Soul-touching Soviet photographs by Vladimir Rolov (85 photos)

“I photograph people because I love them,” the photographer explains the reasons for his occupation. – A rare banality, I know. And I would be glad to say it differently, but there are no other words, these are the truest, no matter how you look at it.”

Vladimir Rolov was born in the Urals in 1953.

He has been involved in professional and creative photography for about 50 years.

He is a civil engineer by training, but worked most of his life as a photographer.

At first he worked as a photojournalist in the central Soviet press, then got a job as a special medical photographer (ophthalmology) in Germany.

Vladimir Rolov is the author and co-author of 10 books, one of which is called “Photos with stories from the 80s.”

“Every single hero of this book is the golden fund of the Russian nation, although most of them do not have titles, and are generally not known to anyone.

These are the real Russian people, in whom such human qualities are concentrated that Europe has never even dreamed of; and the people there, believe me, are very good.”

“Photography, like other forms of art, is the artist’s message to the viewer.

He is trying to say something about what is boiling over, and the viewer must guess what the photographer can’t sleep about.

The more expressive the photo, the clearer the message.

That is, a couple of things must be present for it to reach the addressee: a clear language so that they understand, and so that there is at least something to say from the heart,” says Vladimir Rolov.

See Rolov’s heart-tugging Soviet photographs and some of his more recent works in this selection.