Russia

Starry Nights and a Sleeping Volcano

Russian photographer Boris Dmitriev faced wild animals, impossible terrain and a freezing climate to deliver a collection of nightscapes that show the Russian countryside to a cosmic backdrop

“I love the nature that’s native to Russia. Swamps and forests, fields and rivers, and spectacular mountains ranges, too. This is the charm of my country’s nature, and I wanted to show it to the world.”
“I love the nature that’s native to Russia. Swamps and forests, fields and rivers, and spectacular mountains ranges, too. This is the charm of my country’s nature, and I wanted to show it to the world.”
“The centre of our galaxy – the Lagoon Nebula – above Koshtan Tau. The idea to shoot a starry sky with the landscapes was born nearly 20 ago. When I was a schoolboy I loved astronomy, and when my father gave me his old Zenit camera I started taking my first shots. In a night shoot like this there is everything I love… except for home and family, of course.”
“The centre of our galaxy – the Lagoon Nebula – above Koshtan Tau. The idea to shoot a starry sky with the landscapes was born nearly 20 ago. When I was a schoolboy I loved astronomy, and when my father gave me his old Zenit camera I started taking my first shots. In a night shoot like this there is everything I love… except for home and family, of course.”
“I’m very fond of symbolic pictures, so when I walked at night around the Crimean Astronomical Observatory, I was looking for this particular frame.”
“I’m very fond of symbolic pictures, so when I walked at night around the Crimean Astronomical Observatory, I was looking for this particular frame.”
“In 2014, this picture won first place in the National Geographic Russia Wild Nature contest. Elbrus is a sleeping volcano and, at 5,642 metres, the highest peak in Europe. The picture has everything: placer stars, a giant volcano, mountains, and a blanket of clouds. In the foreground the southern tip of the Kanzhol plateau, the moon, which has come just behind the mountains, and the Milky Way as if escaping from the top of Mount Elbrus. I have this picture hanging on the wall in my house, and each time I look at it I find myself there, steeped in the moment. That’s the true magic of photography.”
“In 2014, this picture won first place in the National Geographic Russia Wild Nature contest. Elbrus is a sleeping volcano and, at 5,642 metres, the highest peak in Europe. The picture has everything: placer stars, a giant volcano, mountains, and a blanket of clouds. In the foreground the southern tip of the Kanzhol plateau, the moon, which has come just behind the mountains, and the Milky Way as if escaping from the top of Mount Elbrus. I have this picture hanging on the wall in my house, and each time I look at it I find myself there, steeped in the moment. That’s the true magic of photography.”