © Photo by Petr Lovigin

But I got a couple of pictures of a beautiful girl Nina, one of the organizers of the trip.

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In general, when I spoke during our gatherings in Yakutsk, it often sounded like that: “Let’s drink to the Yakut girls and beautiful women in general, regardless of eye shape!” (All men who read these lines should get up and have a drink while standing.)

3. People

Frankly, I was impressed not only by girls, but also by boys…

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But also by women, men, grandmas and grandpas. Despite the sometimes very sad looks, the face of Yakuts immediately breaks into a smile when you start a conversation. Wherever we were, we were always greeted with open arms, offered the best treats and presented gifts.

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It is clear that the main hospitality came from the organizers and the hosts. What surprised me the most is the personal involvement of the members of the government in dealing with us, mere mortals. Ministers and their deputies came to meet with us without pathos or undue familiarity and we even met with the mayor of Yakutsk. But more than that I was surprised by the fact that officials were not interested in what we plan to write about Yakutia, but in our impressions of her. We had open and official meetings with the media, and also private dinners. There was no difference in the behavior of the officials, they asked the same in both events and felt free to criticize what we saw.

Please meet Mikhail Kulikov, Deputy Minister for Federal Relations and External Affairs of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Our trip was largely due to his initiative. Michael says that it’s not a very good picture (he knows better), but take my word – it is a very kind one.

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But the ordinary people, with whom we had the pleasure to talk a little bit (in markets, public events and other places) made a very positive impression on me. They are open and friendly, although they almost always seem to be very severe.

4. Kitchen and Stroganina

It would be better for vegetarians, animal lovers club members and fans of CSKA to skip this section. Because it will be about the most delicious – young horse meat, bear meat, venison, and of course, stroganina. No, not … Stroganina! With a capital.

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I truly liked the different species of northern meat. Frankly I do not know what to write about it, you just have to try. It is really delicious! But Stroganina deserves special mention. Probably because I love sashimi and raw fish (by the way, I like raw meat a lot too), Stroganina entered into my life and on my tongue as the best treat ever.

What is Stroganina? It’s just raw frozen (to the state “like a brick”) fish, from which you first scrape off the scales and skin, and then cut very thin slices of fishy meat. You then get such white chips that literally melt in your mouth and are not only great food, but also a divine snack with vodka. Most of all I liked the stroganina from whitefish.

Stroganina is a national dish (not just in Yakutia, but for people of the North in general), in Yakutsk there is even a special festival held. On the “Stroganina-2012″, where we were invited, about 20 teams competed in the ability to quickly and correctly (there is a lot of nuances!) cut stroganina.

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The jury was presented dishes of stroganina made by different people. What only didn’t we see there – snakes, ships, plague, Christmas trees from cut fish … Some of them were very artistic!

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5. The Kingdom of Permafrost and ice Stopariki

One of the stops in our agenda was a visit of the Kingdom of the Permafrost. This is an artificial cave, once made in the mountain either for research purposes, or as a warehouse for storage. Today it is a tourist attraction with ice sculptures. Frankly, I do not find such attractions interesting, but nevertheless I was very impressed with this structure.

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Photo by Ivan Dementievskiy

First of all, this is the permafrost, which can be viewed from the inside. In winter and in summer (when it is for example +30), there is always -7. In summer, tourists come here to get cooler after the ice slide and in the winter to warm up.

Second, not a single member of our group was indifferent to the amusement called “Ice Bar”! Its main feature is the icy glasses and cups from which you can drink either vodka or champagne. And then have a bite of stroganina, which you yourself can immediately cut (however, the first time you are unlikely to succeed.)

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6. The hourses of Yakoutia

In general, these horses are like normal horses. They are short, with fur. But it turns out they do not need special food. That means that when the horses are grown for meat, they are, of course, fed with special food. But in ordinary life it is entirely optional. Yakut horses not just quietly tolerate frost up to -60, but also find food themselves, digging the frozen grass.

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7. Government report to the public

This is certainly my biggest surprise. As you know, I’m an apolitical person and I am generally not very interested in what is which government doing and with which goals. But here’s the information with which I was not left untouched.

In fact, for 8 consecutive years, in February of each year, the new government of Yakutia holds a series of events entitled “Report of the Government to the people.” The officials, from high to low grade, are divided into small groups (up to 1-2 persons) and go at different places, even the most remote end of the Republic for a personal meeting with the inhabitants. They tell people about what was done during the year; listen to questions, suggestions and criticism. All this is recorded and then is brought to Yakutsk, where it is discussed, noted, analyzed, etc. Exactly a year later officials again go to the ends of the republic, they say what happened and changed during the past year, what could or could not be done. And so on … for 8 times. In February 2013 will take place the 9th round.

The key idea of this report is that government representatives personally meet with every person in the republic, no matter how far the person is. In the most remote areas you have to fly on a plane, then a helicopter, and then a ride on reindeer or snowmobile. Village clubs, which in real life are not used for such meetings, are specially heated (it usually takes 2-3 days). And all this is sometimes for only 10-12 people, residents of villages on the shores of the North Arctic Ocean.

It is hard to believe, right? I begged the government officials to take me on one of those trips. Perhaps this will be done in February 2013, and then I will be able to show pictures and tell more about it.

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Well, let me add to the above several photographs, which are difficult to be accompanied by some specific explanation. It is just a little visual addition to my verbal impressions of Yakutsk.

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The main impression of the trip is the best represented by this picture :)

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Original post in Russian-version blog:
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/448991.html
My thanks to Anna Sidorova for translating this post in English.

The Living Digit

Size: 17×24 cm
First edition: 7000 copies
284 pages, softcover
More than 200 colour reproductions
Language: Russian
Publishing house: “Treemedia Content”, Moscow, 2013
ISBN 978-5-903788-22-4

This book is about the colour in digital photography. It is written by a coulourist photographer, who builds in his own work upon the artistic knowledge about the colour, and applies the advanced post-processing techniques. The author takes a wholistic approach, looking into all the aspects of working with colour – from the peculiarities of human colour perception, the interrelation between the colour and the composition, the criteria for assessing the colouristic expression, to the process of photography, Raw-conversion, and colour correction in Adobe Photoshop. The technical aspects of working with the digital photography are taken from the point of view of the artistic perception, so that the reader gets the understanding of how to make the instruments serve the creative idea.

The book is intended for wide audience of photographers, and can be of interest as well for the colour correctors, designers, and other specialists, working with digital photography. It aims to help all those, who strive for the colouristic harmony and expression in digital photography.

Table of contents

About the author
Introduction
What is this book about?
Who is this book intended for?
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Let’s agree on terminology
Chapter 2. Where does the colour live?
Chapter 3. Saturated colour
Chapter 4. Undersaturated colour
Chapter 5. Detalization
Chapter 6. Why are the paintings dark?
Chapter 7. Background for the colour
Chapter 8. Light-coloured paintings
Chapter 9. Loss of shadow detail
Chapter 10. More mud and clay – more interplay
Chapter 11. Reference neutral colours
Chapter 12. Why is Kodak warmer?
Chapter 13. Film or digital?
Chapter 14. Painters’ experience
Chapter 15. “Honesty” in photography
Chapter 16. Colour of the skin — red or yellow?
Chapter 17. Issues with the digital colour
Chapter 18. The shortest way
Chapter 19. Raw Photo Processor
Chapter 20. Film profiles in RPP
Chapter 21. Where do diamonds come from?
Chapter 22. An example of processing in RPP
Chapter 23. An example of processing in ACR (Lightroom)
Appendix A. How do the “Curves” work?
Appendix B. RPP for beginners
List of reproductions

Note: “Chapter 23. An example of processing in ACR/Lightroom” is written by Alexander Serakov – an expert on Adobe products and the official speaker of Adobe in Russia.

Sample pages

Where to buy?

The exhaustive list of sites, where the book can be acquired (in Russian)

Currently the book is available only in Russian. By the summer/autumn of 2013 we are planning to publish it also in English translation

My thanks to Karen Hovhannisian for translating this post in English.

Let me share with you a set of photos by Gueorgui Pinkhassov, © Magnum Photos.

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Gueorgui Pinkhassov on Magnum Photos, on Instagram, on Facebook.

Original post in Russian-version blog:
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/423139.html

It used to be a good, handy and practical website for a travel photographer, but with the time passing, my artistic priorities have changed completely. As a result, the whole website had to be recreated, with all the things unnecessary, including some of the images, technical information, and the online shop features, removed. I needed the new site to serve as a portfolio, be very simple and aesthetically appealing, provide the possibility for comfortable viewing of the photos individually or in series, as well as having rich admin options for uploading the pictures, and working with the series (layout design, editing, sorting, etc.). And all that, of course, in two languages – Russian and English.

And now, thanks to Oleg Kotenko and Constantin Mashinskiy, the new website has launched! Seemingly, a website as simple as this, could have been built in a few days. But it took us several months to do that. To a large degree, it’s me to blame, since I needed time to digest the interim results after each phase of the process. For simplifying the things and polishing the details we have had a lot of discussions – we were sharing ideas, talking them over, putting them to life, killing our own ideas and generating new ones. And now I can confidently say that I really do like the results.

www.pavelkosenko.com

P.S. By the way, the website is optimized for viewing on mobile devices, such as an iPhone and iPad.

I will be glad if you like my website and my photos!

My thanks to Karen Hovhannisian for translating this post in English.

This selection of photographs presents a resort town Batumi, which made a very positive impression on me.

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Original post in Russian-version blog:
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/411652.html
My thanks to Anna Sidorova for translating this post in English.

Today I would like to present a small set of my photographs from Tbilisi. I really liked Tbilisi because it is a very photogenic city, and people there are extremely kind. I do not judge this selection as a strong one, because there is not enough light and I did not have enough time to actually get inspired by the atmosphere. Let it be as it is, hopefully I will have the chance to complete it in the future.

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Original post in Russian-version blog:
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/412211.html
My thanks to Anna Sidorova for translating this post in English.