Photojournalism - NOMINEE: Steffen Junghanß

These pictures are part of my work "соба́кi – accompany of a traveller". For this ongoing series I am travelling with an white-russian truckdriver named Alexander through russia and eastern-europe. During our first trip - lasting 2 1/2 weeks, he shares everything with me: His meals as well as his cab, barely 5 square meters in size, called "doghouse" by the Russian truckdrivers, because of the nicknames they give themselves: "соба́кi" – Dogs. We hadn't even met personally, when he allows me to join him on this tour to Russia and be part of his every-day life: the monotonious driving on endless roads, the naps in the truck in bright daylight, the shabby washhouses on far-off parking lots, the never-ending wait at the border and the brief moments of intimacy with his wife.
I have been interested in his kind of job for a while: long-distance truck driving seems unseperable from the image of freedom and independence as well as loneliness and abstinence - images that I have always concerned myself with and that have influenced me and my decisions on how to lead my own life. The reason for my devotion to this project results from my interest in different ways of life. The every-day life of a truckdriver contrasts our normal course of life and is in need of a very special attitude which I am hoping to portray.

All pictures were shot on medium format film.