4. Satellites
Jonas Bendiksen:
Curiosity in Practice
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 2
Contents Birobidzhan	4
	 Shooting Blind	 10
	 The Sunday Times Magazine	12
Satellites	
	Evolution	 15
Behind the Image	 21
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 3
The Star of David is scribbled
on a broken apartment block
window. Birobidzhan, Jewish
Autonomous Region. Russia.
1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 4
Birobidzhan
Following his spell as an intern at Magnum Photos’ London bureau,
Bendiksen, then 20 years old, received a grant from the agency to help
him kick-start a project. Having been fascinated by Russia, the USSR,
and his own family history, he set his sights toward Birobidzhan, the
administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Travelling
via Tokyo, including a two-day trip by sea in a rusty ship, Bendiksen
arrived in Vladivostok, Russia. He recounts how, standing on the dock,
alone and a world away from home, reality struck.
 “I felt really, really alone in the world. I was way out of my depth...”
Continuing on to Birobidzhan, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway,
near the China-Russia border, he began establishing roots; he secured a
place to live, became more fluent in the language and, over time, built
the confidence to head out with the clear intention of taking pictures.
Images courtesy of Laara Matsen
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 5
The photographer explains how, even now, he
employs a similar set of steps to “start the engine”
when working on a project or assignment.
Committing yourself to getting out, to building
some “forward motion” for yourself and your
work, versus overthinking it, is a positive
approach to what can be a difficult aspect of
photography. Starting something new is never
easy, nor is maintaining it for that matter, but
building a system or framework to work to – even
if it is as simple as getting yourself out of the front
door – can be a useful practice.
The first Jewish homeland of modern time,
created 20 years before Israel, located in
Far-East Siberia. People waiting for the
morning bus in the freezing winter, which
often reaches -40 Celsius. Birobidzhan, J
ewish Autonomous Region. Russia. 1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 6
Street scene. Birobidzhan,
Jewish Autonomous Region.
Russia. 1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 7
Bendiksen planned to spend a year in the
region, looking to document the daily life of
the remaining Jewish community that resides
there, and searching for signs of the region’s
Soviet history. However, within ten months the
photographer faced accusations of espionage
from the Federal Security Service (FSB), the
chief security agency of Russia, and the main
successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB. Fortunately,
Bendiksen had become good friends with some
locals who happened to have connections with
the FSB agents, so rather than be deported, he
agreed to board the next train out of town of his
own accord. Swiftly gathering all his belongings,
including his many rolls of undeveloped film, the
photographer left Birobidzhan.
A Russian Jewish teenager
at an Israel-sponsored
summer camp. Birobidzhan,
Jewish Autonomous Region.
Russia. 1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 8
Birobidzhan’s first Rabbi
in years, who was only
18 years old. Birobidzhan,
Jewish Autonomous Region.
Russia. 1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 9
Every week, hundreds of
Birobidzhani Jews left for
Israel, once again in search
of a Jewish homeland and
a better life. Birobidzhan,
Jewish Autonomous Region.
Russia. 1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 10
Having departed from Birobidzhan – a town which did not have a
photographic lab, nor one nearby – the next step for Bendiksen was to
have the countless rolls of film he had amassed across this ten month
period processed. Nearly a year since starting this journey, he had still
not seen a single frame. This ‘blindness’ represents a very different way
of learning, but as Bendiksen reflects, it also “represented a kind of
liberation” for him. Rather than think about aesthetics, composition or
visual style, he was focusing on different aspects of what he was doing:
“I said, what am I photographing? Who am I photographing? What is
my relationship to these people? And how do I move through this story
myself? And I guess it became a focus more like, what is the story I’m
trying to tell?”
Inevitably this informed his development as a photographer placing the
story at the very heart of his approach.
Shooting Blind
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 11
“I’m always driven by the story.
I’m driven by the questions I’m interested in.”
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 12
 “I just couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Having developed the films, Bendiksen pitched the story, successfully
selling it to The Sunday Times Magazine. Bendiksen’s “hunch” was
right: the publication produced a 10-page feature on the work which
included an article written alongside his images. “Most people didn’t
know about this place and it was a fascinating story that was interesting
for so many reasons. So they made a big splash out of it”.
This was a significant moment for Bendiksen; proof that living and
working as a photographer was a possibility.
The Sunday Times
Magazine
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 13
Stalin looks out on his
creation while Raisa
sews. Birobidzhan, Jewish
Autonomous Region. Russia.
1999.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 14
Crows circle a statue
of Lenin in front of the
Supreme Soviet building.
Transdniester is in many
ways one of the last
bastions of communist
nostalgia in the former
USSR.Transdniester.
Moldova. 2004.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 15
 “Satellites taught me a lot of what I know about photography. Also, it was
my first experience making a book, it became my first experience making
an exhibition. It was my first real project. And I think it gave me the faith
that it’s somehow worthwhile pursuing these personal passions you have.”
Following his ‘arranged’ exit from Birobidzhan, Jonas continued to live
in Russia, working out of Moscow. After about a year and a half, his
previous dealings with the FSB, combined with a growing awareness
around his work, and the stories he was exploring, culminated in his
expulsion from Russia. This testing moment acted as a trigger point,
forcing Bendiksen to consider new ways for him to explore postSoviet
history. “Russia was only one of many former Soviet Republics:
Uzbekistan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine. All these places and
[others like it] were still open to me.”
Several years of travelling across the southern borderlands of the former
USSR to explore the unrecognized states, breakaway republics, and
remote communities that were born out of the collapse of the Soviet
Union, culminated in his first monograph: Satellites. The project took
Bendiksen from Eastern Europe to Central Asia, including the region
between Russia and Kazakhstan where many spacecraft crash.
Satellites
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 16
Left
With its lush Black Sea
location, Abkhazia is trying to
attract Russian tourists. Here,
at a road stop on the tour bus
route, an entrepreneur, who
charges tourists 10 rubles to
photograph his bear, catches
his breath between busloads.
Abkhazia. Georgia. 2005.
Below
Jonas Bendiksen poses
alongside a bear. Image
courtesy of Laara Matsen.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 17
People sailing out on the
Black Sea. Gagra. Abkhazia.
Georgia. 2005.
Get the poster
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 18
Although Abkhazia is isolated,
half-abandoned and still
suffering war wounds due to
its unrecognized status, both
locals and Russian tourists
are drawn to the warm
waters of the Black Sea.This
unrecognized country, on
a lush stretch of Black Sea
coast, won its independence
from the former Soviet
republic of Georgia after a
fierce war in 1993. Sukhum.
Abkhazia. Georgia. 2005.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 19
Marketplace. Osh. Ferghana
Valley. Kyrgyzstan. 2002.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 20
Dead cows lying on a cliff.
The local population claim
whole herds of cattle and
sheep regularly die as a
result of rocket fuel poisoned
soil. AltaiTerritory. Russia.
2000.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 21
In this short interview, the photographer explores the making of the
cover-image for Satellites, a situation that he describes “as the most surreal
and magical single photographic moment” of his whole career.
What is happening in this photograph?
There are two young guys, local farmers I think, who are pulling copper
wire from the hull of a crashed Soyuz spacecraft – specifically the second
booster stage. I was chasing a story about people who live in the areas
under the flightpath of space rocket launches from Baikonur, Russia’s
biggest spaceport. As we know, everything that goes up eventually
comes down, and each time a space rocket launches from Baikonur the
massive booster stages fall down to earth once their fuel is depleted. At
least at that time they fell down into populated areas. While some locals
complained about health problems and mysterious diseases allegedly
stemming from the rocket crashes, others made good money out of them
selling the precious high-grade scrap metal.
Behind the Image
So I was photographing these men who had started ripping up the
spaceship. It had just rained heavily, and the storm clouds were passing in
the background, giving that dark background. The sky filled with thousands
of white butterflies. Farmers, space rocket, butterflies, sunlight on stormy
skies: all in all this is probably one of the most surreal and magical moments
ever to pass before my eyes.
Where and how was this image made?
It was taken in the Altai territory of Russia, just north of the border with
Kazakhstan in 2000. It was taken with a medium-sized telephoto lens,
which is what makes the butterflies compress to fuzzy white out-of-focus
dots. But on some of the more distant ones you can see the wings beating.
What was happening outside the frame?
I’m definitely happy about this picture, it would be wrong of me to
complain about anything. But having said that, right outside the frame
there was a third guy on a horse. The image could definitely do with a
guy on a horse in the middle there somewhere! Or maybe that’s overkill.
Anyways it would have been fun to have seen it in there.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 22
Villagers collecting scrap
from a crashed spacecraft,
surrounded by thousands
of white butterflies.
Environmentalists fear for
the region’s future due to
the toxic rocket fuel. Altai
Territory, Russia. 2000.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 23
If you hadn’t taken this shot, what would you have been doing instead
at that precise moment?
I do remember right after this there was a great big picnic party. All the
scrap metal collectors and locals gathered down at the river a stone’s
throw away from the scrap. Lots of food, salads, snacks and quite a bit of
booze. So if I hadn’t been photographing it I imagine I’d be lying down
in the grass by the riverside, munching away on a great big juicy slice of
watermelon.
Tell us a secret about this image?
Hm… Well, I can admit that the evidence suggests that I didn’t really
understand at the time that this would be a great picture. Maybe I just
stumbled into it and it was pretty much down to luck, instead of buckets
of talent and know-how. The contact sheet shows that I took three images
in total from this angle, even though the situation went on for a while.
I think I’ve got about half a roll of film of the entire scene. If I came
across this today I suppose I would have recognized it for what it was and
pushed that shutter button quite a few more times. But on the other hand
back then in the film days, we were maybe better photographers who
were better at trusting one’s instincts at the right moments?
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 24
Jonas Beniksen
maneuvering around the
scene, surrounded by white
butterflies with rocket ship
debris and scrap collectors
behind him. Image courtesy
of Laara Matsen.
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Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 26
A Soyuz rocket fuel tank lies
on the steppe. Kazakhstan.
2000.
Jonas Bendiksen: Curiosity in Practice — Satellites	 27
A collection of photographs
taken of Bendiksen working
in the field, as featured
throughout this lesson.
Colour images courtesy of
Laara Matsen.
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