Yevgeny Kanaev: “The German woman turned to the sun – and her eyes lit up, and the Jewish woman opened her eyes like a butterfly-wings”

The photo exhibition "To be..." on Baumana Street tells the stories of 39 representatives of different nationalities.

The “To be...” photo exhibition continues to work in Kazan on Baumana Street, the exposition includes pictures of 39 representatives of different nationalities. Each of the exhibits is a part of the great history of human life, which is linked with the capital of Tatarstan. Yevgeny Kanaev, an author of the exhibition, photographer, member of the Union of Photo Artists of Russia, the Union of Journalists of Russia, Honored Worker of Culture of Tatarstan, told about the exhibition, shooting location and the value of the photo exhibition, to the KZN.RU portal.

“Due to the black and white tones, it does not look like a tourist site”

A photo exhibition opened on the main pedestrian street of the city at the end of August. Residents of Kazan participated in its creation. A brief story about how people from different countries ended up in the capital of Tatarstan is written under each photo.

In total, we made 10 photo shootings. Someone took photos at home, with his family, someone-in the park, in the studio, on the street and in a cafe. In each individual case, the location of the shooting affected the mood of the photo, adds Yevgeny Kanaev.

All the pictures are black and white: according to the photographer, this makes the exhibition unique, creates a certain mood. Due to the calm tones, the exposition does not look like a tourist site, near which you need to take a picture and go further, the author believes.

Shooting in the moment and choosing one image out of hundreds

For each hero of the shooting, the photographer made dozens, and sometimes hundreds of shoots, from which they later chose one – the most successful and emotional. It is interesting that for many of the models, the most successful and bright was the very first image. “For example, I like the photo of a German woman. I decided to shoot it big. She turned to the sun – and her eyes lit up, I caught this moment, - the photographer shares his impressions. – Or a photo of a Jewish woman – it is the first shot. She looked at me, her eyes wide, like a butterfly spreading its wings. And no matter how many shots I made later, this one was still the best.”

With each model, there were different approaches: it happens that people come for a photo shooting and start posing from the first minutes. While you need to talk to someone to relax a person to show real emotions. According to the photographer, he worked mainly in the moment – the emotions with which the characters came to the shooting reflected in the photo.

“People understand that this is a serious job”

The open-air exhibition attracts many visitors and thousands of passers-by. “In fact, I was fascinated by this project because it is an opportunity to show my work to a large number of people, - the photographer adds. – But I liked the project, its valuable social message – how people of different nationalities are united by life in one city – in Kazan. I am glad that the project has covered not only foreigners – a Russian and a Tatar have also become the heroes of the exhibition.”

The exhibition already has many positive responses, in particular in social networks. “I saw comments: “Wow, Kazan is such a cool city.” It was nice to read it, says Y. Kanaev with a smile. He received words of gratitude from the heroes of the shooting – many of them promised to send pictures to their relatives and friends living in other countries.

The exhibition on Baumana Street is located near the building of the Tatarstan National Bank and will last until October 30.