What to photograph while traveling in Russia: we are going to shoot near major cities | Articles | Photo, video, optics

Pho­to: hippopx.com

If you, Peters­burg­ers, are tired of shoot­ing Peter­hof every sum­mer, and you, Mus­covites, are tired of Tsar­it­syno, then it’s time to final­ly get out to a less hack­neyed loca­tion. While trav­el­ing is dif­fi­cult, but still real — we found very beau­ti­ful places in Rus­sia, any of your pic­tures of which will be a real post­card, and made sure that you can eas­i­ly get to them from a large city. From this arti­cle you will learn what to see and shoot, how to get there and when is the best time to go on a trip.

Kronstadt forts

While the forts are not recon­struct­ed, they espe­cial­ly attract fans of drone pho­tog­ra­phy. Pho­to: warhistoryonline.com

What to shoot

Kro­n­stadt is a small city-island next to St. Peters­burg. Near­by in the Gulf of Fin­land there are sev­er­al forts that will attract both land­scape pho­tog­ra­phers and por­traitists who love unusu­al loca­tions for shoot­ing. From the full-fledged defense sys­tem of Kro­n­stadt, 17 sea forts remained (most of them are in a deplorable state), the most famous of them is “Alexan­der I”. This is a unique archi­tec­tur­al struc­ture. If you want to cap­ture its orig­i­nal appear­ance, it is bet­ter to hur­ry. A project of recon­struc­tion and trans­for­ma­tion of the fort into a pub­lic space is now being dis­cussed. Luck­i­ly for ruin lovers, the less pop­u­lar forts are quite open to the pub­lic and film­ing.

When to go

The forts look impres­sive both in sum­mer and win­ter. It is bet­ter to choose sun­ny days, although on cloudy days you can take inter­est­ing shots. How­ev­er, since many of the forts are acces­si­ble by boat, make sure the weath­er is con­ducive to boat­ing. It can be very cold in the bay even in sum­mer, and you def­i­nite­ly need to dress for pos­si­ble rain, as in these parts the weath­er changes unpre­dictably and quick­ly.

How to get there

The eas­i­est route is to get from St. Peters­burg by minibus or bus to Kro­n­stadt, and then rent a boat to sail to the aban­doned forts. Along the way, it will be pos­si­ble to catch both seascapes and the coast with light­hous­es. So the jour­ney itself to the des­ti­na­tion will also bring a lot of spec­tac­u­lar shots.

Pereslavl-Zalessky

The city has an extra­or­di­nary atmos­phere, which is espe­cial­ly felt in sum­mer. Pho­to: every4day.com

What to shoot

The green city, full of his­tor­i­cal sights, is locat­ed in the Yaroslavl region, 140 km from Moscow, and is part of the famous Gold­en Ring. In Pereslavl, a pho­tog­ra­ph­er is wait­ing for a huge num­ber of old wood­en hous­es drowned in green­ery. This city is a real gem, because, in addi­tion to every­thing, Pereslavl stands on Lake Pleshcheye­vo, so you can take pic­tures of amaz­ing sun­sets, sun­ris­es and nat­ur­al views there.

When to go

Pereslavl-Zalessky is most beau­ti­ful in sum­mer, and it is at this time of the year that you can real­ly enjoy the trip. In win­ter, spring and autumn, of course, you can also cap­ture the beau­ty of this town if you are lucky with the weath­er.

How to get there

The best way to get to Pereslavl-Zalessky is a tour of the Gold­en Ring. So you will see not one, but sev­er­al beau­ti­ful cities with archi­tec­ture wor­thy of your lens. You can also get to Pereslavl by bus or train from Moscow.

Agur waterfalls

It is quite dark in the gorge in the ear­ly morn­ing and evening, so a tri­pod will come in handy. Pho­to: south.life

What to shoot

You will find unique water­falls in the Sochi region, rel­a­tive­ly close to the city. Peo­ple often come here with a tour, but even with­out it, there is def­i­nite­ly some­thing to see here. The rocks, rivers and nature of these places are per­fect for land­scape, por­trait and even art pho­tog­ra­phy. But the main object of atten­tion is still the water­falls on the Agu­ra Riv­er. The high­er you go, the more impres­sive the view opens up to you and your cam­era.

When to go

Like most nat­ur­al beau­ties, the water­falls look great at any time of the year, but sum­mer is the safest time to climb. In win­ter, the water turns into huge ici­cles on the rocks, which is also impres­sive.

How to get there

You can get to the nat­ur­al park from Sochi by minibus, taxi or bus. Please note that the entrance to the gorge where the water­falls are locat­ed is paid. In addi­tion, expect that the walk will def­i­nite­ly take sev­er­al hours.

Plyos

Autumn in Plyos is full of rich hues. Pho­to: wanderings.online

What to shoot

The city in the Ivano­vo region is locat­ed on the banks of the Vol­ga and is famous for its cathe­drals and archi­tec­ture. Like Pereslavl-Zalessky, the city is buried in green­ery and is full of small wood­en hous­es, muse­ums and mod­ern objects — sculp­tures and mon­u­ments. Thanks to the riv­er and the large num­ber of hills, the city is ide­al for both paint­ing and land­scape pho­tog­ra­phy. Also in Plyos it will be inter­est­ing to shoot city shots.

When to go

Plyos is most beau­ti­ful in sum­mer and autumn. The trees change col­ors and the city is full of rich hues. The rest of the time, at least the beau­ti­ful sky and the beau­ty of the Vol­ga await you.

How to get there

The eas­i­est way to get to Plyos is from Ivano­vo by bus, the trav­el time is about an hour and a half. If you are trav­el­ing by car, you can stop by the Sumarokovsky State Nature Reserve. This is an elk farm, which is locat­ed near Plyos.

Lake Ilmen

Even on the way to the lake you can get excel­lent pho­to­graph­ic mate­r­i­al. Pho­to: commons.wikimedia.org

What to shoot

The pic­turesque lake is locat­ed near Veliky Nov­gorod and is dis­tin­guished by its rich and diverse nature, at least 50 rivers flow into it. Hav­ing made a short trip along the banks of the Ilmen, you can take pic­tures of com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent beach­es and areas. One of the nat­ur­al attrac­tions near the lake is the Ilmen­sky Glint. This is a cliff that was prob­a­bly part of the sea bay in pre­his­toric times. In the vicin­i­ty of the lake there are many more ide­al places for pho­tographs, in par­tic­u­lar, the ruins of the Res­ur­rec­tion Cathe­dral can be found near­by.

When to go

Late spring and sum­mer is the best time to trav­el to Lake Ilmen: all the beach­es and beau­ty of the area are at their peak, so pic­turesque shots are guar­an­teed. But if you are not afraid of bad weath­er, then autumn can also be a great time to vis­it. Win­ters on the lake are dif­fer­ent, and in 2020 a rare phe­nom­e­non was observed: the water froze in the form of ice balls.

How to get there

You can get from Veliky Nov­gorod to Ilmen by almost any pub­lic trans­port: minibus, bus, taxi, and even by bicy­cle. But it is best to trav­el by car — this way you can go around the entire coast of the lake.

Izborsk

Izborsk fortress is the most pop­u­lar, but not the only point of attrac­tion in this area. Pho­to: flickr.com

What to shoot

Pop­u­lar with reen­ac­tors and his­to­ry buffs, Stary Izborsk is a vil­lage in the Pskov region. There is def­i­nite­ly some­thing to see in these places, the main attrac­tion is the Izborsk fortress. It lit­er­al­ly breathes with the ancient Russ­ian her­itage, it is good to shoot archi­tec­ture or “his­tor­i­cal” por­traits in it. Izborsk also has sev­er­al ancient church­es, but in addi­tion to every­thing that was built by man, this place also has fan­tas­tic nat­ur­al wealth. For exam­ple, Sloven­ian springs are ground­wa­ter sources that form small but spec­tac­u­lar water­falls. It’s def­i­nite­ly worth see­ing and pho­tograph­ing.

When to go

Sum­mer and late spring are great times to vis­it. And if you arrive dur­ing the his­tor­i­cal fes­ti­val, you will get a full range of impres­sions and unusu­al pic­tures.

How to get there

It is easy to get to Izborsk from Pskov — reg­u­lar bus­es go there. You can go on a guid­ed tour, but it’s bet­ter to go on your own. That is when you will have enough time to explore the area in detail.