Girl-cadets
Boarding school no 9 is one of Russia’s military academies. The Russian nation is divided by politics, and the Russian authorities want pro-government education to be stronger. It offers its pupils a strong spirit of discipline and patriotism. It’s just like the usual boarding school, but here girls not only attend maths and history classes. They reassemble AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles in less than a minute. Also they have first aid, arms, drill and federal law classes. The military uniform is obligatory at all time, except for ballet and fencing classes. Mobile phones are banned except for a few minutes per day to talk with their parents. The only time the girls can be girls and wear dresses is at the Winter ball during New Years eve.
What will these girls be after they finish the school? Will they be soldiers or doctors? Or soldiers wives? Or police officers arresting opposition supporters? Or will one of them become President of Russia?
We will soon see.
Alexander Zemlianichenko
My interest in photography started in school. With a compact camera I took shots of my parents and friends and views of many scenes. Very soon I realized that I needed more opportunities and one day a dream came true- one of the friends of my parents- Andy Hernandez, a Newsweek photographer at that time, gave me his used SLR camera. This was real luck for me. I took pictures of my teachers and of classmates during and after the lessons. The school director liked my pictures and I even made a school exhibition of daily life in the school’s hall. After school I entered the cameramen department of the All-Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK). The world of cinematography was very interesting for me, especially the documentary. I started working for TV, my SLR camera was almost always with me, but the chances of taking pictures and developing my skills were rare while working, so I had to concentrate my photography efforts during the weekends.
That was not enough , I wanted more time for photography. So after I graduated and entered the compulsory army service, I applied for a job at the Russian military newspaper Red star and got a staff position- a piece of good luck for me. I have worked at that newspaper for 5 years, as well as shooting for Newsweek magazine international and Russian editions, for Ogonyok magazine, for L’Express, for Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press and for major Russian newspapers including Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Since 2007 I have worked on assignments for World Picture Network agency and for their clients.
In 2007 I received a Russian Press Photo award for a story about girl-cadets in Moscow. In 2008 I was selected for the Eddie Adams Workshop.
Since 2008 I’m also collaborating with Bloomberg News agency and The Associated Press and Ogonyok magazine and other clients and also working on my own projects.
In 2012 I received a Best of Russia award for a portrait of WWII veteran.
In 2012 I took part in ‘Best of Russia’ exhibition, ‘PhotoBoloto’ exhibition in Moscow and ‘Artifactual’ exhibition as a part of Fotofest in Houston, USA.
