ОЛЬГА СМИРНОВА

Olga Smirnova

(artist name Olga Ingurazova)

Russian-born award-winning photographer, international journalist, tv producer and educator based in Moscow.

□ 27 countries as a photographer, writer and journalist for National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Washington Post, Smithsonian magazine, Io Donna, DR1 TV, RTL TV, etc.
□ 5 years as fixer, producer and translator for local and international media, including top-rated TV documentaries and news production
□ one of the ”ten best photographers documenting post-Soviet and East Europe” by the version of the international photo agency Magnum and the French cultural foundation PhotoBoite in 2017.
□ began her career by documenting post-conflict recovery and the aftermath of separatist movements
□ covered the Olympic Games and world football tournaments in South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine
□ Member of the International Federation of Journalists, International Women Photograph Foundation, Russian Union of Journalists
SPEAKS English • Italian • Russian

PRODUCER / FIXER RESUME
• Produced and co-directed three highest-rated documentaries about Russia for central Danish television. Executed story research trips, found main characters and built confidential relationships, engaged stakeholders, led a team of 7 people on filming trips during production as fixer, translator and pleasant companion.
• Pitched and directed up to 12 news tv stories across Russia, while scouting locations, researching stories and characters to film, negotiating with local authorities and public organizations, translating interviews. (2018-2022).
• Researched and executed photo and multimedia assignments on social, environmental and sport issues for such clients as National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian magazine, Washington Post, Io Donna, Courrier international among others.
• Made it to ”30 under 30 emerging talents” shortlist by Magnum Photos agency; the French cultural foundation PhotoBoite’s ranking “30 under 30 women photographers to watch”, and ”10 best photographers documenting post-Soviet and East Europe” by The Guardian in 2017.
• Based in Moscow. Lived and worked in Netherlands, Italy, Georgia, Armenia among others. Speaks Russian (mother language), English and Italian.

More about Olga
Her working experience organically thrived from photojournalism and conflict facilitation to tv production and project development to cultural management and education.
Ingurazova began her career by documenting post-conflict recovery and the aftermath of separatist movements and national wars. Providing coverage in the international mass media, she participated in peacekeeping dialogue programs and held master classes for local students and media in Georgia, Armenia, Russia, Moldova, and Ukraine to change the relationships on the ground. She teamed up with locals organizers for cultural events helping repatriates families from war-torn Syria, returned to the ethnic motherland, to assimilate in the South Caucasus. Worked in the back of the violence preventions.
Olga’s award-winning photo stories ”Scars of Independence” and ”Wolf Story” were published as a part of a book series "War Is Only Half the Story" produced by the Aftermath Project Foundation and Dewi Lewis Publishing.
Based on this five years' work, The Guardian magazine named Olga Ingurazova one of the ”ten best photographers documenting post-Soviet and East Europe” in 2016. The same year the international photo agency Magnum and the French cultural foundation PhotoBoite added her name to their shortlists “30 under 30’’ young documentary photographers to watch.
Being a sports enthusiast, she covered the Olympic Games and world football tournaments in South Africa, Brazil, Russia, Georgia, Poland, and Ukraine, exploring how sports affect the social and political climate outside of stadiums and sports venues.
Her work was focused on sports diplomacy. Ingurazova brought up stories of 'alternative' national football teamsof Somaliland, Lapland, Cyprus, North Italy, Iraqi Kurdistan, Ossetia, Panjab and others following the football tournaments for de-facto nations, unrecognized countries and sports isolated territories around the world.
Ingurazova was awarded and supported by the Lucie Foundation Award, Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Prize, Aftermath Project Foundation, Invisible Photographer Asia Scholarship, IAFOR Documentary Award, International photography Direct Look Award.
Today, Olga contributes to international media as a producer and photographer. And works on cultural and educational eventsworldwide as educator, curator and lecturer.
Olga studied photojournalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University and broadcast media at the High School of Film and Television Ostankino.

OLGA WORKED AND LIVED IN FOLLOWING LANDS
Armenia | Brazil | Belgium | Croatia | Czech Republic | Dominican Republic | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Italy | Latvia | Lithuania | Moldova | Montenegro | Netherlands | Poland | Russia | Serbia | South Africa | Spain | Thailand | Turkey | Ukraine | Abkhazia | Kosovo | Transnistria | Nagorno Karabakh

SELECTED HONORS | ACQUISITIONS
• Women Photograph + ONA Grant. | Finalist. 2021
• International Sittcomm Award. | Winner. 2019
• ViewFind Visual Storytelling Grant. | Finalist. 2017
• International photography Direct Look | Finalist. 2016
• PhotogrVphy Grant | Nominee Award (United Kingdom). 2016
• International photography festival Organ Vida | Commended Entry. 2016
• Lucie Foundation Scholarship Award. | Short-listed artist. 2015
• FotoVisura Grant for Outstanding Personal Project. | Honorable Mention. 2015
• Forward Thinking Museum JGS Photography Contest. | Winner. 2015
• IAFOR Documentary Photography Award. | Commended Entry. 2015
• Palm Springs Photo Festival | Finalist. 2015
• PhotoTales Multimedia Projects Award. | Finalist 2015
• ’30 under 30 women photographers to watch’ by Photo Boite. | 2015
• Invisible Photographer Asia (IPA) Mentorship Program Scholarship Grant. | Winner. 2015
• Aftermath Project Grant | Finalist. 2014
• Lucie Foundation Scholarship Award. | Short-listed artist. 2014
• Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation Grant. | Short-listed artist. 2014
• Efremov Report Photography Competition. | 3rd place. 2014

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
• Bursa FotoFest | ‘Looking for the King’ exhibition. Bursa, Turkey, 2020
• Young Russian Photographers Festival. Russia, Kaluga. 2020
• Bursa FotoFest | ‘Wolf’ exhibition. Bursa, Turkey, 2019
• Les Rencontres d'Arles | 'The Family of No Man'. Arles, France, 2018
• Cultural center: Akademia Odkryć Fotograficznych | ‘Scars of Independence’. Lublin, Poland 2018
• Festival Pil'Ours of Women Photography | ‘Wolf’ solo exhibition. Nantes, France 2017
• International photography festival Organ Vida | ‘Scars of Independence’ screening. Zagreb, Croatia, 2016
• Documentary Photography Days in Istanbul | ‘Scars of Independence’. Istanbul, Turkey, 2016
• Athens Photo Festival | ‘Scars of Independence’. Athens, Greece. 2016
• Palm Springs Photo Festival | ‘Scars of Independence’ screening. Palm Springs, US 2015
• Latvian Museum of Photography | ‘Scars of Independence’ solo exhibition. Riga, Latvia 2015
• ‘Fotografia’ International Festival of Rome | ‘Scars of Independence’. Rome, Italy 2015
• Magnum photo agency and Photography Show |"30 under 30" emerging documentary photographers to watch. London, 2015
• Photo Boite Exhibition | ‘30 under 30 women photographers to watch’. 2015
• Photo Kathmandu Festival | ‘Scars of Independence’. Nepal, Kathmandu 2015
• International Photography Festival GuatePhoto | Guatemala, Guatemala city. 2015
• International Festival of contemporary photography ‘Bitume Photofest’ | Lecce, Italy, 2015
• XII International Biennale of Photography of Tenerife | ‘Scars of Independence’. Canary Islands, Spain 2015
• VI International Festival of Photography PhotoVisa | ‘Scars of Independence’ solo exhibition. 2014, Krasnodar, Russia
• Slideluck festival | ‘Scars of Independence’. Bologna, Italy 2014
• Encontros da Imagem Festival | ‘Scars of Independence’. Braga, Portugal 2014
• International photography festival Organ Vida | ‘Scars of Independence’. Zagreb, Croatia 2014
• Efremov Report Photography Competition |‘Aftermath Postcards’. Tobolsk, Russia. 2014
• Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival | ‘Aftermath Postcards’. Tbilisi, Georgia, 2014
• V International Festival of Photography PhotoVisa | ‘Forsaken Land’. Krasnodar, Russia, 2013
Book
War is Only Half the Story. Volume VIII | The Aftermath Project, United States, 2015

□ BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"War Is Only Half the Story"
Aftermath Project Foundation and Dewi Lewis Publishing | 2016
'One-To-One''

Treemedia publishing | 2020

CONTACT OLGA

PROJECTS & PORTFOLIO

PUBLICATIONS

What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution?

Smithsonian Magazine

We journey through Vladimir Putin’s Russia to measure the aftershocks of the political explosion that rocked the world a century ago. Russia is both a great, glorious country and an ongoing disaster. Just when you decide it is the one, it turns around and discloses the other...

A Chance Encounter Leads to a Deeper Understanding of a Civil War

National Geographic

What makes people decide that, rather than start over elsewhere, they’ll stay in a place with ghosts of the past both bitter and sweet? The most powerful takeaway for Ingurazova was finding out how in the midst of it all, life goes on. This sentiment also parallels her own as a photographer. “Photography is about staying,” she says, and coming away with a deeper understanding...

Russian Lawyers Find Lucrative Niche Counseling Clients Hit by Sanctions

The Wall Street Journal

Russian lawyer had to make a choice: either had to drop the biggest client, or give up promising career at a prestigious American law firm and launch his own practice...