Please meet Michael Hockney, a Canadian photographer and the Artistic Director of the Project "Colours of Russia."  Take a look at these pictures and enjoy the peculiar mixture of simplicity and sophistication created by the hand of an experienced professional:

(I'm certainly biased because the slide-show is full of pictures of my beloved St. Petersburg.  Curiously, there are many images of weddings.  Fits my own impression of St. Petersburg this summer: a lot of weddings and young moms with strollers.)

The "Colours of Russia" project (recently covered by Itar-Tass) is part of a broader campaign to fight country stereotypes created by the media.  Russia — obviously not spoiled by the abundance of objective coverage — has been selected for the first release from The Colour Group. The ultimate goal of the project, as I understand it, is to cover as many cities and countries in the world as Michael and his partner William Zlatanov are able to travel to.

I want to thank The Colour Group for yet another opportunity to see the Russia I know and love and I wish Michael and William many happy shots.

Or, borrowing the Russian line of the month:

The Colour Group, forward!