The Initiative Colours of Russia is a benchmark production designed to herald a new era of understanding of modern Russia through representative imagery not usually presented in the popular foreign mass media. Itar-Tass has recognized Colours of Russia for its importance as an artistic and unbiased representation of modern Russia (see News page). Colours of Russia began in 2007as a foundation study photo-documentary and was shot by Michael Hockney in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Over 15,000 images were collated and this became the principal resource and foundation for the Colours of Russia Production. "..This was only the beginning. A country the size of Russia cannot be realistically exemplified with a few thousand images. It will take hundreds of thousands. Colours of Russia has been released on the foundation studies in order to begin the long road of visual redress. What is important to understand is that the images are designed to meet the curiosity of non-Russians from a non-Russian perspective. It is not meant to be a bible on Russia, that I cannot do because I am not Russian. That I leave to my truly gifted Russian colleagues. What many Russians do not understand is that outside of Russia all we are presented with is negative imagery. I was asked by a Russian colleague, "why did you take a picture of a telephone booth". He did not understand my reasoning. Vladimir, I said, where I come from people think crime is everywhere here and that there are big social problems. That is what they are told. So I take a picture of a pristinely clean telephone booth in an average place to demonstrate it is not vandalized. If it is not vandalized that tells people something.....ah, he said, now I understand. Often the simplest picture can destroy years of misrepresentative images." Michael Hockney, CBC Radio, September 2007 The Colours of Russia initiative is designed around the development of the Colours of Russia photo-library. Opportunities exist on cultural, governmental and corporate levels for those entities to whom a realistic and positive Russia image is important. Cultural Considerations: Exhibitions Lectures Books and Publications Documentary programming Corporate Considerations: Direct Advertising on a positive Russia platform Tourism Development Industry Exclusive Image Licensing Incorporation of corporate operations within future photo shoots Governmental Considerations: Trade Missions Government Departments