Igor Vereshchagin / Given&Stolen

Igor Vereshchagin. Given&Stolen

Igor Vereshchagin is a master of genre and portrait photography. He was born in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky, in the Sverdlovsk region. Since 1994 he has lived in Moscow. He collaborated with leading Russian magazines, from Ogonyok to Classic Rock and Digital Photo. He has also worked as photographer on film shoots with Sergei Bodrov, Pyotr Todorovsky and Garik Sukachov, and created album covers, billboards and posters for groups such as The Untouchables, Splean, Bi-2 and Jethro Tull.

The ‘Gifted & Stolen’ series features portraits of celebrities including Annie Leibovitz, Ringo Starr, Iggy Pop, Garik Sukachov, etc., and genre scenes ‘captured’ by the photographer while travelling the world. The project is accompanied by the author’s electro-acoustic soundtrack, combined with episodes of the avant-garde ‘live’ sound of five cellos.

Igor Vereshchagin looks at the essence of the photographer’s work, the ways he interacts with the world and the magic that exists at the moment each image is created. There is an initial understanding and trust between the author and model in the portrait session, making it a joint task, of dialogue and cooperation.
When it comes to street photography, the artist’s ability to ‘seize’ the most vivid moment from life always takes precedence. Can it be seen as ‘stolen’? Or does it actually belong to the photographer who managed to ‘catch’ this particular moment in his focus?