Roofing and spelunking underground passages are so 2011. So says 22-year-old Vadim Makhorov, whose photos from atop vertiginous towers, about crumbling Soviet-era factories, and inside tunnels of working metro systems have wowed internet users and made his blog one of the most popular in Siberia. Seeking both adrenaline and just the right shot, the Novosibirsk native is now venturing into “infiltration”: accessing sites that are closed to the public and oftentimes guarded. His blog, which is located at dedmaxopka.livejournal.com, provides a glimpse into Russia’s industrial system: rusty, gigantesque, and out-of-this-world. Editor Maria Antonova caught up with him...
Russian Life: How do you find objects of interest for your photographs, especially in cities that you don’t know well?
Vadim Makhorov: It depends on the type of object. If it’s a tall structure, you can see it as soon as you climb on any roof in the city and look around. Underground objects are a little bit more difficult. In order not to spend too much time finding them, we search for information in advance on the internet. Often we find people in unfamiliar cities that also like exploring underground passages and roofs, and they help us.
I pick landmarks if they are visually impressive and inaccessible. It’s also nice when the views are good from the tall objects and if the underground ones have a well-developed underground network.
RL: How do you access the working industrial sites? Would it be more difficult to photographs such places in the West?
VM: I don’t think there is any sort of oversight problem that is particular to Russia. Any site in any country can be accessed if you really want to do it and think about how to achieve it. Cameras or sensors and the human factor are two security aspects that can prevent access, but they can be resolved. People have a tendency to be distracted by their own needs or by inattentiveness. As for cameras, that is more difficult and needs to be considered. There is no universal method.
I take pictures both legally and illegally. When it’s legal, there is no element of a game, there is no excitement of the break-in, but when it’s illegal, you usually have less time to photograph things in detail.
RL: How did you become interested in this type of photography?
VM: It started when I decided to photograph a railroad station where I worked part-time. Back then, I liked to take black and white pictures, and the result was harshly industrial. Still, I wanted more, and I started looking for more interesting objects, which quite often turned out to be closed to the public. Hence my attraction to infiltration and urban tourism.
I usually don’t use any equipment, unless it is physically impossible to climb down a shaft, for example. A camera doesn’t inhibit this, I am so used to it that don’t even see the point of climbing without it.
RL: Are there particular places where you still would like to visit?
VM: In Russia I have visited most sites that I could access illegally. Currently the surge of popularity in roofing (climbing roofs) and digging (exploring underground passages) has died down, and I am interested in photographing industrial sites, factories, and other massive structures. Despite this, there are still two places in Russia that I would like to see: the star on top of the main skyscraper of Moscow State University, the most beautiful Stalinist skyscraper in Moscow, and the new cable bridges that are being built in Vladivostok: their pylons are supposed to be 320 meters high!
RL: Have you ever been in truly dangerous or otherwise unpleasant situations during your exploring?
VM: We’ve seen our share of them. Once security caught us in the metro and thought we were terrorists. They held us in the station for a really long time, called the FSB, took all of our phones, memory cards, and cameras, and held them for a week. But there have also been cases where they were trying to catch us but failed. Any trip to a restricted site is dangerous, where you need to be prepared physically and mentally for anything.
How we climbed to the Sts. Peter and Paul cathedral [see front cover], for example, was a matter of luck. First we wanted to gain access through the museum, but it was closed. So we decided to climb the rain pipes to the roof of the cathedral. Then inside the tower through an open window. When we were in, we saw many bells, and a staircase up, so we kept climbing higher and higher. Everything was open! But when we were inside the spire, we heard voices. It turned out that the clockmaster had brought some of his friends to show them the views from the spire’s window. When we caught up to them they asked us who we were, and we said we’re photographers who take pictures of St. Petersburg from high up. They didn’t try to stop us, but on the contrary, gave us all the time we needed.
RL: What were some of the most interesting places for you, or any particularly interesting people you have met in your travels?
VM: This summer we hitchhiked through 20 cities, in each one we met kind and interesting locals that joined us in visiting unique sites. I especially liked the water-cooling tower in Yekaterinburg, it was the first time I accessed a working water-cooling tower and inspected the principles of its work, taking pictures inside. I also liked the construction site of the Chelyabinsk metro, which is mostly focused on drilling and blasting. I remember the Shukhov powerline near Dzerzhinsk – a truly impressive hyperboloid structure. In St. Petersburg I very much liked St. Isaac’s and Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedrals. RL
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