Photography: Albert Elm captures Russia and China with a rose-tinted lens

Date
30 October 2013

Albert Elm was one of our Students Of The Month way back in March, having wowed us with his incredible eye for detail and canny ability to capture moments of intrigue that abate the mundanity of everyday life. What was most impressive about Albert’s work was how new to photography he was. Even among our plethora of talented students Albert’s work stood out immediately for it’s obvious skill. Now that a few months have passed he’s a tiny bit more experienced but his skill is no less impressive.

Albert’s just updated us with a selection of new images captured on a winter journey through Siberia and China, travelling with Magnum photographer Jacob Aue Sobol, who he assisted for two years prior to beginning his studies. Albert’s images capture the essence of the places he’s passing through with the eyes of an outsider, embracing the strangeness of these alien lands in his careful compositional and tonal decisions. As a result you leave his images with the impression that China and Russia are innately pink and hazy, bathed in the rosy glow of a traveller’s impressionable eyes.

In Albert’s words “It’s about the essence of our moments and the feel of certain places and situations more than depicting them for what they are – the odd in the supposedly banal. I want to show some twisted parts of life that trigger a feeling of curiosity and a desire to ask questions.”

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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Albert Elm: Russia and China

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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