Sokolniki Park will be the worst place for any celebrity to hide out this weekend as professional and amateur photographers take over the park for a festival.
The festival will have special workshops on different aspects of photography — from taking portraits of people to animals — as well as talks from famous photographers and exhibitions.
“The festival is a great event as it gives everyone the chance who is interested in photography to get an answer to the huge number of questions that they have,” said Darya Pushkaryova, who is giving a master class on how to take photos of animals. “It is not every day that you can spend some time with leading photographers and speak with them. … You can come on photographers’ day and learn more than if you had spent months trying to find and learn information from photo web sites.”
Photography has become noticeably more popular in the last few years as cameras that were only accessible to professionals have come within the price range of many Muscovites.
“The festival is really important,” said Yelena Karneyeva, a kids and family photographer. “Nowadays, there are more and more people with cameras around, but how many professionals are there among them?”
The organizers, a local photo magazine, hope to make the event an annual one. It was supposed to take place on July 12 — the name day of Saint Veronica, the patron saint of photography — but it was postponed because of the smog that covered the city.
Veronica was the woman in the Bible who wiped the face of Jesus on the way to his crucifixion. An image of Jesus was left on the towel.
“We expect professional photographers as well as amateurs,” said Yulia Shauerman, spokeswoman for Rossiiskoye Foto magazine. “But, of course, we welcome everyone who is not indifferent to the art of photography.”
Visitors have to pay 80 rubles ($2.60) for entry to the park, plus individual fees to get into the venues where the events will take place. Entry to these cost between 300 and 390 rubles.
Apart from the photo-orientated events, festivalgoers can also take part in go-carting, paintballing and cycling.
The “Photography Day” festival takes place Saturday and Sunday at Sokolniki Park. Metro Sokolniki. www.photoholiday.ru