100 Years of Preservation (35 photos)

Nature photographer Igor Shpilenok

Photographer Igor Shpilenok





Having realized his long-held dream, nature photographer Igor Shpilenok set off on a photo expedition, which he called the journey of a lifetime. The route connected the Bryansk forest and Kamchatka. Three and a half years, nine time zones, and a third of the globe's circumference. The photographic culmination of the journey was the photo book "One Hundred Years of the Reserve."

Photographer and ecologist Igor Shpilenok timed his journey to coincide with the centenary of nature reserves in the country. In April 2013, the photographer departed the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve in a van. His odyssey concluded in October 2016. Throughout his travels, he never missed a fine sunrise, observing unique moments in the life of the nature reserve, and capturing the beauty of pristine places.

"Today, we have 103 state nature reserves, 50 national parks, and 53 federal sanctuaries, encompassing protected areas stretching from the Curonian Spit in the Baltic to the Bering Strait in the Pacific Ocean. The role of nature reserves and national parks in preserving biodiversity, the gene pool of plants and animals, and the development of environmental science and education cannot be overstated. "But I'm a photographer, and I'm primarily drawn to the beauty generously spilled in pristine nature...," the author enlightens us.

Igor Shpilenok has his favorite protected spot—in Kamchatka, home to a volcano the photographer adores:

"In the 1930s, the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai created 36 color woodblock prints depicting Mount Fuji, Japan's national shrine. Hokusai showed Fuji as if photographed with different lenses: from telephoto to wide-angle, from different locations and with different subjects in the foreground. I thought of Hokusai and his volcano when I first saw Kronotskaya Sopka through the window of a helicopter flying over the Pacific Ocean. It was October 1993, when, on business at the time, I found myself in Kamchatka for a few days. Before this, the helicopter had passed dozens of other active and extinct Kamchatka volcanoes, but it was Kronotsky that made my heart beat faster. It was to it that I promised I would definitely return for a long time. It is to it that I most often dream of Kamchatka. So... I fell in love with a volcano...

I kept my promise to the volcano. I even spent a whole year living at its base on the banks of the Kronotskaya River, capturing its beauty every fine day when it emerged from behind the clouds or fog. Only in my foreground are not people and populated landscapes, like in Hokusai, but untouched nature and wild animals.

At the request of his blog readers, Igor Shpilenok is posting some of the photos in high resolution so they can be used as wallpapers for large monitors. He also shares news about exhibitions and new projects on Facebook and Instagram. The album below features selected photos from Igor Shpilenok's nature reserve journey, capturing scenes such as a fox wedding, blooming deadwood, a primeval forest, a spring sunrise on Kuril Lake, and, of course, Kronotskaya Sopka.

Altai Nature Reserve. Foggy morning on Lake Teletskoye.



April sunrise on Kuril Lake in the South Kamchatka Federal Nature Reserve.

White storks in the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve.



Future masters of the taiga. South Kamchatka Sanctuary.



In the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, Primorsky Krai.



Vegetarian. Summer in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve.



Evening swim. South Kamchatka Federal Nature Reserve



View of Kronotskaya Sopka from the mouth of the Tikhaya River in August. Kronotsky Nature Reserve, Kamchatka.



A figure-eight from the Khakassky Nature Reserve. Photographer Igor Shpilenok



A bear family, recently emerged from their den, meets a male rock ptarmigan guarding his territory. South Kamchatka Federal Nature Reserve.



Dzerens. Daursky Nature Reserve. Photographer



Wild tulip from the Rostov Nature Reserve.



If it weren't for the Black Lands Nature Reserve in Kalmykia, saigas would likely disappear from our country.



Tolai hare, an inhabitant of the steppes, deserts, and semi-deserts. Daursky Nature Reserve.



A bison calf with its mother in the Bryansky Les Nature Reserve.



Stone cheeks on the Shchugor River in Yugyd Va National Park, which means "Light Water" in the Komi language.



Kamchatka.



Kronotskaya Sopka. Kronotsky Nature Reserve, Kamchatka.



Kronotsky Volcano in golden autumn. Kronotsky Nature Reserve. Photographer Igor Shpilenok



Little Zlodeich with his dad's tail. Kronotsky Nature Reserve, foxes.



Little Chapay and Maria Mikhailovna. Kronotsky Nature Reserve, Kamchatka.



A bear near a geyser. Valley of Geysers, Kronotsky Nature Reserve



Bear.



A bear family during a November snowfall in the South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary in Kamchatka.



Klyuchevskoy Nature Park. An autumn volcanic plateau at an altitude of about one and a half kilometers. Klyuchevskoy and Kamen volcanoes rise above it.



Dawn in the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve.



Dawn. Caspian steppes. Photographer



Midsummer on a volcanic plateau in the Kamchatka Volcanoes Regional Nature Park. Golden rhododendrons bloom among the snowfields.



Cliffs descending steeply into the abyss. Barguzinsky Nature Reserve.



Shelducks in the steppe. Daursky Nature Reserve.



Morning in the Levaya Shchapina River Valley.



Foxtrot on the shore. Kronotsky Nature Reserve, spring, fox wedding.



South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary, bears.



South Kamchatka Federal Sanctuary.