These are from the river port on the Volga. This concrete monstrosity was once the centre of the tourist industry as Russians were mostly forbidden from travelling abroad and so took long trips down the Volga.
The Volga is wider than this; what seems to be the far bank is just an island.
This hill was the scene of several battles as it provided the main observation point over the city and onto the Volga for directing artillery fire. Now the main memorial to the fallen.
That's the odd thing - the city has a million people but my experience of it was that is was unnaturally empty. The factories are shut, the markets 2/3rds empty, the old Soviet squares lie still.
I shot it as I found it - quiet and decaying but with the signs of a new Russia already firmly established.
But I think the issue is that I was drawn to the old Soviet grand areas - now utterly pointless. The cinemas and McDonalds were full.
