Legendary photographer Vadim Gippenreiter has died. Modern masters of photography: Vadim Gippenreiter Gippenreiter photographer biography

The middle lane, the Urals, Kamchatka, the Kuril and Commander Islands, nature and architectural monuments. Until recently, he continued to travel and photograph.

For many years devoted to photography, Vadim Evgenievich has never used digital technology. 70 years ago, it simply did not exist, and even now he prefers an analog camera to any modern one.

The most famous Russian photographer talks about himself and his own attitude to photography.

- Vadim Evgenievich, how and when did you start taking photographs?

I grew up on the banks of the Moscow River, in the open air. From a young age he was left to himself. From the age of 5-7, I could easily sit on the bank of the river, waiting for the dawn, with a tiny fire. The most mysterious time is when the night ends and the first light appears. And so it went on all my life. Naturally, I am a biologist. But I was expelled from the Faculty of Biology because my father was a nobleman. Then I was admitted to a medical institute as an athlete - by that time I was already the champion of Moscow, the champion of the USSR, and in 1939 I was the first to leave the top of Elbrus. The general biology was taught very well in the medical institute. But a doctor should be a narrow specialist, and it did not suit me - to put my life into one specialty. I transferred to the Art Institute and graduated in 1948. At this time, the cult of personality flourished, money was paid only for portraits of leaders. I couldn't do this either. So I worked for 20 years as an alpine skiing coach, while doing photography.

I started photography at an early age. Every intelligent family had wooden cameras - both Russian-made and foreign. From the age of seven, we were already poking our nose into all this equipment, putting the camera on a tripod, covering ourselves with a rag, building a picture on frosted glass. And when relatives gathered, we were forced to take pictures. Filmed on glass plates, they themselves developed under red light - the whole process was in the hands.

After the war, I took up hunting. Hunting taught me to understand the forest and to the fact that photographing is much more difficult than killing a bird or an animal. In the course of developing the forest, I photographed everything related to hunting and the forest. And when the publishing house "Physical Culture and Sport" decided to print the "Hunter's Handbook", they did not have any illustrative materials. And everything that I shot for myself simply out of my own curiosity, from my attitude to this matter, everything fell into place: the footprints of a bear in the mud; decoy hunting; a bear tearing bark when it cleans its claws. And on trips, I purposefully photographed Russian nature, reserved Russia. Since I treated the forest quite seriously and correctly, they let me into any territory. I could shoot on the territory of the reserve, as on the White Sea, I could also nearby, on some islands.

All my life I have been shooting with a camera made in 1895. And I myself brought it to the desired condition - for modern cassettes and lenses. And the slope of the rear wall of the camera, the possibility of moving the front wall up and down and to the sides - shifts that correct the perspective, the basis of widescreen shooting - were in wooden cameras back in those days. These were real professional cameras.

- What are your favorite places in Russia?

I myself am a northern person, so I traveled more to the north. Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, the Urals, the Far East, Chukotka, Kamchatka, the Commander Islands… I traveled a very large part of Russia. Was on all the Kuril Islands. But it is pointless to say that I have been everywhere in Russia - Russia is so vast and diverse. Wherever you go, in any direction - everything is new. Kamchatka is always different. How many times I shot there - every time everything changed. And in Siberia, wherever you go, everything is always new.

I traveled to Kamchatka for 40 years. On my first visit, I met volcanologists and then I was aware of all the events in Kamchatka. As soon as something happened there, they immediately informed me, and I went there. I knew about the eruption of the Tolbachik volcano in advance. This eruption lasted for a whole year, then subsided, then arose again, and for a whole year I shot there. Many people with devices avoid these shootings, because there is endless ash falling on their heads, there is no water, rainwater is sour, no food is good in it ... One device was broken by a volcanic bomb - a piece of solidified lava. There is a photo where I sit and do something, and the lava flow is collapsing behind. And the kettle stands on a piece of hot lava. I was photographed by the volcanologist Heinrich Steinberg. I told him: "Come on, sit in my place, now I'll take you off." While we were changing places, a boulder flew in and crashed into the lid of the kettle, jamming it tightly. And in the next frame, Heinrich is already sitting with this teapot.

No one knew when the eruption would end. I had to constantly travel to Moscow for film. He brought a supply of film in the expectation that I would have enough to shoot. But the eruption continued, the film ended, I had to fly to Moscow again. At some point, everything ended, and there was absolute silence. It was very unusual, because we had already got used to the continuous rumble. Igneous rocks react with oxygen, new chemical processes begin, new heating of the same lava. And 10 years later I went there to shoot these processes. So I have enough material on Tolbachik for 10 albums.

- Are there places in Russia where you have not visited and regret it?

Certainly. Is it possible for one person to visit Russia everywhere! I have been to Lake Baikal twice and have not taken a single photo. Because you have to live there long enough to take pictures. I've been abroad, but I don't need anything there. It's not mine. Where everything is settled, there is nothing to shoot. Nature is vast and varied.

- Did you always know what you would shoot on every trip?

I never traveled just like that, I always traveled with a specific task and for a specific purpose. I chose a place where I knew for sure that I would work in earnest. And most of my life I traveled alone, that's why I'm uncomfortable. I traveled to places connected with a hike, with an autonomous life: as much as possible, I traveled by some kind of transport, and then I went on foot. All on oneself: a backpack with a tent, equipment, an ax, a sleeping bag.

You can drive across the river, but this is an old culture, old monuments, museum cities. There is a lot of material there, but this is still a civilized shooting.

A person comes to such a place and realizes that thousands of people have filmed here before him. Can you see something new for yourself?

Of course, because every photographer shoots what the other person does not see. And each person shoots in his own way, if he has his own idea of what is good and what is bad. A person goes to places where no one else will go. Everyone sees the same place differently. This is especially evident in art. If five artists paint a portrait of one person, then five different portraits will be obtained. Because each person brings to the person he writes his own attitude, his own understanding of him. Each photographer also sees differently. So there are an endless number of options. Everything changes from year to year, something new appears everywhere. It all depends on the approach, on the state of nature, on the season.

I had such states when I dragged the device all day long - and did not remove anything. When there is no landscape, no mood, no state - there is an interesting texture under your feet, something like still lifes, some leaves, a puddle, a stream with frogs. And I started looking for these textures. And when you make a book, these photos always fall into place.

When shooting landscapes, most photographers feel the stereotype approach. Everyone loves to shoot sunsets...

- ... and sunny weather. In the middle of the day, as a rule, I did not take pictures. It's flat, from one point of illumination. The worse the weather, the more interesting it is to shoot. Landscape is my attitude to what I like. I do not like empty sunny landscapes, when everything is equally lit, colorful, bright, beautiful - and everything is the same. And in bad weather there is always some kind of mood, some nuances. With the sun, too, sometimes you can extract wonderful beautiful things, but the sun depersonalizes the landscape. The worse the weather, the more interesting it is to me. In the worst weather, everything is constantly changing, something new appears. And the changes in weather conditions are also interesting: there are different shifts in the clouds, in lighting, the general state changes.

Often travelers get to an interesting place for a few hours. There is a route, there are deadlines, but there is no necessary lighting ...

That's why I always traveled alone. The group needs to go through the route, and as a photographer, I need to sit here for a couple more days. When shooting is done on the go, when a lot of people are connected with each other, there can only be random pictures. I myself went on difficult hikes. But I was influential as a participant in the campaign and sometimes I simply set a condition: we would stay here for 2-3 days. I sailed with volcanologists on a tiny boat throughout the Kuril Islands, and we stopped where I needed to shoot. You won’t get good weather in the Kuril Islands, just like in Kamchatka, and there was little filming there. But I took off everything that the volcanologists needed.

I have been in Kamchatka for a very long time, it is impossible to shoot something there in a short time. Kamchatka is surrounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other side by the Sea of Okhotsk. The water temperature is 4 degrees. Above this refrigerator is always a thick layer of clouds. And when all this mass of clouds begins to run into Kamchatka, then nothing is visible two steps away. You can sit in Kamchatka for a month and take nothing off except your rubber boots. Therefore, it is simply not serious to expect that I will come to Kamchatka and shoot a lot of material right away.

- Can you determine the ideal shooting point, or is it just a subjective perception of the world?

Of course, this is a subjective perception. But it is also the knowledge of some laws of dealing with the plane. Photography uses the laws of art dealing with the plane. The image should not destroy this plane, but shape it. You need to know the laws of composition, the laws of constructing such a design of the plane. A picture hung on the wall should not pierce the wall with its infinite perspective. In this case, the depth may be present. That is, some objects close the front side of this depth, something closes the back side - a blurry forest or clouds. Like in an aquarium there is a space between two walls. This is a serious art history issue that photographers tend not to think about.

The artist creates something out of nothing, the artist can take something from his head, from his intelligence. A photographer deals with real-life objects. The photographer states the fact with his own attitude. This statement can turn into a work of art if done with the right attitude. In photography, it is very important to convey the state of the moment. In gray weather, for example, some foggy places, a foggy sky, appropriate lighting underfoot, an appropriate general mood. If this mood is conveyed, then the photo can be said to have taken place. And if this state does not exist, then a fake picture is obtained, which has nothing to do with this image. Therefore, there must be a very holistic approach to what you see, your own attitude and the opportunity to realize what you feel. And this should not be forgotten.

I was going to Vadim Gippenreiter as if on a first date: I was worried, nervous, late. We haven't seen him for a long time. He means a lot to me - and inhuman and photographic. There are such rare magical people. Vadim Evgenievich is one of them. When I worked at Ogonyok, I came to him for photographs. We talked, he talked about his life and its ups and downs. Strange, but I never felt the difference in age. There was never a feeling that he was a person of another generation, lost in time, lagged behind, or did not understand something in this life. He was absolutely aware of everything, absolutely modern. And I adopted his longevity formula “not to sit on the couch, but to move”. When I feel really bad, I remember him, and it becomes easier for me, a way out of a seemingly completely hopeless situation arises by itself.

Text: Natalya Udartseva.

He impressed me from the first meeting. It was impossible to believe that the energetic, fit man was over seventy years old. He differed sharply from familiar photographers: his laconicism, the scale of his personality and thinking, self-esteem, lack of envy, the ability to keep a distance in communication, the weight of judgments, behind which one felt a huge experience. And something else that is difficult to describe in words, which is sometimes called the word "energy", putting different meanings into it.

Thanks to Gippenreiter, our conversations with him, I realized that photography is the concentration of the energy of the photographer and the filmed, the convergence at a point in time of the energy of the photographer, the object and the energy of space. And the frame is just a way of archiving and transferring this energy to the viewer. If a photograph has powerful energy, it hits the viewer right in the solar plexus. The same thing happens in painting and other visual arts. Works charged with the energy of creation live for a long time and make their way to the surface through the thickness of time, remain in the history of art, regardless of when they were made.

And with my publication in Ogonyok about Vadim Gippenreiter, the following happened. I wrote the text, picked up the pictures and left for the photography festival in Arles. When I returned, I found that the text was cut in half, deciding to give large photographs. The editor on duty did not read much, just cut the “tail”. It turned out to be complete nonsense. I called Vadim Evgenievich to apologize. He laughed and told me not to worry, so as not to spoil the complexion.

Another time, the Ogonyok scanner, having received Vadim Evgenievich's slide “Meshcher. The flood of the river Pra”, decided to “improve” it and made the sky blue and the water greenish. We managed to fix it in the signature strips.

This time, as usual, Vadim Evgenievich came out to meet me. He shook my hand firmly. The eyes are alive. Posture is the same. He said that he does not go anywhere, but every day he goes for a walk and walks about a kilometer. His daughter Maria Vadimovna, surprisingly similar to her father, sorts through his archives and prepares a four-volume edition of Vadim Gippenreiter for publication. Vadim Evgenievich helps her. An album that will include all of his the best photos for 60 years of work - his old dream.

Two years ago, Vadim Evgenievich went skiing. Then he was hit by a tram when he was going to the clinic. He was ill for a long time, Maria Vadimovna looked after him, put him on his feet. I had to forget about trips to the mountains.

This year is the anniversary for the Master. On April 22, he turned 95 years old. On May 3, in the Kremlin, the President presented him with the Order of Honor for great services in the development of national culture and art, and many years of fruitful activity.

Exhibition of his works “Ancient Monuments of Rus'. The Golden Ring” was held with great success in April at the exhibition complex “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman”. His works are actively bought by collectors. His name is a brand in itself. He introduced fashion to Kamchatka, the Commanders and the Kuriles. There is not a single accomplished landscape photographer who has not followed in the footsteps of Gippenreiter.

When I think about the scale and significance of Vadim Evgenievich's work in world photography, I understand that it is no less than the significance of, for example, Ansel Adams. Only he preferred black and white film, and Vadim Gippenreiter preferred color. Their statements about shooting nature, about the technique of photographing in many respects coincide, as if they were familiar, how their love for nature, inner freedom and the power of the impression that their technically flawless works make in common.

He was born on April 22, 1917 in the village of Potylikh, opposite the current Luzhniki. He does not remember his father, he was killed in 1917. My father was an officer in the tsarist army, awarded the Order of St. Anne four times for bravery. Vadim Evgenievich's mother is from peasants, a rural teacher. Vadim Gippenreiter had to start earning money early - unloading a barge with firewood, transporting sand from the river to the road in a wheelbarrow, people in a boat from one bank of the Moscow River to the other.

I went to school without any problems. After a decade, he entered the Faculty of Biology at Moscow University - he was interested in everything related to nature. Three months after admission, he was expelled due to his father's noble origin. Admitted to medical school. A special sports course was opened there, and by that time Vadim had become the champion of the USSR in alpine skiing. His mentor was skier Gustav Deberl, a professional guide in the Austrian Alps.

Vadim Evgenievich managed to do everything: play rugby, ski jumping, run a marathon. He easily studied at the institute, received an increased scholarship. In his free time, he went to the studio, studied drawing. In 1937, trials began against the enemies of the people, and in 1939, the war with Finland began. All skiers were mobilized, including Vadim Evgenievich, but two days later they were allowed to go home. He parted ways with medicine after studying for three years. In the autumn of 1940 he became a student at the Moscow Art Institute. In 1941, the war broke out. A summons came from the military registration and enlistment office - Gippenreiter came with things, but he was released "until further notice." The Moscow Art Institute was evacuated to Samarkand. Classes continued interspersed with agricultural work. Among the teachers were great artists: Robert Falk, Vladimir Favorsky, Alexander Matveev.

At the end of the winter of 1945, the institute was returned to Moscow. Classes continued in cold rooms. The work was difficult. A stable income was given only by work as a sports coach. In 1948, Vadim graduated from the institute, having received a sculptor's diploma, but the work did not get better: the personality cult flourished, they paid only for portraits of leaders and shock workers of socialist labor. Vadim Evgenievich took up photography.

First I shot sports. Then he became interested in hunting and "through hunting came to shooting nature in all its manifestations." For the first time he received good money for his photo essays, having been printed in Izvestia Windows. I forever remembered the words of the art editor of Izvestia Volchek: “Shoot as you shoot. Pay no attention to anyone. Everyone shoots in their own way. Try to be like no one else."

After Okon Izvestia, photo essays by Vadim Gippenreiter began to be published in the magazines Smena, Ogonyok, and Around the World. From that moment on, photography became work, and Vadim Evgenievich was already thinking not about one single photo, but about a topic:

“I don’t do photography at all. I always make a book, whether it is published or not. I only have an idea, which I methodically string onto visual material. First, I find a place that attracts me, interests, worries, causes a special attitude. It can be an ancient city, the nature of some region, or just a view from a single point. I look at any object from the point of view of the future album.

Khrushchev's thaw has come. His photographs of architectural monuments and landscapes began to be published in magazines, but there was no permanent work. In 1959, Gippenreiter was admitted to the Union of Journalists of the USSR, despite the fact that he was not on the staff of any editorial office. From expeditions, difficult hikes, from the volcanoes of Kamchatka, whaling, he brought materials that magazines willingly printed. Publishing houses became interested in his photo essays and the first albums with his photographs were published: "Hunter's Handbook" (1955), "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" (1964), "In the mountains of Karachay-Cherkessia" (1967).

In 1967, an album about nature without a single person, Tales of the Russian Forest, was released. The publishing house's chief artist took responsibility for the "apolitical" nature of the book and the fact that it was supposed to end up in stores. The book has been swept off the shelves!

He was not a pioneer and a member of the Komsomol, and did not enter the staff of any editorial office, not a single publishing house. All his life he was an independent photographer, whose name was more known in the West than in Russia.

Is there anything you regret or didn't get to do? I asked Vadim Evgenievich in parting.

"I don't regret anything," he answered curtly.

Vadim Gippenreiter about photography. From the book "My Russia". AST, 2011

“Photography is not art per se. This is a statement of fact. The artist creates his objects, the photographer states the existing ones. The only way a photograph can be “raised” is by its own attitude, by trying to realize this attitude in some images.”

“I shoot what I like. You have to carry your own attitude and perception of the landscape. The landscape is, first of all, the relationship between your inner state and the state of nature. It can be interesting, or it can be indifferent.”

“To really feel the landscape, you have to live in it for a while.”

“Nature itself, in all its manifestations, in all its seasons, is incredibly active. These are always changes that come easily, sunny, then snowfalls, blizzards. When I developed it myself, I regulated something with the development, introduced some elements of conventionality with the help of filters.

The most difficult task is to get away from naturalism. I use light filters, different distances, framing.”

“This is my attitude, my way of building, among a thousand others I recognize it. To plant five artists, in front of them - one person, so that all five of them would draw one - there will be five different portraits, that is, it will be nothing more than a self-portrait of each of the artists. This is his attitude, his decision, his task. I decide about the same thing when I shoot nature. The way I present it. I shoot only what interests me. I know for sure that if I somehow perceived it, I liked it myself, then sooner or later it will find application. I liked it - there are those who will also like it, who will somehow enter into this business.

“I traveled to Kamchatka for forty-five years. Made several albums: eruptions, landscapes, animals, birds. From the first to the last eruption, which lasted almost a year, I stuck out on Tobachik, took pictures, kept diaries. The life of a volcano is the history of the Earth."

“A still life is, first of all, a mood, its own and the mood of the objects from which it is composed. I have two different types of still lifes: one is natural, with branches, vegetables, fruits, and the other is conceptual. They are, in general, the same, although they give a completely different feeling.

Before putting a still life, you need to imagine these objects in your head. It is pointless to rearrange them from place to place and see what happens. Until you imagine, there will be no clarity in this. Still life needs to be organized so that everything is organic and meaningful. And, of course, the quality of the surface must be read.

The background can be different, as well as the lighting.

Still life in photography solves the same problems as in painting - the relationship of objects with the plane. By plane is meant the creation of space. As between two walls of a flat aquarium: so that the plane does not collapse from behind and is framed in front. The bas-relief is built on this principle. To pierce the surface into infinity means to destroy the plane.

When creating a composition, everything must be subject to rhythm. There is a certain rhythm in the relationship between objects, while there should not be many objects: a still life of two, three or five objects solves the same problems as a multi-figure setting.

“All temples have always been placed in the most beautiful places, and the temples visually united the vast territory. They became the center of the whole region. The temple is like a monument around which all the most important events of history and human life develop. And earlier the temples were close in spirit to the human condition.

“Material and photographic equipment play a big role. An excessive number of lenses, cameras and photographic materials complicate the work, distracting with the possibility of many options. In addition, they are physically tied up in field expedition conditions, when every gram is registered - you carry everything on yourself. Three main lenses solve all my tasks. Also photographic film, which I already know, and a wooden camera. The 13×18 large format camera has all the slopes, you can see the quality of the surface, there is the possibility of perspective corrections, sharpening of individual plans, which is not the case in ordinary narrow format cameras. Working with a large-format device requires a lot, expands the possibilities. You start really taking pictures.

Appeal to fans of the talent of Vadim Gippenreiter

The Photographic Heritage of Vadim Gippenreiter Foundation appeals to everyone who is not indifferent to the work of Vadim Gippenreiter with a request to support the project of publishing the author's photo album "Reserved Russia".

Feasible financial assistance in the publication will make it possible to fulfill Vadim Evgenievich's old dream - to publish a book that would incorporate all the best from his vast archive, collected over 60 years of active filming.

The proposed publication is a four-volume book, consisting of equivalent logical parts that cover completely emotionally different regions of Russia: "Nature of the Middle Strip", "Great Mountains and Rivers of Russia" (Caucasus, Urals, Sayans, Siberia), "Russian North" and "The Land of Great Volcanoes and Islands" (Kurils, Commanders, Kamchatka). Along with the well-known works of the author, the album will include photographs that have never been published before. This album, dedicated to reserved Russia, will be the final work of Vadim Evgenievich.

On April 22, Vadim Evgenievich turned 95 years old, and the publication of this album will be his best gift to him.

Also, within the framework of the anniversary year, we plan to hold a large photo exhibition "Reserved Russia" and coincide with the release of this album. To raise funds, we offer for sale on special conditions works by Vadim Gippenreiter to start the formation of corporate collections, private collections and interior design (collection of ten works worth $20,000). The works are made in modern technology, have a certificate of origin, signed by the author. It is also possible to purchase a limited edition of the author's future book (100 copies - $ 20,000).

The publication of the photo album "Reserved Russia" and the exhibition of the same name are planned at the expense of funds raised by the Foundation, and the implementation of the album will raise the necessary funds to continue working with the archive to digitize and systematize it, as well as to hold future photo exhibitions.

The total cost of the project is $80,000. We welcome any financial donations, both from individuals and organizations. We will be grateful for the help and support at the beginning of a long journey, which we hope to go through together with fans of the talent of Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter.

In 1934 he began skiing under the guidance of Gustav Deberli (Austria). The first master of sports of the USSR in alpine skiing (1937). The first champion of the USSR in slalom (1937). Champion of the USSR in slalom in 1938. From 1937 to 1960, he was an alpine skiing coach of the Vita and Zenit sports societies.

In 1948 he was educated as a sculptor, graduating from the Moscow Surikov Art Institute. After graduation, he became interested in photography. He was engaged in mountaineering and skiing. He was the first champion of the USSR in downhill skiing in 1937. He also became the first to ski down Elbrus in 1939. Later, he won the championship three times. Soviet Union on mountain skiing. Vadim Gippenreiter's photo albums "From Kamchatka" are very famous. He became one of the few who filmed the Tolbachik Eruption in 1975.

Cousin and ex-husband of Yulia Borisovna Gippenreiter. Has three children (two daughters and a son), five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

Decree of the President Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev No. 188 dated February 12, 2012 Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter was awarded the Order of Honor.

Works and exhibitions

The author of 28 photo albums on the topics of sports, art, nature, in his archive there are about 50 thousand format slides. Gold medal of the International Exhibition "INTERPRESSPHOTO" (1966). Member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR, member of the Union of Photographers of Russia.

Published photo albums:

Tales of the Russian forest. M., 1967.
To the volcanoes of Kamchatka. M., 1970.
Teberda - Dombay. M., 1970.
Zaonezhie. Museum-reserve in the open air. M., 1972.
Commanders. M., 1972.
Novgorod. M., 1976.
Peaks ahead. In the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria. M., 1978.
The birth of a volcano M., 1979.
Meshcherskaya side. M., 1981.
Melodies of the Russian forest. M., 1983.
Seasons. M., 1987.
Middle Asia. Architectural monuments of the IX-XIX centuries. M., 1987.
Eternal harmony. Ancient art of Karelia. Petrozavodsk, 1994. ISBN 5-88165-004-2.

“... I have never used digital technology. 70 years ago it simply did not exist, and even now I prefer an analog camera to any modern delights. Why? - you ask. This is a topic for a separate discussion."

Each photographer creates his own visual chronicle of the world in which he lives and explores. Someone focuses on the human reflection in everyday social events, someone intertwines the surrounding reality with fictional stories ... someone tries to show the world as nature created it, where a person is only a part of a vast space, the beauty of which is perfect. The master of landscape photography feels nature and its laws from the inside, having a connection that is inexplicable in words, but thanks to which his pictures are filled with living breath. What needs to be done to find this ability to see nature in oneself? There is no single answer, of course. Perhaps the main thing is to love the world, as the legendary Russian photographer Vadim Gippenreiter loves it.

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Vadim Gippenreiter was born on April 22, 1917 in Moscow. According to him, from early childhood he was left to himself, walking and studying everything around in a childish inquisitive way. He could sit on the river bank with a fire all night. “Most of his life he lived in the open air, in Moscow - visits. From an early age, he wandered and spent the night in the forest, made fires in bad weather, met the dawn by the river. Waiting for the awakening of the fish, he hypnotized the float of the fishing rod, barely visible in the predawn fog, ”says the master. He began to take pictures in his youth, because every educated family had wooden format cameras. And, of course, he could not help but learn how to use all the technology on his own, because at this age, curiosity and the desire to see everything in this world are pushing into completely different adventures. He himself put the camera on a tripod, covered it with a rag, built a picture on frosted glass, photographed everyone with a relative. Shooting on glass plates, he himself developed them with red color.

“I was born and raised on the high bank of the Moscow River. The first childhood memories are skiing. And only then, as I now repent, I learned to walk, ”recalls Vadim Gippenreiter. The youthful passion grew into a serious occupation in skiing, and in 1937 he became the first master of sports in the USSR, in 1939 he was the first in the world to slide down from the top of Elbrus. He studied at the Faculty of Biology, however, he was expelled because of his noble roots. I transferred to a medical university, but I didn’t like the narrow focus of education, the desire to explore the world in all its manifestations prevented me from studying strictly according to the rules. Gippenreiter transferred to the Art Institute, graduating in 1948. He did not know how and did not want to draw portraits of leaders, as required by that time. The decision to pursue a coaching career was natural, and later became the main profession for Vadim Gippenreiter for 20 years. However, it was the love of photography that was the true inner component of his life, to which he devoted all possible time.

“Many of us in our youth try to prove to ourselves that we are capable of overcoming unusual situations. For me, such a situation was an autonomous life in the forest. Soon I realized that I can kill an animal or a bird, use mushrooms, berries, but why? Everything turned out to be a more difficult task: you need to shoot what you see, turn what you see into visible images. So I shoot nature all my life, ”says the master. The desire to see with his own eyes the protected corners of nature turned Vadim Gippenreiter into a traveler. He traveled almost all of Russia, because, according to the master, it is simply impossible to see all of it. Gippenreiter loved the north most of all. Karelia, Kola Peninsula, Ural, Far East, Chukotka, Commander Islands. He traveled all over the Kuril Islands, visited Lake Baikal several times. The master traveled to Kamchatka for 40 years. “I lived in Kamchatka for a long time, filmed volcanic eruptions; salmon spawning in rivers; brown bears, which can be seen in broad daylight by the river or in the berry tundra. Shooting bears up close when they are out in the open is not a test for the faint of heart and perhaps unwise given their unpredictability and short temper.”

“I’m going to places where you can’t go by car. The brought photographic material is just a tool that needs to be mastered in order to get this result.” Vadim Gippenreiter never traveled just like that, he always had clear goals and objectives of his own. The place of the next photo expedition was always chosen with the expectation of work. And I always had everything on myself: a backpack with a tent, equipment, an ax, a sleeping bag. He always traveled alone, to be alone with the place he wanted to capture. In order for the photo to turn out, he was ready to wait several days for the cherished state of the weather. “The seasons in nature have their own tonality, mood. The spring migration of birds is not the same as the autumn one. Rainy autumn with a heavy sky amazes with colorful foliage on withered grass. In winter, everything freezes, but in this silence, life goes on. Changes in nature give rise to different feelings, and photography should convey these changes.

“Before, my landscape photographs were required as illustrations on the theme “My native country is wide” in albums for party congresses in order to dilute the portraits of general secretaries. Gradually, the gaps in this darkness increased. The magazine "Change" published essays about the seasons. Landscapes were published in the magazines "Around the World" and "Soviet Union", which was distributed abroad. After a noisy debate in the publishing house "Soviet Artist" the album "Tales of the Russian Forest" was released. The main artist took full responsibility, because there was not a single person in the photographs. But the edition black and white photographs was sold before reaching the shelves. It was one of the first albums with my lyrics, and now there are thirty of them. They came out in the USA, England, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia. Well, we have, of course,” says Vadim Gippenreiter. His photographs have become standards of the genre, making his author an internationally recognized master.13. © Vadim Gippenreiter

“I am collecting“ my ” reserved Russia: untouched nature, architectural monuments of the XII-XVIII centuries, organically inscribed in the surrounding landscape. The pinnacle of Russian art is ancient icons and frescoes. What one person can do in their lifetime is just a piece of the picture. It’s good if such a mosaic ever develops, ”Vadim Gippenreiter.

In 1948 he was educated as a sculptor, graduating from the Moscow Surikov Art Institute. After graduation, he became interested in photography. He was engaged in mountaineering and skiing. He was the first champion of the USSR in downhill skiing in 1937. He also became the first to ski down Elbrus in 1939. In the future, he won the championship of the Soviet Union in alpine skiing three times. Vadim Gippenreiter's photo albums "From Kamchatka" are very famous. He became one of the few who filmed the Tolbachik Eruption in 1975.

Cousin and ex-husband of Yulia Borisovna Gippenreiter. Has three children (two daughters and a son), five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.

By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation D. A. Medvedev No. 188 dated February 12, 2012, Vadim Evgenievich Gippenreiter was awarded the Order of Honor.

Works and exhibitions

Published photo albums:

Tales of the Russian forest. M., 1967.
To the volcanoes of Kamchatka. M., 1970.
Teberda - Dombay. M., 1970.
Zaonezhie. Museum-reserve in the open air. M., 1972.
Commanders. M., 1972.
Novgorod. M., 1976.
Peaks ahead. In the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria. M., 1978.
The birth of a volcano M., 1979.
Meshcherskaya side. M., 1981.
Melodies of the Russian forest. M., 1983.
Seasons. M., 1987.
Middle Asia. Architectural monuments of the IX-XIX centuries. M., 1987.
Eternal harmony. Ancient art of Karelia. Petrozavodsk, 1994. ISBN 5-88165-004-2.