Vladimir Alperovich

1938-2001

Vladimir Alperovich was born on 19 February, 1938 in Moscow, Russia. Photography was his second passion, the first one being skydiving. Since his childhood Vladimir was deeply interested in aviation. He went on to study at MAI, the Moscow Aviation Institute. After graduation he worked as an electro-optical engineer on different projects in the fields of aviation and aerospace engineering.

The black and white series of the photographs are dedicated to skydiving. Vladimir first jumped when he was 18 and this extreme sport was his hobby for almost 20 years. In 1962-1963, while Vladimir was a member of the Soviet national team for skydiving, the team set 6 world records and one national USSR record for exact landing in groop parachute jumping. Vladimir jumped more than 1400 times and quit in 1975 while holding the degree of "master of sports" with instruction certificate.

Vladimir began to photograph in the mid-60ies. At first he was only interested in taking pictures in open air during the fall: he photographed the other divers when, for example, they were jumping after him from the plane. During that period his photographs were regulary published in the journal "The Wings of Fatherland" ("Kryl'ya Rodiny"). Then, gradually, Vladimir grew more interested in photography as such. He became an avid photographer, taking pictures of everyday life around him, trying to capture people and nature as he saw them.

The color photographs were taken later, after Vladimir and his family emigrated to Israel in 1990. Vladimir continued to work in the same field, now in "ElOp", and dedicated his free time to exploring the new country. Taking pictures was his natural way to express himself. Never considering himself an artist, Vladimir enjoyed photopraphing people and things he loved. Friends and strangers, streets and sunsets, Israeli flowers and European trees - all those fill his albums.

Vladimir died on 24 July, 2001. The pictures stay.