Two Russian fellas – Alessandro Albert and Paolo Verzone – decided one day in 1991 to take a camera out onto the streets of Moscow and ask people to pose for them.

They set their camera up next to buildings of cultural significance with a sign in Russian explaining that they were looking for people to pose for them. As you might imagine, plenty of people – nutters and normals – agreed to get snapped. The cultural variety and feelings of hopeful energy impressed them.

All images VIA

The resulting images were well received by photography lovers and the photographers enjoyed them too. Albert and Verzone didn’t leave it there. Ten years on, they decided it would be a good idea to have another bash. In September 2001 they took their sign and their camera back out onto the streets of Moscow.

During the 2001 project they noticed a bigger split between rich and poor, and once again, the photos they took were welcomed by critics and punters alike.

For the sake of completeness, Albert and Verzone once again hit the streets of Moscow in 2011. The images they collected are amusing, touching, weird and unmistakably Moscow.

Here are a few snaps from each of the decades they captured:

(Click through the following slides using the left and right arrows)

Moscow 1991