Vladimir Stepanov was born in 1940 in Moscow. He begins to shoot in the late 1950s, in 1957 several amateur photographs of Stepanov are printed in «Evening Moscow», and then he begins cooperation with the magazine «Soviet Photo». In 1958, he began working in the TASS newsreel and as a freelance reporter at the First International Moscow Film Festival.
If in the 1950s Soviet photojournalism was still based on staging and strict censorship, the new generation of photographers, to which Stepanov belonged, sought to get away from the accepted rules. Soon this opportunity arises, along with the political context, the canon of art changes, finally transforming itself in the 1960s. Among other things, the magazine Czech Photo appeared on store shelves, which has become a kind of textbook for many young photographers.
The central theme of the photographs of Vladimir Stepanov at first becomes his hometown. A young photographer walks the streets and boulevards, looks into the yards and takes pictures of the life of the city and its inhabitants. Thanks to his photographs, we still have documentary evidence of Moscow, which is no longer there. «Photography» Moscow. Pankratevsky Lane (1950-60s), filmed in the style of Italian neorealism — says the author of today. But then we didn’t even know about its existence.» Many stories of different people came together in one image. There is nothing superfluous in it—the story of a whole yard in one photograph.
In 1962, Vladimir Stepanov participated in the exhibition «Our Youth», which took place in Gorky Park and became an important event among young people and domestic photojournalists. The photographer and editor of the magazine «Soviet Photo» Valery Gende- Rote drew attention to Stepanova, together with him and Evgeny Kassin they took this exhibition to Prague in 1963, where Stepanov also took a lot of enthusiastic shots. Photos «Prague. July. 5.3 in the morning «,» Prague. Curiosity» 1963 — excellent examples of genre photography.
His photographs are published on the covers of the magazine «Soviet Photo», «Evening Moscow» and in other publications. In the same 1963, he entered the filming department of VGIK, and since that time, his primary profession was working in the cinema. In 1967, Stepanov began working as a cameraman and director at the film studio of the USSR Ministry of Defense. And since 1976, the cameraman of the Creative Association «Screen».
