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By Bill Swersey
March 1997
I first went to Moscow in September 1991 to cover the aftermath of the failed coup d'etat one week earlier. I expected to stay 2-3 weeks, but after a month or so I realized I had caught a powerful bug and leaving Russia would not be so easy. I ended up spending most of the next five years living in Moscow and working in many parts of the former Soviet Union. It was a period of profound economic, social and political change. In December 1996, I went back to Moscow to try to capture in PhotoBubbles the character of this great city. I knew this technology would allow a viewer to experience Moscow uniquely, in a way that photos from a traditional 35 mm camera and lens can't do. This series of PhotoBubbles is the result of my first attempt at using this remarkable new tool.
See all five installments of the Moscow Panorama series: • Red Square
• Moscow in the Snow
• Trains & Metros
• Life in Moscow
• Volgograd Markets
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Select any of the bubble images to see the bubbles, and learn more about Red Square. Red Square
Although the elite Kremlin Guards no longer goose-step about Lenin's tomb as they once did, every hour on the hour (Boris Yeltsin did away with the tradition after the failed October 1993 coup), Red Square remains the primary Moscow tourist attraction for foreign and Russian visitors alike. Even on the coldest days in winter, tourists walk across the well-worn cobblestones and pose for photographs in front of the colorful 'onion' domes of St. Basil's Cathedral.
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Select one of the images above to see more of Moscow in the Snow. Moscow in the Snow
Moscow is known for its particularly harsh winters. For some of these shots -- all of which were taken in late December 1996 -- it was difficult to even stand outside for much time. But these temperatures also make for wondrous images, including these sho ts of Moscow in the Snow.
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Select one of the images above to see some of Moscow's Trains & Metros. Trains & Metros
Railroad tracks reach out from the center of Moscow like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Each of about a dozen regions of the former Soviet Empire are served by a different station. These central terminals also serve Moscow's commuter railway system.
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Select one of the images above to experience a little of Life in Moscow. Life in Moscow
Like most cities which have recently seen the end of communism and the move to a more open market economy, Moscow has changed tremendously in the last few years. Unthinkable a few years ago, fashion shows are fairly common these days; and the availability of goods in the various markets around Moscow has changed the way the typical Russian shops.
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Select one of the images above to see the markets of Volgograd. Return to Moscow Panorama
Volgograd Markets
I made a brief side trip to Volgograd, 600 miles south of Moscow, to spend New Years Eve with my girlfriend Galia and her family. Known as Stalingrad until after World War II, this industrial city of about one million people lies along the mighty Volga Ri ver and is famous for "Red October" brand tractors as well as juicy tomatoes and watermelons in summer.
If you are seeing PhotoBubbles for the first time, do the following:
• Go the the IPIX Website to plug-in software.
• Choose one of the images from the gallery and also download it to your computer
Also:
• Discuss the images
• IPIX, the creator of PhotoBubbles
Return to Gallery in the Round.
Bill Swersey has been working as a photojournalist for more than 10 years. A member of the Gamma Liaison photo agency, his work has been published in various newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Time and Sports Illustrated. Co-founder of the annual InterFoto Moscow Photojournalism Festival, Swersey is now studying computer-based media at the Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University Tisch School of the Arts. E-mail Swersey at Swersey360@aol.com.
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