Leningrad Region



Leningrad Region

Name: Alexander Solo

Age: 39

Profession: Photographer

City: Leningrad Region. I live in Pikalyova.

How long have you been doing photography? What style or genre most interests you? Since childhood. In general, I studied to be an artist, but photography won out. I was too restless to be an artist. But for a photographer restlessness is a virtue.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for? Pikalyova is located not far from the St. Petersburg-Vologda road. City-forming enterprises produce alumina and cement.

What is something about your city that only locals would know? In 2008, the cement factory was almost shut down; for a few months people did not receive their salaries. The local union did its job well and organized protest actions. The strikers closed the federal highway that passes near the city, and Putin came and sorted everything out. He is our benefactor. Now everyone in the city is staying put, do not want to leave, and believe that if something happens, Putin will come to their aid. But it's better to live without hope – it forces you to stir, to do something. Now the tendency is to act like this: as soon as there is a production downturn and people start to grumble, they send some people with briefcases, suddenly payrolls are paid and the factory has a state order. In order that there not be an uprising. But what comes of this? Does life get any better? If the factory is making things that no one wants to buy and the goverment forces someone to buy it? Does our life improve as a result?

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city? The ski path that runs along the city's edge. Despite the fact that smoke from smokestacks is visible from there, the air is clean.

The Firebird graffiti. Gleb Tyurin, a businessman and public figure who is committed to the city's development, brought in a famous graffiti artist and he did several paintings throughout the city. They promoted it all nicely; locals scratched their heads for a long time, grumbled and said it was money wasted; in short, they didn't have a clue why they needed it. But soon enough the entire city began to be covered with wall murals by local artists. These are definitely worth checking out.

Anything else you would like to add? I and some other photographers travel the country, and Leningrad Region in particular, in order to tell others about something that is interesting, alive, entertaining and Russian. We want to bring it to life, in order to prove that, first of all, there is something good in our country. Our project "Invisible Cities",  is a documentary project dedicated to Russian industrial towns. There are hundreds of cities in Russia, where life depends on the "city-forming" enterprise. There is a special word for these towns in Russian: моногород (monogorod), combining the words "single" and "town," meaning a single company town.

Personal photo website

Invisible Cities website

Invisible Cities Instagram: @monogoroda

 



Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955