Elena Chernyak began her photography practice two years ago while taking courses at Faculty of Photojournalism by the Russian Union of Journalism, along with working as a freelance photographer. During the last six months, she has been dedicated to personal photo projects. These photos are from her new series, My Mom’s Friends, which was made in her native town in South Siberia.
Where did the idea for this series, My Mom’s Friends, come about?
‘This project was made in December, 2009, in a Siberian town called Novokuznetsk. It is my native place, where I grew up, and I used to visit it twice a year. It’s a great source for inspiration because you find something new every time you go there. So my main subject was the exploration and comprehension of my native environment. My Mom’s Friends is one of the pieces of this process. I know all these women from my childhood years and I understand them quite well. So I decided to tell about them’.
Can you talk about the camera you used for this series and how that influenced the look you were going for?
‘I used 35mm film Minolta XG-M, which I really love. I’m not crazy about equipment at all. The camera should just be comfortable and simple. In this series, I also used a flash, which helped me to accent these amazing textures.’
The interiors play a large part in this series. Are all the women shot in their own living spaces?
‘When planning My Mom’s Friends, I knew how it should look and where it must be shot. In Siberia, people adore textures — silky, shiny, fluffy, animal-like patterns, cozy colors … Interiors are very bright reflections of local life. So the living spaces of the women seemed to be the best background for their portraits.’
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