I like the enthusiasm and good nature of the caroling tradition. Maslenitsa and Christmastide days are always a time of transformation, an unstable time when you can dress up in a carnival, sing and kindly bully each other. The words were spoken at this time, perhaps, will direct us and the surrounding reality in some other direction - where there is a lot of delicious food on the table, loved ones are always nearby and luck will never leave our home. I think this way of conjuring oneself and reality is extremely effective and very joyful, which is of course important.
Photography is usually considered as a way to convey reality but staged photography tells us a different truth. It is the courage to find your point of view on familiar things and to create worlds that momentarily flash with inner magic and tell us their stories. Photography is a bit like cooking: you take ingredients and mix them - color, characters, props, surroundings - and you get a new world
