Photographer Travels To The Most Remote Part Of The World To Give Away A Portrait

help portraitI'm sure many of you are familiar with Help-Portrait, an organization of photographers who shoot free portraits to share their art and enrich others lives. Most photographers shoot free portraits around their communities but Sasha Leahovcenco wanted to shoot people that may never get the opportunity to have their picture taken at all. Sasha and his crew traveled to Chukotka, Russia and produced an amazing video of their experience.



Lee Morris's picture

Lee Morris is a professional photographer based in Charleston SC, and is the co-owner of Fstoppers.com

Log in or register to post comments
28 Comments

simply amazing.. true meaning for help portrait. kudos to their bravery and great heart.

Good stuff! Makes you think about how much we take everything we have for granted.

Beautiful photography on this video as well. Shots, angles... bravo.

Very touching. Thank you.

Thanks for kind words guys! really appreciate it

This video was very well put together considering the practical difficulties that go with these locations. Great initiative as well!
I'm in no position to judge of course, but it's a shame if the photographer ended up with any lasting injuries. Frostbite can be avoided with some proper preparation and planning. Never underestimate how harsh mother nature can treat us!

That being said, i'd love to do something similar in order to give something to others and -lets be honest- for the adventure!

Truly inspiring and beautiful video. I am originally from Moscow, Russia and to see people that look very different from me speak the same language was amazing. It was very interesting to see just how vast Russia is and its language reach. I would love to experience what Sasha did and I give him much props for going out of his way for nothing in return expect a thank you-a simple word that goes a long way.

Lee, thank you for posting that, amazing. And to the photographer, Sasha, that story really motivates me, you're passion for photography, and urge to give are both truly inspiring. Thank you.

Sasha: Simply wonderful and incredibly inspirational. Bravo! Also, what was the music playing in the background? That really added to the power of the video.

@Joop, you can never be prepared to Tundra. And sometime you just need to make bold decision in order to survive.

@Sasha, like i said i'm in no position to judge, i have no idea what happened. i just hope you'll recover soon!

I'm surprised his equipment still worked under those extreme conditions. Sometimes you have to wonder what brings a people to such a remote area and how do they spend their daily lives. Nicely done.

@joop - thank you!

Fascinating. Hope the fingers and toes recover well and quickly. Beautiful people, work, and effort.

What a lovely, human little film to teach us again the wonder of photography and the benefits of doing something for nothing.

Hat's off, and respect.

touching, amazing, just GREAT !!! a big heart and very good work.

@Terence - Sigur Ros (1. Straumnes and 2.Fijotavik)

That was exceptional and moving in so many ways. Bravo!

unbelievable !! i wish i could do something like that

Very cool! Thanks for posting. Looks like he's using a 580 EX flash unit with a Pocket Wizard and I'm curious what he's using to connect the two? Any ideas? I'm interested in doing the same as my ST-E2 infrared unit doesn't always get the job done in terms of reliability. Thanks!

Really impressing work and especially a really honorable attitude!
I hope you could inspire more people doing something like you did.

my best wishes from Austria

@Adam - what exactly is your quesiton? to connect what to what?

Very inspiring video. I've seen many photos from Help Portrait, but the commentary in this video was very touching and I made me want to be part of Help Portrait to make others happy.

As cool and touching as some of this video is, just it's creation shows that a big point of the Help Portrait project was totally missed by him...

WOW! What an amazing ride. I signed up to Help_Portrait as soon as the video finished. It must have been an incredible feeling watching their faces as their portraits rolled off the printer. A big pt on the back to all involved.

SAHSA! PRIVET OT KOLLEG-FOTOGRAFOV IZ KIROVA! VI MOLODCI =)
Hi, sasha! It's realy great work. I live in russia too, but in the middle latitudes. My best wishes from Vyatka/Kirov.

A great job!!!!

a great place!!!!!