Sergey Makurin. The attraction of the northern mountains

The exhibition is dedicated to the blessed memory of Anatoly Semenovich Shumkov, Honored Teacher of Russia and traveler,
united by a common spirit of camping romance
thousands of boys and girls

At different times, people differently called these places that encircle our country - Riphean, Hyperborea, Big Stone, Stone Belt, Aral, and, finally, the Ural Mountains. The Urals with a stone spine reared between two parts of the world - Europe and Asia, for centuries attracting trade caravans, geological expeditions and, simply, tramps and travelers looking for answers to many of their questions that have not been solved for thousands of years. At the photo exhibition of Sergei Makurin "The attraction of the northern mountains" presents the work made in numerous trips of the author in the Northern Urals - the icy heart of the Ural Mountains.

The Northern Urals is one of the most unexplored and complex areas, not only in the photographic sense, but also in a simple, universal human. This is a land where even myths are terrible and legends are tragic, such as, for example, about the place that later began to excite the minds of many researchers and was called Dyatlov Pass. But the harsh, icy landscapes of the Northern Urals in the author’s presentation are surprisingly diverse and multicolored. And the farther up, towards the Arctic winds, the cosmic-unrealistic nature becomes, gradually in contact with the kingdom of eternal cold. The author notes that: “Despite the fact that the northern part of the Ural ridge is located in the center of the Urals, it is here that its most deaf corners. For hundreds of kilometers stretched ridged ridges and ridges, and wild untouched taiga. Until recently, thousands of deer herds grazed here, and shamans sang their wise songs to the young. ”

Makurin, in spite of the fact that he positions himself primarily as a “landscape photographer”, often touches on the difficult, philosophical questions of the dialogue of a person with an element beyond his control. In many works of the author, against the backdrop of grandiose snowy scenery, one can see small figures of people whose presence can be interpreted in different ways - from the greatness of the human spirit to the fragility and momentary nature of human life.

The photographer himself says about his exhibition: “What moves a person, what makes him conquer his unthinkable spaces? As soon as he went down from the conquered summit, he turns around, looks at the dazzling, in the rays of the sun, mountainsides and is already dreaming of coming back! So who conquered whom? Is man a mountain or mountain a man? Even today, when it seems that every centimeter has already been opened on Earth, the spirit of discovery as opium intoxicates and makes you flee dusty cities in the hope of discovering something new. And a miracle happens! Man discovers and finds a whole world for himself. No matter where this world is. Thousands of kilometers from cities or very close by. He is new and completely unknown… ".

Sergey Makurin, 1st class rescuer of the Sverdlovsk Region Rescue Service, photographer, member of the Russian Union of Photographers. Repeated finalist, laureate and winner of all-Russian and international landscape and travel photography contests, such as the Global Arctic Awards, National geographic, Wildlife of Russia, Best of Russia, Photo travel awards and many others.

In the den of snow

Igloo

Twirl

A piece of paradise lost in the snow