This year is almost over. Most of the work is done, and I have some time on my hands to summarize this year.
And as any other photographer I wanted to share with you all my favorite images of this year, tell about all my achievements in photo industry and boast about all awards I won. But does it really matter in the end of the day? Next year I will probably forget about all these great photos I took, and all the other stuff which doesn’t really matter. And while thinking about that, I caught myself on the thought, that for me as a photographer those pictures matter; I put all of myself to do my best and to take best possible photos I can take. Yet, there are photos which are way more important. And these are the photos, you will probably will never forget or at least the moments you captured in those photos will stay with you for for the rest of your life.
And that’s why instead of sharing with you all my best work from this year, I want to share something which was most important for me in 2011.

2011 New Year I celebrated in a small village of Chaun, which is located 200 miles north from the arctic circle. Here is a photo of me ready to leave to Tundra. The weather at that time was -47 C (-52F).

The best trip in my life so far, was to visit reindeer herders and live with them for 3 days.

Another memorable event which happened beyond arctic circle in the northernmost city of Russia – Pevek, was an engagement session of my two close friends Alik and Olya. They desided to dress in national Chukotka clothes. Weather was -35F that day.

While being in Anadyr and Pevek I had a chance to do Help Portrait events. The day before we went to talk to the administration of the hospital for children with tuberculosis, my friend accidently found a letter in the trash can, which one of the girls from the hospital wrote. It really touched me and it did more than that. The photo of the letter is below, written in Russian.

Here is an English translation:

“I live in a village called Meynap ilino. I’m 9 years old. My name is Lyuba. I have 2 sisters and 1 brother. My oldest sister’s name is Marina, she is 12. The Youngest – Sveta, she is 8. My brother’s name is Tolyk, he is 7 months old. I’m in the hospital right now. I want to go home really really bad. First I was in the children’s branch. There was a girl called Arina from my school in the same branch with me. My granny Tanya was in the surgery branch and in the therapy branch was my grand-grand mother Olya. Now my granny Tanya and grand-grand mother Olya and friend Arina are at the airport flying back home. And I’m all alone here. My sisters should come soon to the hospital for an examination. I wish that we could be at home for the New Year. I cry a lot. I want to celebrate the New Year with my Mom, Dad, Sveta, Marina and Tolyk, with Granny, and with all the family. I really really really want to go home! Im crying every day and when i go to sleep because of this. I’m even crying right now because I want to go home really bad. I want and ask God what he he can do so that I can Celebrate New Year with my family.
It’s 2:12 pm, December 16th, I ask God that I would celebrate New Year with my sisters, granny, mom and dad.”

Me with kids from the hospital:

Here is a photo just for you to laugh. I like to work out, especially in Chukotka, especially when I have amazing outfit.

After Chukotka I flew to Moldova to visit my family. I usually come during the summer, yet this time I came in January and celebrated my birthday 1st time in 4 years with my family and my close friends from moldova. Here is a photo of my family. Love them to death!

me, my sister and my little brother.

I flew back to California and in 2 weeks I was gone to Haiti. I went with a group of doctors to organize medical clinics in the tent camps. Another mind-blowing trip which left a big mark on me.
here is a photo of me and kids in one of the tent camps. (I’m in the middle).

In the beginning of the year I was still in school; it was my last semester, and I skipped about 7 weeks of it due to my Chukotka and Haiti trips. I skipped one week of school for my first trip to Haiti, and while being there, I decided to come back again during my spring break, as there was big need to finish building an orphanage. So me and 2 of my good friends Julie and Scott, and later 3 friends 2 Alexes and Ivan came and finished all the necessary things for the orphanage.
During my second trip we decided to take kids from the orphanage to the ocean. Even though they live right on the ocean in Port-au-Prince, its dangerous to swim there, as the water is very dirty and its easy to get infection or any type of disease from it. So we took a trip to the south part of Haiti and spend one day on the beach with the kids.

Also we had a chance to organize medical clinics and just spend some time with the kids in tent camps.

Another cool thing which I got to experience this year, was to fly on the hot air balloon. It was awesome!

After 4 years of sleepless nights, unlimited energy drinks, stress and etc…etc…I got this piece of paper. and yeah, my full name is Alexandr….

This year I had amazing wedding season, which I’m very thankful for.
Sometimes I would get tired and sad…..

but then I stop being sad and be awesome instead:

Summer was great! My sister and my brother-in-law flew from Moldova to visit me.

And of course they brought some goodies :)

Boring pictures are not for us. Me and my sister.

While Ross had to take care of the business and flew to NY, me and my sister took a round trip from Cali to Seattle.

And yeah, sometimes we get good pictures…

Later that summer I went to Disney Land with my friends. And of course couldn’t make my mind which Barbie to buy…

In september I visited a place which was on my top list to visit – Harvard University. As you can see it was quite entertaining…

Came back home to Fresno, packed my stuff and moved to Sacramento….for now.

Once a decade I get a little bit creative. Halloween this year, was one of those times. Here is the result:

I did my first Help Portrait event for this season about 3 weeks ago in Fresno Rescue Missions. Amazing time, mind-blowing stories, and I can not wait for upcoming events.

This year is almost over, but there are going to be another moments and photos which I would probably would want to share…but for now that’s it.