Irkutsk is full of contrasts. In the 1800s it was named ‘Paris of Siberia’ thanks to the rich culture developed by The Decembrist and Bolshevik exiles living there.

Today modernisation has transformed the city into a major industrial hub. It’s a place where the climate swings from blistering heat to sub-zero snow, where weathered elderly folk retain wariness from Soviet rule while chatty, preened youngsters eagerly embrace the slowly filtering Western influences.

These photographs, taken over three days in summer 2008, focus on the city’s people - offering an insight into daily life in a typical Russian city situated in the depths of eastern Siberia.