My acquaintance with Marshal Ivan Konev, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and military commander during the Great Patriotic War, began with an official photo session. Some time later, I came to his home to show him the photographs. He was preparing to go on a fishing party. I persuaded him to take me along. We stopped about a hundred kilometres from Moscow in the Tver Region. The Marshal was fishing with a small fishingrod called a mormyshka and I was fishing with
my camera. Honestly, his catch was modest, but he was pleased anyway. I was even more pleased. My catch was a successful series of pictures. And the party had a happy ending: towards evening, the Marshal managed to catch a small fish. The event called for a celebration… When we were about to go home, the organisers of this exciting event gave us three huge pike perches apiece. The Marshal and my family were ecstatic. Tver Region. 1966
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