Magnum Blog / Moscow Calling

Moscow Calling

I am sitting in a café having a good plate of pasta. Nothing remarkable about this, but this is Moscow, and I still carry memories of struggling to find anything half decent to eat when I first visited this city in the early 90s. Now there are good eating places everywhere, as this is a city flush with cash. The Gucci store in downtown Moscow generates more income per sq metre than any other Gucci outlet in the world. Russia. McDonalds in Moscow. 1992. © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos I came to Moscow in 1992 and photographed in the first McDonalds that opened here. There were long queues to experience this icon of the America. I still remember, with almost disbelief, the excitement and thrill of the diners. Now of course, there are Yellow arches everywhere here, and not a queue in sight. Funnily enough, it is the only time I have been granted permission to photograph in a McDonalds. I have asked since, and always had permission declined. This does not prevent me going in and shooting, especially in the likes of China, where being thrown out by a faintly embarrassed duty manager gives a certain thrill. And remember like speed dating, there is always another target just down the road. Russia. Moscow. Millionaire's Fair. 2007. © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos Back to Moscow, where I am photographing the 2nd Millionaire's Fair. Talk about bling, the Muscovites have no hesitation in showing off their wealth. One can buy a helicopter, mobile phones encrusted with diamonds or an apartment in Dubai. One suspects the really wealthy do not want to be seen here, but those that do show up on the opening night are exactly what you think the wealthy should look like. The women wear the latest label, the younger women all have glowing long hair, many keep their furs on, despite the heat. Champagne is everywhere, and never seems to run out, there are people rolling cigars and handing these out, canapés come at you at every angle. Traditionally poverty has been the front line for the concerned photographer, I am happy to reverse this, and for many years have photographed the wealth of the West. These images will all accumulate towards a suite of photographs entitled "Luxury" I am convinced that the non stop growth and the wealth we create has many problems associated with this. The Millionaire's Fair is in Krokus Park, an exhibition Centre about 20 KM from the centre of Moscow. Getting there can take up to 2 hours, when I return late at night, it takes 25 min, such is the congestion on Moscow's roads. The next stop on this wealth tour is the Chinese Motor show in Beijing next April. I must get a hotel where I can walk there, rather than being stuck in traffic.

susana raab

really interesting post, martin. i think that photographing what some would feel is the inverse of concerned photography is spot-on. i'm curious as to how you go about researching and finding the events that will become your subjects. or are print sales and/or the market for sadaam watches that good that you're being invited as a possible consumer?!

ira

Yeah!!! I remember that 1992-Mcdonalds .....
Terrible times!!!

Don Olson

I am glad to see posts like these Martin. Life is life, both the ups and downs and for a photographer to ignore one for the other is preying on the sympathy card being PC and hoping for a Pulitzer for sales. My chant, "Please God spare me from any more Katrina photos." How trite they are getting to me is a memorable one where the fellow is standing on the diving board gazing into his swimming pool. Probably wondering how he can get the taxpayers to pay for cleaning up his mess.
Sorry to all but I'm all out of sympathy. Some folks need help, some need to help think about helping themselves up and out.

Robert Haynes

Martin - I think Beijing has seven ring roads, though the traffic is pretty awful still. More roads, more cars.

Along with this idea though that something bad will come of the wealth of the west, capitalism has been as much a force for stability it has had catastrophic influences. China is a perfect example of this. The pursuit of luxury is a queer thing though - can't wait to see the Luxury book.

Alysson Gomes

I like the way you photograph things I would never photograph, Martin. Not bad things at all, or things not worthy, but situations in which I would not "fit". I'm one more of those old fashion social documentary photographers... You must know us well, ahn?
Your pictures remember me of a concept of "extreme" that is often forgoten in photography. When intended to photograph "human nature" (whatever this thing means) photographers rush to devastated countries, crap villages and so on, as if humanity could only manifest itself in the face of complete disgrace.
I always remember this when I see your pictures. Sometimes they portray that kind of dream that has infiltrated most of our cultures... something to talk about, I think. Maybe some issues like those you photograph are amongst the most powerful faces of our time. The other "extreme", you got it? Works such as yours really make me think.

Thanks for sharing, man. See you around!

Alysson Gomes, Brazil.

Joel Aron

Brilliant. Martin, nothing makes me happier than to see that you were there to capture the Millionaire's Fair, and the tease of that single image has me starving for the main course. The swirl of wealth in Moscow, stung me like a rubber band snap to my eyelids. Black v12 BMW limousines gliding down the sidewalk to skirt the stopped traffic in the street, was my first taste this last spring for a 4 day work stay. "Where can I buy more film?" I thought, stepping back on to the sidewalk.

Thanks for the blog entry!

Rejane

Very interesting post, and the two images say a lot! I read it with a lot of interest, since I went to Moscow for the first time a couple of weeks ago and had a shock. The toughness of everything around, starting with the weather, the darkness, the wealth of few thrown to the face of the others, was fascinating, but in a very scary kind of way. I couldn't help thinking that possibly, the political regime does not change a whole lot to the state of things there: whoever has the power will do everything to get the most out of it and leave nothing for the masses. Tsars, KGB bosses or today's billionnaires: same story. Where does it come from? Did the climate make people tough? Or am I getting everything totally wrong? Very possible too...
Thanks for your post.

wangxiaogang

Hi Dear Martin,

I love your shots very very much. I love the style you watch the world and have been wondering how one can find such a subtle way watching the world.

Best Regards

Alessandro

Slow, inesorable, continous and ironic study of modern society.
Thank you Martin.

s basu

I really enjoy Martin Parrs blogs, the text as well, apart from his outstanding pictures, fresh and inovative and not of war and misery that seems to go for photojournalism for most. . Thanks . Pl carry on

Joni Karanka

Ha, I'll always remember and correctly attribute that quote on speed dating! (now that I write that, I hope is not stolen) Btw, that second shot is probably the most glamorous Parr shot I've ever seen.

nick

Jesus, you're definitely all photographers here - none of you can write for shit! Nice pictures though.

Eduardo

..."I am sitting in a café having a good plate of pasta"...
In Moscow? when in Italy, martin, come visiting my mother for dinner...
thanks for sharing.

toothpick_tp

I know several people who visited Moscow and who were satisfied with their trip. I think that it is important to take photos, as they will remind you of the places you visited.

Nice home

It would be great to see other photos you made in Russia in early 90s. It's always curious to see one's country through the eyes of the foreigner.

Len Kowitz

Thank you Martin and Magnum,
This maybe the best blog on the web!!!!!!!

Peter

I'd suspect you taking your 'wealth' shots in Moscow and Beijing...because of the easy predictability and sexy shock effect: commies gone rich. This kind of shark economy wealth is everywhere, of course. But perhaps not as sexy.

Martin Fuchs

Hey Peter! I always appreciate your comments a lot. But I do have to say that I don't agree with your comment at all. If you look at Martin Parr's work you'll notice that he certainly doesn't focus his energy and creativity only at places like Moscow or Beijing to make a statement or document the current state of things. He photographs in England, Germany, etc., etc. as well. I think that says it all. Not true?

martin parr

Martin you are right, Moscow was just the latest port of call in my desire to track down the manifestations of the wealth of the West. In the last year I have shot in Dubai, Paris, the UK, Rio etc.
India and China are of course the 2 countries that have the biggest growth, and are therefore of great interest to me. I shall be photographing in both in the next year.
Yes I do know about the crazy ring roads in Beijing and one is as likely to be stuck in traffic there as anywhere else.

lee howard

i am a photography student and we have been looking how Martin has looked at Middle and Upper classes and found very telling and powerful images there, i love them.

Peter

Dear Martin & Martin,

My point is that "shark wealth", which is on display here has little to do with "economic growth". You'll find plenty of Bentleys, Hummers and designer jewelry in Kiev, Chisinau, Kinshasa and Phnom Phen.

willmelling

I guess most photographers who photograph poverty do so because they see it as an injustice, as something that should be changed and that they hope their work will help in that process. I wonder then what Martin's hopes are; does he see wealth as an injustice and does he have any hopes of his work leading to social change?

d weber

Hi Martin;

Great quote about getting kicked out and finding another just like speed dating - I will remember that the next time I try to photograph something and feel slightly embarassed to take my camera to the eye, worrying about getting kicked out and confronted. Man I hate confrontation - but now I will view it as speed dating! I too was at the Millionaire's Fair, I thought I saw you and thought dammit - Parr's here! But I also reckoned that many people were also there for show, to pretend that they were millionaire's as I really don't the legit ones were there. Russians have a thing called 'pokazuka' (spelling) which basically means the facade is most important; what goes in reality is another matter, but for you and me not to know. Well, that's what I was looking for - and looking forward to see what else you took there.

Oh - I live over here now, and when I go into McDonald's I still see older people eating their Big Macs with spoons - apparently when McD first came to Russia, most people didn't know how to eat a hamburger so they used their spoons!

Thanks for the post and your words.

martin parr

I do not mind if it is shark wealth, or any type of wealth. It is how it looks that counts. I could easily go to Kiev to locate this, or indeed anywhere. However it is a better story if it is in Moscow, Beijing or Mumbai. Please never forget I am creating my own fictions out of reality. That is what documentary is all about. Within this fiction it is also possible to create a sense of Zeitgeist about the world, and this is a bonus that I attempt to create.

andrebonito

Magnum photographers tend to talk and write like philosophers, it's in Magnum's ADN.

But since it is a company that sells photographs to the press it makes a lot of sense that their

photographers also set eyes and film ( or pixels) on the wealthy of the world. Martin is a great documentary photographer even if he sometimes blast colours to an extreme.But I like it too !!!

Vicki

It will be interesting to see the final series, and what kind of 'luxury' you build. It's so subjective. My luxury is time (that old chestnut!).

Eric Monarque

I was in Russia in January 1990 on a Transsiberian journey leading to Beijing. Endless queues to purchase staple goods or even a mere bottle of vodka were common occurrences. Army officers’ uniforms were traded in squalid apartments for a pair of jeans or any good from the West. I currently live in Shanghai since 7 years and have also witnessed its wild transformation and growing individual wealth. Emerging countries, by the speed of their development, are like open wounds that allow us, by contrast, to see what really lie within.

Interestingly, extreme wealth possibly leads to solitude as much as poverty does. I should say "solitudes" as there are as many solitudes as there are human beings. Your photography often depicts people wedged in situations or being part of something they can't fully comprehend. Their facial expressions either seem withdrawn, transfixed or struck by surprise, like a deer caught by headlights (or a ring flash…) on a pitch black mountain road seconds before impact. It’s also about the identity of locations, human dwelling, habitat, remnants and leftovers of consumerism. Human existence always lie on the brink of absurdity, so much that we carry on living without questioning. I believe your work is a true social commentary; one which seems to carry on asking “why?” in an outrageous chromatic gamut.

Thanks for sharing.

Robert Haynes

Perhaps luxury is a kind of death? I anticipate that a few of these luxury images will make me think of a pharaoh buying up goods to adorn his corpse in the pyramid.

There's also the huge sense of the subjects in these photos creating their own fiction, and withdrawing somewhat from the world as we commonly know it. Again, another death?

toa

interesting thought , beautiful picture ...always ...

its the same when calcutta has it 1st MCD or KFC
the town stop, its like a mini national holiday .

i remember when the 1st KFC came intown, its so far . some where on the way to the airport more then 10km from the main town , and yet we drove there . lol

Serge

I've been to Moscow in February 1990. No MacDonalds at that time though. And it was indeed hard to find any decent food. But since, luxury goods from our Western countries have flooded the Russian/Eastern European market. Last year I visited Kiev twice and I couldn't belief what I saw: expensive European cars, cell phones, flat screen tv's, fastfood restaurants and large clothing stores all over the place. This generates a boring uniformity all over the world...

dannyboy Pata

i like the photographs it shows how russians trying get away with the old culture they had during the communist rule.

Daniel Kitchur

That's INSANE that it takes that long to travel by automobile in Moscow. I'd feel guilty sitting in a vehicle for THAT long for such a short distance. Good idea on deciding to walk while you're in Beijing. Don't forget there's always the metro systems too in all the great cities of the world. GOOD LUCK

dannyboy pata

oh yeah my regret not seeing the logo of mc donald. it seems that russiasn now a days is being colonized by comercialization of western country.thanks.

Patrick

Hi Martin Parr,
I like your fotos very much - very much your `ringflash` fotos - if you are in germany maybe you can make fotos from philipp bayer (kung fu master with one hand) -