Interesting Russian Journals

Every now and then I read a couple of journals in Russian with the help of Google Translate (see here). This started right after I joined LJ five months ago and struggled to find journals in English which were not friend-locked and not about fandom or fanfic. Unlike the English LJ, the Russian version seemed to have heaps of interesting public journals where people posted regularly with long discussions in the comments, sometimes very heated and often uncensored (hurrah).

I decided to share some of the Russian journals I found, which I believe could be interesting for non-Russian speakers without the need to resort to Google Translate. I will share three in this entry and more in the coming weeks.

1. vmenshov shoots amazing macro photos of little creatures and explains how he does it too. You need to use "macro" tag to find the entries in his journal. Here, I'll make it easier for you:

http://vmenshov.livejournal.com/?skip=30&tag=макро

For example here is a shot taken with an iPhone.



vmenshov also explained the setup he used to make this shot. There are many even more interesting shots taken with proper cameras in his journal.



2. Laura Williams, llorax grew up in Colorado, and earned a bachelor's degree in international environmental policy from Cornell University and a master's degree in conservation biology from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.



Here is what Laura's profile says:

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I “traded” my home state of Colorado in the US for Russia. I have already lived half my life in a foreign country – essentially my entire adult life. I came here for work and stayed for love – love of Russia’s vast expanses, its wilderness, and the people who protect it. But it was for one special person that I not only left behind my homeland, but all the conveniences of civilization and city life, and moved to a small village in the Bryansk Forest. You probably already know Igor Shpilenok – the nature photographer, blogger, founder of the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve. To me, he has become family, the father of my children, and has won over my heart. So that I wouldn’t miss the amenities of the civilized world, he created them all here for our family in the land of Bryansk. So that I wouldn’t miss my Rocky Mountains, he introduced me to Kamchatka. Now I live among these three worlds – the U.S., Bryansk Forest, and Kamchatka, but I spend most of the year at my home - under the storks' nest - in the small forest village of Chukhrai (population 10) near the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve.

Some of Laura's entries are both in Russian and English (I wish there was a tag to help readers find the entries in English). I enjoyed Laura's entries on Chukhrai village life ("village life" tag), here is one for you if you want to give it a try (English version is under the cut): Once upon a bottle there lived three drunks…

Laura is also really into horses.



3. Igor Shpilenok shpilenok (Laura's husband) is an amazing award-winning wildlife photographer (2006 BBC Wildlife Nature Photography Competition). He is also a member of an elite group of photographers committed to nature conservation - the International League of Conservation Photographers and the founder of the Bryansk Forest Nature Reserve. His wildlife photos are stunning. His specialty probably is Kamchatka with its bears, foxes and unique wildflowers. Igor tracks bear and fox families over the years, he names the bears and foxes and lets his readers follow the stories of their lives. Here is his "foxes" tag, but check out the rest of his journal too.



Please feel to suggest interesting public journals to read in the comments (even if it is your own journal).