March 08, 2019

Piter's People – Sergey Goorin


Piter's People – Sergey Goorin
Sergey in front of Nevsky Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Self portrait

St. Petersburg is often thought to be a gray city, as it only has about 75 sunny days each year. Still, photographer Segrey Goorin finds inspiration here for his black and white photography, capturing street life, extraordinary locals and numerous parties. 

Sergey, tell us your story.

I’ve started photographing when I was 14. I went to the photo studio (фотокружок in Russian, basically an extra class after the ordinary school day) at the Palace of Youth Creativity in Petrogradsky District. Officially, I studied there for just four years, because this place is meant only for schoolchildren, but I kept going there regularly until I was 20. I became friends with my teacher and started to help him. I don’t have a higher educational degree; I graduated from the Optical Mechanical Professional Lyceum affiliated with the LOMO company [Lomo LC-A consumer camera was the inspiration for the photographic movement known as lomography]. About six years ago I returned to the Palace of Youth Creativity, and now I teach photography to kids. 

I photograph on film. I tried color photography, but have returned to the basics - typical black and white Leningrad photography. I feel that I’m still searching for myself, but my main topics are the city and its people. I like to shoot street life, parties; to catch energy, motions, gestures, glances. I’m trying to capture it through interesting and distinctive characters.

Party like a Russian
Party like a Russian. / Sergey Goorin

My favorite places in St. Petersburg are Peter and Paul Fortress, Petrograd Side and Yelagin Island. The fortress is super touristy, but I like it for that reason. It’s often full of people with cameras, so nobody pays any attention on me. Probably this place can be considered banal, but I have tons of photos from Petropavlovka [the Russian nickname for the fortress] and they all are very diverse. 

Peter and Paul Fortress
Spring at Peter and Paul Fortress. / Sergey Goorin

Petogradka [what locals call the Petrograd District] is my native region, and I know it inside-out. The “city’s texture” is not damaged here; this is the main feature of my neighborhood. I mean, you walk on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street or Bolshoy Prospect, and almost all houses date from the early twentieth century. They can be stylistically different, but they look like an organic whole. Of course, somewhere there may be ugly, modern architecture, but it doesn’t dominate. As a photographer, I like it here, visually-speaking. 

Petrograd side
Bolshaya Pushkarskaya street. / Sergey Goorin

I like the part of Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street where the Svetoch Typography is located. They used to produce notebooks with a Soviet design, which I remember from my childhood. Until recently, this industrial building has held to its original function. And there is a little wooden house nearby. It intrigued me from an early age, and I always asked my mother: “What's inside this fairytale house?” Its miracle that it was preserved in the city center [the majority of the city's wooden buildings were demolished during the World War II]. The building was recently restored by the Ballet Academy of Boris Eifman and now houses their museum.

I also love the Gulf of Finland and the islands – Yelagin, Krestovsky; it’s a piece of the Baltic Sea which is always nearby (and within the city's borders).

Gulf of Finland
About 10% of St. Petersburg's surface area is water. / Sergey Goorin

In some ways, Yelagin Island has preserved the atmosphere of 1960s. I like the babushkas, who ski there during the winter and then stroll there in summer. This place is especially good if you come on a weekday or early in the morning.

Which places you can recommend to persons interested in seeing authentic St. Petersburg street life?

It may sound strange, but for me this is Dumskaya Street. It is lively, a bit dangerous, but I think not as dangerous as it used to be 5-6 years ago. Because of its endless bars and “rivers of alcohol” it has a vibrant atmosphere, which I like to photograph. Dumskaya intersects with Lomonosova Street, which also has a busy nightlife. You can go to Sadovaya Street, or cross Griboyedova Canal and go to Pif-Paf Bar. I can spend half the night in this little area, shoot several rolls of film, step in into absolutely different places, and eat shaverma in the morning. 

Portrait of an unknown woman near Pif-Paf bar
Portrait of an unknown woman in front of Pif-Paf bar. / Sergey Goorin

My second choice would be Rubinstein Street (even though it may sound obvious and banal). I can just walk there without entering anywhere, but still catch the energy of the place. You can see rich kids, glamorous youth, beautiful women on high heels (no matter the season) and somebody who is completely wasted. I like a little place called Ogonyok [“little fire”]. The entrance is from the arch or from the street through the window. It’s a very small bar with a good coffee machine, just two tables and guys who make cigarettes from 10 different kinds if tobacco. Although I quit smoking recently, sometimes I allow myself to take one cigarette in this cozy place. 

Rubinstein street

Rubinstein street is the city's “dining heaven.” There is a restaurant, café, bar, or pub in almost ever one of the 40 buildings along this compact street. / Sergey Goorin

Addresses:

  • Peter and Paul Fortress
  • Dobbert Mansion - the wooden house on Bolshaya Pushkarskaya Street, 14.
  • Yelagin Island
  • Dumskaya Street
  • Ogonyok - Rubinstein street, 8.

You Might Also Like

Get Thee to Kolomna
  • December 26, 2018

Get Thee to Kolomna

If you want to see the majestic, historic side of St. Petersburg, yet experience an area where people actually live, you should head to Kolomna.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas

This exciting new trilogy by a Russian author – who has been compared to Orhan Pamuk and Umberto Eco – vividly recreates a lost world, yet its passions and characters are entirely relevant to the present day. Full of mystery, memorable characters, and non-stop adventure, The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas is a must read for lovers of historical fiction and international thrillers.  
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
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.
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.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
Russian Rules

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
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.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

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