ABOUT ME

Express description: My name is Ben. I was born Veniamin. Now I am sometimes called Benjamín. I am a documentary photographer and also a Spanish Interpreter.

Longer version: I was born in St. Petersburg, Russia when it was still called Leningrad, and at age nine moved to Chicago, USA with my family. After nine years there I moved to Miami, then to Tucson, Arizona, and then lived for years, off and on in Colombia with a two year stint in Argentina. The last four years I have been living near San Francisco, California working as a mostly freelance Spanish (and occasionally Russian) translator/interpreter. For a long time I have been working on photographic projects, and occasionally filming, in places like the deserts of northern Mexico, Haiti, Pacific Coast of Colombia, Somaliland and beyond.

Interests

literature, theatre, film, photography, hiking, backpacking, mountains, bike touring

• literature
• photography
• documentaries
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• freelancing
• languages
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Kafka, Love in the Time of Cholera, Cat's Cradle, Lolita, Teachings of Don Juan, Dogville, Amorres Perros, Santa Sangre, Sacred Mountain, Dreamers, Grizzlyman, 8 1/2, Sarajevo, Salvador, Manu Chao, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Cranberries, Kronos Quartet, Phillip Glass, The Beatles, Marley, The Doors, The Police, Stereolab, Radiohead, Pernett, Portishead, Bjork, Mercedes Sosa, Samba, Bossa Nova, Air, Mum, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Jorge Ben, Calexico, Carlinhos Brown, Tango, Vallenato, Reggeton, Jorge Drexler

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A taxi driver who dropped me off at a hotel in Mexico City after the ride from the airport surprised me half an hour later by stopping by with his wife who brought me a sandwich and a bottle of milk. Hard to forget. And so many similar kind acts all over the place.

Teach, Learn, Share

English, Russian, Spanish, photography

Countries I’ve Visited

Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, Laos, Somalia

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Russian Federation, United States

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