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What's Christmas? Here in Russia, there is a Christmas, but it isn't on the 25th of December, it's on the 7th of January. But that's only for the Orthodox Christians and no gifts are exchanged on that day. It's New Years that is the day where people give and get gifts. And it's not a Christmas tree but a New Years tree. So New Years is the day that the most important in this country. If one has a great New Years then one has a great year ahead. It's been said that a country can not compete in a world economy if one doesn't celebrate Christmas, because of capitalist consumerism. Well, New Years here by any other name is...Christmas, even in Soviet times.

So after being set back by some money from the medical bills for the dog bite, I decided to take on extra work. I was referred to the Canton of Zürich to do a photo reportage of a Swiss business delegation from Zürich in Moscow for a business convention for 3 days. Not normally the type of job that I would take on, but it paid well (in Euros, not that weak nasty Dollar). The cherry of this job was during the Swiss National Day reception/party where delegates from around the world and Russia came to pay homage to the Swiss (Swiss Ambassador and all). I shot this couple, not only were they fantastic as a subject, but really very nice and sweet. Although the General looks mean in the picture (in character), he was such a sweet guy.

Finally, I got to take a break from Moscow. Love this city but like any place, it can drive you crazy sometimes. So I wen to Sweden to visit some dear friends, Eddie and Pia and family. It was great to see them. I had no plan other then to spend quality time with them. But the vacation started out a little wonky. I had to delay my trip for a week to get a rabies shot from my dog bite mishap. The week I was suppose to go, the weather was great. The week I went, the weather was crap. And crap was how I felt, rabies shots are antibodies. Antibodies give you the "Runs". Plus before I left Moscow, I may had some bad sushi. I was "running" to the toilet for 4-5 days. But finally it was over and now I'm back.

Note: The Swedish seem to look up to the Russians as far as idealistic health in dairy products as shown by the "Russian" looking people on their yoghurt packs and underground sheik as advertised by a popular bar. But In Russia, the Russians look to the Germans for Idealistic health and underground sheik. And the Germans, well, they look to themselves for those things. What vain assholes!

So in the interest of our reemergence to the commitments made by those of our fallen comrades, we acknowledge them on this glorious day that reinvigorates our own commitments to assure that the US of A is kept in check with it's imperial agenda. Long live Mother Russia! Shot for Esquire: SIgn says more or less, "Mother Country: You should defend it!" It's part of a fashion story of Russian Marines which I shot on their training base. Weird, they were so nice and accommodating. "Sure, we'll put the tank anywhere you want." I can't imagine that happening in the US. See series here.

I got drafted to do a shoot for a friend's magazine on a shoe-string budget. He wanted to do a series of portraits on notorious Moscow bloggers, Some famous, some hi-powered, some just plain old wacky. At first I was perplexed at what to do that would be interesting without it being overwrought. Then it occurred to me that bloggers just plain have a lot to say, so let them have their say, silently in a still shot. You will find the whole series here via this link.

*Note: One of the bloggers called "Trendy Lady" was such a flakey bitch that she cancelled and postponed our shoot 4 times, that we cancelled her, but shot a stylized generic substitute in replacement of her and will say on the liner note that she was out being too trendy to sit for the portrait. Guess which portrait that is?

Well, the only thing that I miss about America is Chinese New Years. I had a hankering for some Chinese comfort and went out with a few friends to a local Chinese restaurant called "Druzhba" which means friends in Russian. Bit more expensive here and not as good as in other countries, but it was worth the glorious binge of asian flavors. Aaaaahh! So happy year of the pig to you all.

Well, not really. It's their job, but this aint one of those. This is a job that I finished today for Esquire. It's a portrait series of Moscow strippers. Each will be accompanied by a brief biography. Too bad I can't read Russian. I think it's time to take lessons. You can see the series through this link.

I got paid to shoot a self portrait of myself for Esquire Russia. The issue theme is the opposite of everything. So normally they have photographers (like me) shoot important or well known ordinary people (as oppose to models or celebrities) for the fashion section every month. since it's the opposite of everything, Esquire decided to have the photographers who have shot for them do self portrait fashion shots of themselves. Ta da. I'm a preppie in my friend Ksenya's apartment. That's her dog Romashka.

So it's been a thin few months of skimpy jobs, but finally I got a juicy size job. Although the subject matter isn't that much to my taste or the particular editorial vibe, It was a sizable job that paid well and it challenged me to shoot more conservatively. Not sure if that really is a perk, but the producer was hot (see below). But unfortunately, she hardly spoke a lick of english. She's lucky she has looks. The shoot was of eligible bachelors in Moscow and their hobbies. Some of them didn't have hobbies and just made up some shit to be photographed. Anyway, if you click on this link you will see a selection of the shots I made on this shoot for Marie Claire Russia. http://www.pauleng.com/mc

So I attempted to do a personal portraits series of Russians before (sober) and after (drunk) on this particular eve at a party. What I found out is that there is no such thing as before. There is only after. So here is a sample. And by the way, I thought I was not going to drink so that I could process this shoot with some sort of rigor. But alas, there is no such thing as a sober photographer for drunk subjects. Now if I could only get paid to shoot drunk...

I went to St. Petersburg for the first time yesterday, but only for the day. I took an overnight train there, then flew back the same day. I went to shoot a portrait of Alexander Sokurov, film director. He made this beautiful film about Emperor Hirohito call "The Sun." Basically, I had 30 minutes to shoot him. Not that he was hurrying me, but we had a plane to catch. For an hour and a half (while he was being interviewed by the magazine, Esquire), the producer Katya and I were searching for a location. Ultimately all the locations were shit or unavailable, so I settled on using lighting to make a shit situation better.

Oooof! So I'd thought I'd be dead by now, but here I still am. But you can say I half way there so to speak. Anyway, I had a birthday celebration for the big 40. Usually I don't celebrate, because of some strange notion of being humble. I thought, what the fuck. I'm here in Moscow, some place I never thought I'd be, so I might as well celebrate. So I invited some select friends (well, all the people I know, which isn't much) to my apartment for a dinner, then bowling (Yes, bowling in Moscow). I served farfalle in a putanesca sauce, chicken milanese, tomato arugula salad and bruschetta. Why italian? It's the only thing I can get all the ingredients to and even then i scoured Moscow for bread crumbs. We drank vodka, got buzzed, then headed to the bowling alley by my house. We drank beer, bowled terribly and got drunk then stumbled home (Hmmm, why'd I leave the States?). Besides that, this is what I got for presents, but one was used up in the course of the evening (pssst, the vodka).