Things I Wish I Had Had the Courage to Photograph This Week

A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.

~Diane Arbus

A priest in a long black cassock, pillbox cap, a pectoral cross on a long chain around his neck - talking on his cellphone in the basement of a store selling icons and church items. “Misha, it’s Sasha. They only have the big one. Do we have room for it?”

Four cops in uniform drinking beer, leaning against the wall of a fire station, and ogling all the girls walking by.

An Interior Ministry Trooper standing guard while a VIP made a transaction at the bank next door to my apartment. A cigarette in one hand, a cell phone in the other, and a machine gun hanging from a strap over his shoulder.

The two machine-gun armed Interior Ministry Troops at my office who escorted me out of the building and toward a huge Mercedes. Little did I know that I was steps ahead of their intended protectee, a gentleman with whom I had just shared the elevator.

A van full of soldiers across the street from school. The driver was asleep with his head on the wheel like a crash victim. In back, 6 soldiers sat around a table with chairs and played cards. At 8 am.