I´m a big fan of Igor Moukhin´s photography and I casually discovered him through his Flickr page. The reason behind why I like the images seems to be that in a way they are pure photography for me. They are direct, playful and not charged with cliches and artifacts. There´s a certain naturality in them. Igor somehow manages to shoot like a witness of life, that every so often strikes the right key. There is that casual feel about them that I love...
And I have a bad feeling that I´m misrepresenting him when I´m choosing images to show here. I´d rather go and give a visit at his webpages. Ok, back to topic. There´s even an article written about Igor over here with a lot more information in it that I could ever give. For example, I already forgot to say that he´s Russian. And that he´s been documenting the life of his country since the 1980´s. Non stop. I´ll quote: "Born in Moscow in 1961 and Moscow-based ever since, Moukhin was an original member (1989-91) of the influential group Immediate Photography, founded by his contemporary, the artist, teacher, and curator Alexei Shulgin." So yeah, he´s not some random guy you bump into in flickr it seems.
That´s the sort of stuff that makes me want to go out and take pictures. The sense of freedom and immediacy of the 35mm camera. No bullshit. Just reality hitting straight from the world into the film plane. Anywhere, anytime. It´s a pity I don´t have more to say really. I´ve been thinking about posting this for maybe two or three weeks now, and I just don´t have any words to add. Just a few images and reminding that I already used one of his images to start a post about tilted photographs.
6 comments:
I didn't know Moukhin's photography and just had a great time diving in his photos. I also had the feeling to go out and shot. That's energy!!
Thank you!!!
I guess he's not the easiest guy to find around, but yes, some of it has that... oh god... I just want to go out and shoot... no worries anymore...
Igor Moukhin also happens to be one of the few good documentary photographers who documented the transition of Russia from the Communist epoch into what it is now; he also documented a lot of the underground scene in Russia. I agree with you in that I also like honesty and the absence of mannerism in his photography.
In case you don't know, he also has a blog, in which he posts a lot more stuff than on his website or Flickr: http://im-foto.livejournal.com/
Hey Arcady! Nice to see you around as well. Yes, lack of mannerism can create stunning images nowadays (imho).
Btw, Igor finally replied that he liked this post. I emailed him three times. Two threatening that I'd write a post about him and the third saying that I wrote it. Cool to know that he's satisfied!
Yes, he seems to be a pretty easy going person with regards to letting others display his pictures non-commercially. He mentioned in his blog that, pretty much, as long as you give proper credits, it's fine.
It's great to see how his photography is interesting for people of non-Russian descent. For me, because I was borne in Russia, there also is a lot of nostalgic value in his pictures, for the whole epoch that's gone forever. He has great sets on the decay of the old Soviet empire, with aging monuments, etc. Some argue about the photographic value of such shots, but to me those are some of my favourite photographs by him.
I also didn't know this photographer. Incredibly good shots. It was my first time visiting your blog... I will come again !
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