Building of Olympic Stadium, Sochi

Photographer Rob Hornstra and writer and filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen have been working on The Sochi Project since 2009. The Sochi Project seeks to document the development of the Black Sea city – and the wider Caucasus region around it – in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The Sochi Project is about working in a challenging region, finding ways of telling complicated stories to a large audience, as well as setting up an independent, crowd-funded and self-published medium.

In the workshop on Saturday 2 November, Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen will guide participants through the production and publishing of a project on this scale. Including:

• How to survive in the ‘everything for free’ age?
• How to set up the project – allowing you to create and publish the stories the way you want, in your own voice.
• Learn to see opportunities and make your future.

Schedule:

10:00 – 11:30am: The Sochi Project – an introduction to the project
11:30 – 11:45am: Break
11:45 – 1:15pm: Setting up the project: On crowd-funding, finding strategic partners and do-it-yourself principles
1:15 – 2:15pm: Break
2:15 – 3:45pm: From travels to book, newspaper or exhibition: finding the right form for every story
3:45 – 4:00pm: Break
4:00 – 5:30pm: How to survive as a writer and photographer through collaboration & experimentation

Portrait of Nikolay, Abkhazia

The infamous village of Gimry, Dagestan

All images © Rob Hornstra, courtesy Flatland Gallery NL|Paris.

In fact, the Bush-era State Department had sent the name of a diplomat with long experience in the region — Matthew Bryza, a skilled player of pipeline politics whom I’ve known for some 13 years — to the White House as its choice for the Azeri post. But the White House didn’t send Bryza’s nomination to the Senate, and neither has the Obama Administration.

Until now. I’ve received confirmation that — after the clearing of a couple of remaining administrative hurdles — the White House will officially nominate Bryza as U.S. ambassador. He will then be scheduled for a nomination hearing in the Senate.

It’s now one year since Russia recognised Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

The first time I visited Abkhazia was in December 2006 to produce radio features.

I had always wanted to visit the region during summer. This time I was keen to not only experience what brings Russian tourists and their much needed roubles to Abkhazia’s Black Sea coast, but also try to get a sense of what’s happened inside the territory in the past year.

Abkhazia is not the Côte d’Azur, but if you’re after a cheap flop and drop beachside holiday, plenty of hearty shashlik or trout, cold beer and smooth vodka, then Abkhazia would fit the bill.

Unfortunately the closest I came to a quick dip at the beach was filming two Russian anti-submarine corvettes anchored of the coast near Novy Afon. My bad luck for not getting up early for a dawn patrol paddle.

Russia has announced it will begin providing protection for merchant vessels trading with Abkhazia. That’s the sort of news that will go down well with local taxi drivers complaining of fuel shortages after Georgia’s coast guard recently intercepted a tanker.

Early in the trip we had the chance to interview Abkhazia’s Vice Foreign Minister, Maxim Gunjia. He says that since Russia recognised Abkhazia as independent and pledged to offer protection, Abkhazians have more confidence to invest and develop businesses.

Gunjia says the Russian-Abkhaz relationship is broad and rejects the idea that Abkhazia is just a buffer state.

 
Max Gunjia clip by fieldreports

Matthew Collin’s online report has more and you can also watch the accompanying video feature.

  (Photos: Guy Degen)