Ilya Kormiltsev. Poet and translator

It’s very hard for me to write about Ilya Kormiltsev and his legacy. He managed to achieve a lot, meant a lot to other people, and a detailed description of his personality goes well beyond my posts. I usually describe here the history of photographs I’ve taken and everything related to them, all these moments of life. But I will try to do it in brief.

Ilya Kormiletsev is mostly famous as a great poet, founder of the legendary Soviet, and later Russian, rock band Naulitus Pompilius and author of many of its songs.

Once we were having a walk with my photographic buddy, discussing the problems of street photography, when he spontaneously asked me:

— Wanna go to Kormiltsev with me today!?
— To whom? Ilya Kormiltsev from Nautilus?
— Yes.
— How come? Do you mean we’ll just pop by, ring the bell, and he will welcome us inside?
— Not exactly. I have an assignment for his portrait by a literary magazine, and you will come with me and help me, maybe, take some pictures yourself.
— Wicked, let’s go!

I have always been fascinated by his creative non-conformism while dealing with authorities, especially when Ilya Kormiltsev created the Ultra.Kultura publishing house in order to publish alternative — and at times quite radical — literature, which he translated himself. His project was later “stifled” by the authorities for his free-thinking.

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