Artist: DJ Furth

Edition: 1/1

Constantin is a tour guide in southern Siberia on Olkhon Island.

This portrait was filmed on a fishing boat on the shores of Lake Baikal.

“There are really powerful energies here at Baikal,” he explained. “If you visit Baikal once, the impressions that stay throughout your life - they will always pull you back here.”

Speaking about the church, he said “I don’t go to church because I think that the church isn’t what it used to be anymore. It’s somehow more commercial. But in the hardest and most difficult times, we always turn to God…we don’t have anyone else to turn to.”

Regarding belief, he shared that “faith is the most important. If a man has faith, it’s like a placebo…it’s the only thing that keeps a man afloat. As soon as he loses faith, he loses everything.”

He shares how the Siberian character has formed due to the proximity to the natural environment: “Nature definitely toughens us up…and the people who are more connected with nature, those peoples are consequently more hardened by nature itself. Because if nature dictates its rules to everyone, then all men living in nature must follow the same rules. I mean, if you do not follow these rules, you will die.”

As he explained when asked about the impact the Siberian environment can have on people, “it all depends on how deep a person plunges in to this nature. I mean, if he does so superficially, he will not get anything from it, and it will remain like a picture to him."

Constantin continues, "But if he really dives in to a forest…climbs a mountain or hikes to a spring, then he will gain more information and he have a deeper experience and strong memory. You have to live here to figure it out.”