Bievres - fantastique!!!

What a day!!! It's was an absolutely sheer pleasure meeting everyone!

Today we had our first official USSRPhoto.com summit/congress!

I am still in Paris, reeling from today's impressions... It was absolutely incredible to meet in person - Alain and Claire Berry, Aidas Pikiotas, Jim McGee, Viktor Suglob, David Tomlinson, Yuri Davidenko (DVD), Yuri Boguslavsky, Jed, Juhani, Jean Loup (Princelle), Oleksandr Braslavskiy! It was absolutely surreal experience to be standing next to all of you, I was completely overwhelmed! .

Viktor had showed us a final draft of his book which is in print and will be out within 30-40 days in Belarus (I have a few surprise pictures for members who did not attend that I will post upon my return to Chicago), the book was absolutely everything I've thought it would be and much much more, Viktor had shocked us with some absolultely incredible cameras that are included in this book. All we could do was just say oooh and aaaah . Then we had couple of bottles of whiskey, and it all started to really pick up. It was absolutely amazing! I have bought a book from JLP and he had signed it and sealed it with a huge seal that he had brought from somewhere, it was very very funny, I also have pictures of that I will post.

More stories to come, I have to turn in now, it's past 2AM in Paris, special thanks to everyone who came out, it was again absolutely surreal and incredible and a sheer pleasure to meet everyone, and very very very special thanks to Alain Berry and his lovely wife for providing their camping ground for our assembly, although I think we had invaded 2 other ones as well because the French lady in the next trailer was complaining that we were too loud, and the guy next to Alain's car - not even talking about him, we were just drinking whiskey and paging through Viktor's book on what it turned out to be his table and chairs.. ooops ... sorry France - USSRPhoto had invaded .

And the fair itself - wow! I've never seen such huge crowds and so many dealers.. must've been at least 200 different dealers and thousands of people... ok, will post more when I can, hopefully will meet with Aidas and Viktor somewhere in the city tomorrow.

Cheers,
Vlad.

Here just a few pictures from our meet, I will post a whole thing later, this is just a taste.


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Jean Loup Princelle, Viktor Suglob and myself


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Left to right: Myself, Jim McGee, Yuri B(Fedka), David Tomlinson, Claire Berry, Jean Pierre (top), Alain Berry (below), Jed, Juhani


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Aidas, myself and Jim


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The new bible!

Vlad

Hi Vlad and everyone!

Thanks for the photos of all our friends ... very nice and my best to all of you! Looks like fun and I'm sorry I couldn't make it over there this year!

Regards, Bill

Bill, we're really missed you at our meeting! Your name was coming up quite a few times . Everyone regrets you could not make it.. just had a great dinner in cafe at Champs de'Elise (hope i spelled that right with Aidas, Viktor and Yuri Davidenko, we ran into each other in Paris again, (Aidas: thanks for dinner again! Hope you guys didn't get lost in that monstrous subway system), had great camera conversation over some beers.. Some of the stories Viktor just needs to write another book besides this article I recently posted on how he had written the book in past 10 years... it's simply incredible! Conversation ranged from Millionth Kievs to Brezhnev Kiev 10 (there are at least 3 of each apparently) to an incredible BelOMO Optika camera that Viktor had allowed me to post here from the book for your enjoyment... absolute sensation! I will try not spoil the few surprises for people that did not see the book yet so I will refrain from posting any additional materials, but this I just cannot hold it in... .. Aidas please tell Viktor (I know he is still with you and you will be reading this soon) that this is the only thing I just HAVE TO leak hehehhehe...


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Vlad

And that's us having beers

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Hi Vlad and all the friends!

Happy you enjoyed your French travel and really sorry not to have been with you this year...
But who is the nice girl who looks closely at you on the last picture ?

Amitiйs. Jacques.

Hi Jacques! We had missed you and had waited for you... at one point Jim said in Russian "Zharko!" which means hot - the weather was REALLY hot and I thought he said "Jacques!" - and I said "WHERE?!" .. sorry you could not make it..

The girl was probably just looking what all the fuss was about, we were pretty loud in that cafe, I think arguing about BelOMO photosnipers . Mostly she was probably was looking at Viktor, since he is a great charmer of the ladies It was my wife taking the picture so I'm sure it wasn't me .

Vlad

Hi all,
Sorry, too, I wasn't there
But I'm sure Alain will tell me the whole story !

Next year, maybe…

Michel.

Hello all,

I was very pleased to meet everybody :) Much appreciated !

I've had the opportunity to buy at the fair a hard-to-find 1958 Kiev IIIa with an Ukrainian logo. I'm happy :)

See you next year !

Jed

Michel, I have asked Alain about you too, was wondering what happened since you would be the first person I would expect to see there at the fair with Alain.. too bad you could not make it as well ..I had given Alain some souvenirs for you and Jacques, I hope you like them Little fun surprise. I have many more pictures that I need to post, but it's hard to do this in Paris I will do that when I am back.

Cheers,
Vlad

Vlad,

Many thanks by advance for the hearthly souvenirs

I'm looking forward to see your other photos from Biиvres.

Very friendly regards,

Michel.

Hello All,

After reading your posts, Vlad, I Googled the Fair and found a beautiful video review taken last year, so I pulled out a bottle of wine, poured a glass, and sipped a little as I viewed the video.

It wasn't the same. The video was too short, and I don't drink.

Take care, and enjoy your vacation.

Steve

I am back home, had a busy day at work today, but still feel excitement from Bievres. It was a great show and a great day for USSRPhoto members. Thank you Vlad for inspiring me to go to Bievres. I knew about the show for some 15 years, always wanted to see it, but it was your forum that made it. Also, thank you for the souvenirs.
Special thanks to Victor for his book and for his gifts.

More pictures from Bievres.


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J.L. Princelle, me, Victor. J-L is holding Victor's book. Princelle's first edition covered 200 Soviet cameras. Victor's book will have 1200.



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Alain and Victor. Can't wait for my copy of the book. The book goes way beyond "old school" collections. There are many things I never knew existed.



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Victor giving away his gifts.



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Who has a bigger DSLR? Victor and Yuri


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Vlad giving away his gifts. Aidas, Vlad

Hello everyone,
I would like to add my thanks to Vlad for inspiring us all to meet up at Bievres. Unfortunately I was only able to stay for a few hours before having to return home, but I am so glad that I was able to go and to meet some of our members.
Thanks to Alain for providing the "base" at which to meet. Some of Alain's neighbours in the adjoining motor homes must have been very bewildered by what was happening especially with the sounds of animated conversations in a variety of languages going on around them all at the same time. So a great occassion, and a memory to treasure.
Regards to all Jim.




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Hi everyone,

Thank you Vlad for organising the first USSRPhoto.com summit/congress, it was an absolute triumph. Thank you also to Alain and his wife for providing the meeting place and to all of you that attended. It was an amazing experience to meet so many like-minded enthusiasts all gathered together.
Jean Loup Princelle's book had made me think that I was within 50 or so cameras of owning the complete set. Now, Victor Suglob's book means that I am now at least 950 cameras short of my goal!
The Bievres Fair was a little disappointing this year in terms of rare Soviet-made cameras. Or was I already too late by Sunday morning, or perhaps I had my eyes closed? In previous years I have seen an FT-3, a FED 670 and a Rassvet (all out of my price-range). Did any of you spot any rarities?
It was a real pleasure and privilege to meet you all.

David.

Thanks for posting all the pictures everyone, definitely more of those to come from my end! It WAS a triumph as David put and thank you everyone, just seeing each one of you even for couple of hours, made our world much more interesting. And Yuri you ruined the surprise for our French friends showing my surprise souvenirs! LOL.. no big deal.

I did manage to acquire a chrome-top FED Boy Stereo at the fair in absolutely pristine condition for half the usual eBay price, I've been looking for one for quite a while so that made me even more happy. . Viktor and Aidas got some VERY nice cameras, I'll let them share those with you here..

Vlad.

… and WHO IS this VERY NICE young girl near Vlad, with a blue and white shirt ????

That would be my wife .

CONGRATULATIONS !

First of all a big THANKS to all of you!
Very great meeting, sorry that I couldn't stay longer, but I was afraid of divorce after already being there since early morning...
Huge thanks also for the lovely gifts, unfortunately bringing anything special treats from Finland was next to impossible due to arriving already on Tuesday.
I have arrived home only a couple of hours ago, so I will get back soon with more pics and other stuff, but here is a shocker. Bought it last sunday, should be in my hands tomorrow:



http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/1662009_Lomo130A.jpg


Best regards,
Juhani

Fantastic find Juhani! An essential rare piece! It was a great pleasure meeting you at Bievres! Paris must've been very fun to drive around for you . What a mess on the roads! Where did people learn to drive there??? .. sorry my French friends, but what you have there is complete and utter chaos when it comes to driving! oh... my... god..

Vlad