Encounters

Можно?

How do you approach a stranger on the streets? How do you ask to take a photograph without speaking the language? What seem to be barriers at first make it easier in the end. You just ask. Its easier to speak a few words, but it works just as well without. You show the camera. They gesture to go ahead. There’s only a single exposure. Nobody can see it, because its an analog camera and there’s nothing to talk about, since we don’t share a common language. A handshake. No words needed.

Можно (мozhno) is russian for “may I?”

Vladivostok, Far East.
Vladivostok, Far East.
Novosibirsk, Siberia.
Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal.
Olkhon Island, Lake Baikal.
Posol’skoye, Buryatia.
Countryside, south of Ulan-Ude.
Countryside, south of Ulan-Ude.
Sakhyurta, Siberia.
Irrkutsk, Siberia.
Posol’skoye, Buryatia.
Kazan, Tatarstan.
Moscow.