Similar to how the bipolar model of the society of the late 1980s was replaced by the multipolar and network model – in the era of the proliferation of the Internet the same has happened in photography. The late-Soviet period was characterised by bipolar model of reportage/art photography, in the years of perestroika it was replaced by the model of official/unofficial photography. The 1990s saw the beginning of the stratification (segregation) of photography into more subtle sub-forms, and today they can be perceived as a system of spheres, interdependent and inter-communicating, but possessing their own distinctive qualities. → What will be examined is how social and cultural groups of contemporary Russian society are represented in photography (the self-representation of the oligarchic families in the ceremonial photographic portrait, done by the young generation of that class of society; the phenomenon of photography, done by media and political persons; the glamour and fashion photography; the cultural and social separation of the Russian capitals and provinces, focussing on the current trends of ‹young photography› in Moscow and St. Petersburg and on the interpretation of those same trends by the online-community of photographers from various cities all over the country).
