Paula Riff

Post Cards from Russia

I went to Russia for the first time in 1993. I went in hopes of finding a different point of view of the world – a world that I could dream in. Russia was changing so quickly visually and emotionally that I felt it was an extraordinary time to capture. It felt like it was a time of hope and dreams and my intent was to capture that hopeful moment in time. It felt like it could have been “home”. It felt like a place to send postcards from.  Twenty years later I am revisiting these images that were taken in villages along the Volga River and giving them a new life by hand coloring them in hopes that this place might feel like home again. I am drawn to the past because it gives me hope to believe in a better future – a hope that we can learn from our mistakes and make our lives better – make our lives freer.

Bio

Paula Riff’s first career did not involve taking pictures. After college, she lived in Tokyo, Japan for several years and upon her return to the states became an interpreter for Japanese film production companies in Los Angeles. She switched careers while landing an internship at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the photo department under the former Deputy Director and curator of photography, Robert Sobiezek. During the same period she worked at the California Institute of the Arts, taking photos for a number of the school’s publications. She has also worked as a still photographer on a number of small Hollywood films.

Paula Riff has a long and varied photographic career. She spent a number of years as a successful children’s portrait photographer, hand coloring many of her photographs that continues to provide a unique niche for her artwork. She finds passion and inspiration photographing everything from portraits, landscapes to still life, and more often than not, hand colors her black and white photographs using a subtle colorful palette. She recently purchased a digital camera but her film cameras continue to drive her soul.