How it all began
My introduction to military tactical games (Airsoft) and reenactments was largely accidental. For a long time, I photographed them to stay in good physical shape and maintain my photography skills. One day, while hanging out in the kitchen, my friends said, “Listen, why are you
worse than others? Publish your own book.” I didn’t hesitate for long and made up my mind. I thought I could do it in a year and a half. How naive!
Immersion
I spent five years working on the book, and the photography took eight. I wanted to make sure my photos was as realistic as possible. That’s why I once found myself at a Milsim (military simulation). This is a type of game in which combat conditions are recreated as realistically as possible.
To give the book a deeper insight into the Milsim subculture, realistic photographs alone were not enough. The book needed a voice — and certainly not mine. So I interviewed the players: law enforcement officers, office workers and creative professionals. This is how Immersion came about — a large-scale documentary project about people who play war games and reenact the major armed conflicts of our time.
People come to Milsim to wear military gear, feel like heroes, live a different life, overcome their fears and weaknesses, or use play and role-playing to cope with traumatic experiences they have had in real life.
Key points about the book
Designer Adeliya Eit
Photo editor Olga Kravets
Editors Anna Turenkova, Lyubov Menshikova, Peter J. Glen
Translators Sofya Gavrilova, Oksana Klyuchinskaya
Colour corrector Vladimir Semenkov
432 pages
Russian and English
395 copies, limited edition
223 photographs, 18 interviews
Full-colour offset printing, Pantone, aqueous coating
Offset paper 120 g, Tintoretto Gesso 140 g, Modigliani Candido 145 g
Swiss binding, die-cut cover
Dimensions 17 × 24 × 3,5 cm
Weight 1130 g
ISBN 978-5-6 053 595-1-7
The book is included in the collection of the library of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art.
