National Geographic Russia Concludes Photojournalism Course

On May 19, the fifth and final master class was held in the photojournalism course organized by National Geographic Russia and Moscow’s A. Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia. The seminar was conducted by Alexander Sorin, a regular contributor to National Geographic Russia.

Sorin has worked as a photo correspondent for leading magazines since 1993. He has traveled throughout Russia’s regions, from the Kiril Islands to Kaliningrad. He has also worked in hot spots such as Chechnya and Kosovo. Sorin has worked on his own documentary projects since 2004. The organizer and photographer of a series of museum projects titled “Yenisey Meridian,” Sorin received a Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation grant in 2006. Sorin has participated in numerous personal and group exhibitions, his photographs are featured in the sections of the U.S. Library of Congress web site devoted to the Russian Far East, the Kiril Islands and Sakhalin Island, he is an advisor to the State Photography Center and he has authored chapters on photojournalism for college social journalism textbooks.

Numerous participants attended the master class, including students of the Moscow School of Photography, National Geographic Russia readers as well as ordinary photography lovers. Sorin titled his seminar “Journey into Genre.” From the point of view of photography, genre is the style of documentary photography devoted to capturing motion, emotion and mutual relations between people.

Sorin used a series of photographs taken in Israel during celebrations of national holidays to demonstrate genre style. The master photographer explained how to shoot in various situations and gave practical advice on how to notice and photograph what others do not see – the main distinction between professional photographers and amateurs.

At the conclusion of the master class, National Geographic Russia presented annual subscriptions to five participants who had attended all five master classes. The remaining participants received commemorative diplomas.