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Oleg Klimov Photo Archive

Illustration: Maruska AI, created for the Oleg Klimov Photo Archive
Illustration: Maruska AI, created for the Oleg Klimov Photo Archive

A working archive of documentary photography, photo essays and long-term visual stories.

The Oleg Klimov Photo Archive is a growing digital archive of documentary photography, photo essays, portraits, reportage and long-term visual projects created over more than three decades.

The archive brings together work from Russia and beyond: war zones, post-Soviet territories, closed institutions, remote regions, provincial towns, religious communities, industrial landscapes and everyday life outside official narratives.

It is not only a portfolio, but a working visual archive. Some collections are open for public viewing. Other materials are available for editors, researchers, curators and publishers by request.

Photographs in the archive can be viewed online with captions, dates, locations and contextual information. High-resolution files are not available for direct public download, but access can be requested for editorial, research, exhibition or publishing purposes.

The purpose of this archive is simple: to keep visual testimony accessible, searchable and alive — for readers, editors, researchers and anyone trying to understand the human landscape behind history.

Public Photo Archive Collections

Selected public collections from the Oleg Klimov Photo Archive are listed below. Each collection page includes a short introduction, historical or project context, and a link to view the photographs in the online archive.

Kaliningrad: Living on the Ruins of East Prussia

A documentary photo collection about identity, memory and life in Kaliningrad Region — Russia’s western exclave built on the ruins of East Prussia.
A documentary photo collection about identity, memory and life in Kaliningrad Region — Russia’s western exclave built on the ruins of East Prussia.

This collection explores a territory shaped by displacement, Soviet resettlement, erased German memory, borderland identity and the continuing question of belonging.

View collection page

Moscow 1991 Photo Collection

Photographs from Moscow during the August 1991 coup, the defense of the White House, the collapse of Soviet power and the first days of post-Soviet Russia.
Photographs from Moscow during the August 1991 coup, the defense of the White House, the collapse of Soviet power and the first days of post-Soviet Russia.
View collection page

Russia’s Golden Ring Photo Collection

Documentary photographs from old Russian towns, religious processions, provincial life, monuments, rituals and everyday landscapes.
Documentary photographs from old Russian towns, religious processions, provincial life, monuments, rituals and everyday landscapes.
View collection page

Urals Photo Collection

A road journey through Russia’s industrial heartland during the war: factories, mining towns, cemeteries, ecology, provincial life and the fading showcase of prosperity.
A road journey through Russia’s industrial heartland during the war: factories, mining towns, cemeteries, ecology, provincial life and the fading showcase of prosperity.
View collection page

Afghanistan 2001: Operation Enduring Freedom

Photographs from northern Afghanistan at the beginning of the U.S.-led war and the fall of Taliban rule. Photos by Oleg Klimov

A documentary photo collection from northern Afghanistan at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, when the Northern Alliance, supported by U.S. airpower, fought to remove the Taliban from power.

The photographs were made in territory controlled by the Northern Alliance — officially the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan — during one of the decisive moments of the post-9/11 war.

View collection page

Archive Access

Public collections can be viewed online. High-resolution files are not available for direct public download.

For editorial use, research, exhibitions, publications or licensing requests, please contact Oleg Klimov directly.

Contact Oleg Klimov