Favourite Photographs

I do not really know what favourite photographs are, but I remember very well how I took each of them. Perhaps they are all favourite photographs to me, just as all your photographs are precious to you.

There are no difficult or easy photographs. There are photographs that may be valuable, photographs that were achieved through hard work, photographs that were accidental or anticipated — but they are valuable to me, and to you, because you remember them too. Some people say they prefer staged photographs, others prefer spontaneous ones. I am convinced that this is fundamentally wrong. Good photographs are truthful photographs. They tell a story. You cannot photograph what does not exist, and it is incredibly difficult to convey what happened exactly as you would wish to see it. Again and again.

This is one of my favourite photographs. It is very difficult for me to describe the feelings it gives me, how hard this photograph was to achieve, and what this couple felt at that moment. To describe that truly sincere kiss — as sincere as it could possibly be in December in Manhattan, with a piercing storm wind, a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius, and 100% humidity near the ocean.

Even the fact that I had to shoot without outerwear, because it kept catching on cameras weighing five or six kilograms, stealing precious seconds; and the fact that it was far from safe to move backwards along the pavement through the crowds of Times Square at rush hour. Yes, this photograph is definitely dear to me, just as it is dear to them.

Memorable Moments

Tell me, how often do you remember those beautiful, fleeting moments that have happened in your life? Do you love cinema? Do you have favourite films that you have watched many times and would happily watch again? Or memorable family photographs that you look through with your family, or holiday photographs that you show to your friends? Perhaps such a photograph hangs in your home or stands on your desk. Something that makes you remember those joyful moments that once happened to you, and makes you smile at them almost like a child. Yes or no? I am sure that not many people truly have this.

I will not say whether this is good or bad. I will only say that if you do not have it, you cannot experience what I am talking about now.

Once I visited a friend on some matter — honestly, I no longer even remember why I came — but I remember very well what impressed me for the whole evening I spent there. Above his fireplace hung a beautiful reproduction of Robert Doisneau’s photograph The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, measuring 30 by 40 inches. I cannot describe the feelings and emotions I experienced then, but this is exactly what fills our life in the fullest sense, bringing beauty into those rare moments that remain after everyday routine. You know, I envied him in the kindest possible way.

I will repeat myself again: I will not say whether this is good or bad. I will only say that if you do not have it, you cannot experience what I am talking about, and you cannot fully understand what I do and what I create for you. Right now, I am trying to give you an invaluable service for your whole life, for a very modest reward. Believe me.

— Hi, do you remember Kristina?
— Yes, of course.
— I met her the other day.
— Nice. How are she and Sergey? How long have they been married now? Five years or six?
— No, they recently had their anniversary. It has already been ten years…
— Wow. Time really flies…
— So, how are they?
— Everything is good. They are happy together. The older child is already in the second grade, the younger one is starting next year, going to ballroom dancing and piano lessons.

You know, I do not want to talk about the fact that over those ten years even that good Hugo Boss suit has long since worn out and is no longer fashionable. And the dress… yes, the dress. It was so expensive that even renting it at the time was incredibly costly.

So what was I trying to say with all this, you may ask? Perhaps that no suit or dress, however good, can replace the memory of how you looked in it and what you felt at that time.

Video Archives

I would like to talk about video archives — why they are needed, and whether they are important at all. To be honest, I do not even know where to begin. Perhaps with the difference between material and spiritual values. There are many good things that bring us joy every day, and the more precious something is to us, the more we want it to remain with us for as long as possible. But everything passes, everything changes, and only the memory of it remains. Many things in our lives lose their value, and many acquire it. Perhaps it is a matter of fashion, perhaps we simply change our priorities, but there are things that, by definition, cannot be measured materially.

Today, much has become more accessible, and almost anyone can have a home video archive. I do not know whether this is valuable to you or not, but I know exactly what it cost the people who, in the middle of the last century, filmed on narrow 8mm film with a home movie camera worth as much as a good used car, just to preserve for themselves, their children and grandchildren those precious minutes — sometimes only seconds — of their lives. Video without sound! But was it important to them? Was it important for them, filming on film with manual focus, to preserve the memory of those moments of life? You cannot imagine what an object of envy this was at a time when not everyone could even afford to go to a photo studio for a family portrait.

Think about what you will do when your children and grandchildren grow up and create their own families. How often will you see them? How often will you remember how you raised them, how their birthdays passed, how Thanksgiving and family holidays were celebrated? Remember where it all began, and think about who will be beside you then — and whether they will be. Can the possibility of preserving memory be measured? Is the birth of a new family not a reason to think about this?

Value what you have. To be rich means, above all, to become rich spiritually.