WHERE DO I LIVE? I settled in Sea Point (a coastal district). It's considered one of the three best in the city. Katya and Ira helped me find housing—or rather, they didn't just help, they found it for me. The girls are golden! I got lucky with them. Housing here is a bit of a mess, and it's not easy to find something decent and inexpensive if you're not used to it, but they found it for me in a way that I bypassed all those difficulties. The place is good—a two-bedroom apartment. I'm not even thinking about moving yet. I have a room here, about 12 square meters. The bed is good. Wide. The window is large, but no balcony (though at least it's not facing the main road). There's a closet where I've unpacked all my things with plenty of space to spare. Besides that, I can use the shower, toilet, kitchen, and move freely around the apartment (except for the room of Shane, my flat-mate—the landlord's son). Shane is a decent guy, we even chat a little (well... you know my English...). By the way, I'm still not learning the language. I just can't get around to it.
The apartment is a seven-minute walk from the ocean. And, besides that, it's one stop away from Ira and Katya. So, everything is cool. I pay 6,000 a month for it (the room, I mean) by our standards. In short, again—just like back home.
On Tuesdays, a lady will come, a Black woman. To wash dishes, clean, do laundry, and iron our clothes. Her services are included in my room rent. She already came once, but I didn't like how she works. I would have done everything better myself (except maybe the ironing). But when in Rome, do as the Romans do... I don't intend to interfere. And anyway, at least she washes and cleans. I don't have to do it myself!
WHAT DO I DO FOR WORK? I've started working. As a photographer. There's a lot to do for now, but I have no idea what kind of money this will bring me. Liza helped with the work. And a special thanks to this lovely girl for that! True, they paid very little money so far. If you compare it to my Chelyabinsk fees for a photo shoot—the local earnings are laughable. However, I hope this is just the beginning. In short, I have no clarity on when, where, and how exactly (and what else) I will be shooting.
But I've already worked three times (with subsequent long processing and creating collages in Photoshop). First, I went to the "Da Vinci call centre"—a decent enough company that deals with insurance. What does it look like? Well, on the eleventh floor (they seem to occupy the entire floor), there are rows—like in a magazine editorial office or... I don't know, like in the movies—and people sit at computers with phones, constantly calling someone about all kinds of insurance and the like. At first, I thought it was somehow unusual and a bit too cool for me. And Liza works there. Only not on the phone, but as a manager or HR... I met other managers and the deputy director, and they said to me: "Well, go ahead, photograph us creatively! So that they aren't just snapshots, but something special, original."
And I wasn't warned (and neither was Elizaveta)! We thought I would just bring my work and show it. But you know, if you are asked not to think about an old lame monkey, all thoughts start revolving only around it! It was the same for me. All creativity evaporated, and instead, in my head, it only sounded that I needed to do something urgently and, if possible, great on the fly!!! But how???
However, then I told myself: "Relax! Imagine that it's not you doing this, but Vasya Pupkin!" (we often think that if we were in another person's shoes, it would be no trouble for us to do what is so difficult for them). That's literally what I did.
I tell them: "The best photos come out when a person doesn't try to pose. So improvise!" You should have seen their faces—they were shocked at how deftly I shifted the responsibility onto them. And while they were recovering from this little shock, I caught my breath—and full speed ahead! And then I spent the whole day messing around with those shots. Today I brought them. They really liked what I did and how I did it. So they asked me to photograph them again. I, of course, did everything. And even better than yesterday. True, now there is a long job ahead in Photoshop again. And they gave me (oh, how I hope it's only for now) six hundred and fifty rubles, in our currency. Why, in Chelyabinsk, I could count on six to ten thousand for such laborious work! Well, not in one day, of course. For both of these.
That's it. And I also photographed a corporate party last night—that was at Edward's work (Liza's common-law husband, as we would say). Edward is a decent guy. At least, that's the impression he gives. So there is work for now. And the degree of future fee success is absolutely unclear.
How do you like my work? By the way, they are intentionally stylized by me under the "Da Vinci" theme. Even in the group photo—the background is mine. There was just a regular wall behind them in reality.
