The first week in September, for the first time ever, 185 photographers — from more than 30 provinces, cities and towns throughout Russia, Ukraine and Belarus — came together for a week-long conference about contemporary Russian photography. Jim Casper of Lens Culture magazine was there and writes:

“This great, diverse group of photographers was chosen from more than 2,400 applications. The participating photographers had the opportunity to show and discuss their work in a series of one-on-one meetings with 45 international photography experts (who came from 5 continents).

Of course, the photographers and experts also met each other, many for the first time. And during one special evening, the general public was invited to view the work of all 185 photographers. That was an overwhelming success.

I was very fortunate to be invited to meet the participating photographers and review their portfolios. I met one-on-one with 62 of them, each for 20-minute sessions, speaking directly, or with the help of expert translators. It was a very exciting experience to discover, first-hand, such a wide range of excellent photography that, in most cases, had never been seen outside of Russia before.” READ ALL