Saratov



Saratov

Name: Elena Kotova

Age: 38

Profession: Artist, photographer

City: Saratov

How long have you been photographing? What sort of photography most interests you? I became interested in photography when I was 18, while studying in art school. I surrendered to the influence of a girlfriend and began visiting a photo studio. Photography has allowed me to be more free in my compositions than in classical painting. I began by shooting on a Zenit-E, which I borrowed along with some expired film. After my studies I found work in the oldest and best known photo salon in Saratov. There I was able to work in various genres and learn every stage in the creation of an image. I photographed in wide and medium format film, developed, retouched, and printed, all by hand.

Can you give us a short description of your city? Where is it located? What is it famous for? Saratov is on the right bank of the river Volga. The name has Turkic origins and translates as "Yellow Mountain." But there are no mountains here, just hills, which have their own names: Falcon's Mountain, Bald Mountain, Cherry Mountain... The city's crest has three sterlet on it. These are fish of the sturgeon family, which previously were rather numerous in the Volga.

What are some things that only locals would know about the city? 

Not far from Saratov is the place where Yuri Gagarin, the world's first cosmonaut, came back to Earth.

Almost every resident of Saratov has a dacha – in the city, on its outskirts, or on the Volga. It is a very small piece of land with a summer house. We live in our dachas all summer, raising berries, vegetables and fruits... to get ready for the long winter. Anyone who does not have a dacha, but has a boat, spends the summer in a tent on islands in the middle of the Volga. They catch fish, then salt and dry them. Dried vobla is a favorite appetizer to eat with beer.

Which places or sites are a must for someone to see if they visit your city? One must visit Kirov Prospect, the city's main pedestrian street. Or stroll in the evening along Cosmonaut's Embankment. You can also rent a boat and sail in the channels between the Volga islands.

Instagram: @kotofotova

 



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

Some of Our Books

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
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.
How Russia Got That Way

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.
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.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
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