Ivan and the Moon

I started the series when Ivan, the elder brother, was 16. Andrey, nicknamed “Moon”, the younger, was 14. The two brothers used to live in a distant village in the northern part of Russia. Later they moved to Severodvinsk to study. Now, Ivan is back from the army and works at a submarine constructing factory, while Andrey has left to carry on his military service in May, 2015.

When I photographed them the first time they were not like city teenagers, with completely different moral values and a fairy tale world around and, as seen by me, inside them: they went hunting and fishing, could use a joiner's chisel, played with ghosts at abandoned places, did not want to move to a city, loved nature. 

Mature and childish. Naive and enigmatic. 

We became good friends, staying in permanent contact through years.