ANDREJ SUSTR: SNAPSHOT
Tiananmen Square. Beijing, China. All photos provided courtesy of Andrej Sustr.
Lulu Wang’s beautiful film The Farewell, set in Changchun, China, centers around a dying matriarch who offers a sage piece of advice to her young granddaughter: “Life is not just about what you do, it’s more about how you do it.”
There are 1,982 photos labeled “China” in my iPhone camera roll. Not one holds an ounce of the style or imagination found in the collective works of Andrej Sustr—a professional hockey player with a phenomenal shot.
An alum of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks, Sustr embarked on his most geographically-ambitious adventure this season. The 29-year-old Czech defenseman signed with Kunlun Red Star Beijing in June 2019, and has traveled the six countries of Russia’s expansive KHL as the Dragons fight to hold on to an Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Moscow, Russia.
But unlike many expats, Sustr has not sealed himself off from the local experience of these continent-crossing road trips. Instead, he dives into Beijing’s back alleys and Siberia’s Khrushchev-style apartment blocks with a Leica CL—documenting the range of KHL locales and personalities with astounding attention to detail.
“In my profession, I am very fortunate to see different places. I’ve always been inclined to taking pictures my way,” Sustr told me on the phone from Chelyabinsk. “When I got to China this year, [Kunlun forward] Cory Kane had been doing photography for some time and had a digital camera. I was really curious and he let me try it a couple of times. Within five days, I had a camera myself and took it more seriously.”
The Bund. Shanghai, China.
Stumbling upon Sustr’s Instagram reminded me of the day I discovered Montreal legend Ken Dryden’s memoir, The Game. Never before had first-hand experience of the NHL been told with such creativity and emotional resonance. With a million memoirs on the market—others far more scandalous, dripping in affairs and bar brawls—Dryden’s reigned supreme as a matter of style. The advantage of Sustr’s photographs, to my mind, is one in the same. Wandering the streets of Shanghai, framed in the glow of paper lanterns and the chrome of a futuristic skyline, my iPhone camera and I failed to capture a set of moments that still feel so electric to recall. Sustr, on the other hand, snakes a story through every shot.
Soviet-style apartments. Cherepovets, Russia.
“I like architecture in different cities. I come from a family that is in the glass business, so I have always been around new buildings or new structures,” Sustr said. “Interior and exterior design is something that I have been around, and that draws my eye. There’s also other stuff like street photography, capturing moments and how people live and interact. I think that’s intriguing.”
When playing for Tampa Bay, he befriended a local artist named Bianca Burrows and became a fixture at her pop-art studio—a mental release valve from the pressures of a career on-ice. “Having an outlet away from hockey eases the mind. You can feel that you are accomplishing something and being productive, creative,” he explained. “The benefit is that you can walk outside and see these places we visit. It helps me to relax and keep an even-keel throughout the season.”
Andrej’s former neighborhood. Beijing, China.
Of course, a 6’8 hockey player armed with a top-of-the-line digital camera hardly camouflages into the scenery. Stricter regimes in Russia and China occasionally present challenges for photographers, and Sustr has been stopped on more than one occasion. “I took a picture of some building, I guess it was a police station maybe? I didn’t know obviously, there was no sign or police cars around,” Sustr recalled from a recent trip to Cherepovets. “Some guy came running out of the building and pulled me inside. I had an interrogation that was like, ‘What are you doing? Why are you taking pictures? Where is your passport?’ I was in there for five minutes, but it was a pretty scary situation.”
Zaha Hadid’s Galaxy SOHO. Beijing, China.
Government red-tape aside, Sustr has made the most of his experiences—particularly his time in China. It was an adventure unceremoniously cut short with the outbreak of the coronavirus, which will prevent Kunlun Red Star from returning home for the rest of the season.
“I lived in a pretty Chinese area in one of the hutongs. It was a small, boutique hotel—very traditional Chinese,” he said, a rare choice for a hockey player armed with glamorous options that include Wangfujing’s Renaissance and the Ritz.
Sanlitun. Beijing, China.
“The people who worked there became my friends and they told me where to go. I got to see Beijing from a pretty local view, which was awesome. I’m a big believer that you make the most out of every place you live in, and I’ve lived in some interesting places. Looking back, you always wish that you had enjoyed it a bit more. I think I did a pretty good job of doing that.”
Reviewing his photographs across the past eight months, it is hard not to agree with that self-assessment. Sustr looks forward to turning his lens on his hometown of Plzeň this summer, offering a fresh vantage point on sights that will be—at long last—familiar.
Here are a few of his favorite shots from the KHL regular season. You can check out more of Andrej Sustr’s photography on Instagram.
SHENZHEN, CHINA | “We started our season in Shenzhen. That woman in the center of the photo is actually holding a door. I took this in the [Dafen] Oil Painting Village—it’s pretty artsy and people have these shops where they do paintings. There’s also a guy in the background with an umbrella. Everyone is hiding in this photo.”
CHEREPOVETS, RUSSIA | “This was an accident, to be honest—I was liking how the trash cans were lined up with the architecture behind. It was interesting framing and there were some pigeons walking around. This guy started flying in front of me and was hanging for a good five seconds. I was scared he would attack me or something! I happened to snap this pic and it turned out really well with the shutter speed. It is definitely one of the cooler photos I’ve taken, and it happened in Cherepovets of all places. The building in the background I actually shot by itself. It’s interesting how every window is different, every balcony is different. You can tell it has been around for a while and people just keep patching it together.”
BEIJING, CHINA | “I went out to buy a scooter, and on the way home, I had the camera on me. I snapped three or four pictures of this guy lighting up at a red light—his helmet says U.S. Army on it, which is pretty ironic. I liked the composure with the columned building behind and the crosswalk. It was a moment that just kindof happened, I wasn’t looking for it. You just need to be ready.”
SHANGHAI, CHINA | “I shot this during the All Star Break. I wandered around for two days [in Shanghai] and went into the more local hutongs where it was not as flashy. You get to see how people live in the streets of China. This was on one of the corners, and I happened to take a cool picture. I was happy to capture that moment. They were really welcoming and it was a pretty candid shot.”
BEIJING, CHINA | “I took this in the local produce market. My parents were in town and wanted to see the Chinese food markets. I was surprised—there was so much cool stuff to shoot…the fruit, the fish, the meat. It was something I had never seen before. It was very colorful and filled with people, definitely a place I’d like to go back and shoot a bit more.”
MOSCOW, RUSSIA | “This was one of the first trips to Moscow and I only had the camera for a week. I was very lucky with how it was setup with exposure, focus and shutter speed. I was so eager to get in the streets and start shooting and was just hanging around Tsum [a luxury department store in Moscow]. This girl was doing a photoshoot with a photographer and I was watching what they were doing, interested in how the whole thing was happening. As they were walking away, I happened to snap this pic with her fur coat. This shoot actually happened in August, and it was really hot outside!”
SHENZHEN, CHINA | “I was at the Shangri-La Hotel to get a massage, and wandered around taking pictures beforehand. After I finished the massage, as I was walking out, officers barged into the room and started interrogating me. They wanted to know what I was doing with a camera and took my passport. They went through my camera and I showed them the pictures. So after a relaxing message, I got to wake up to the police!”
MOSCOW, RUSSIA | The Moscow metro is beautiful. Sometimes I would just get on the train and go from station to station when we had the day off. It’s interesting to see how everyone is dressed. The whole experience makes you closer to the people who live there, when you have the chance. I was experimenting with the shutter speed, trying to get some blur. With the slow shutter, I was able to capture the moving train and keep the rest steady. It’s hard to shoot something like that without a tripod. You have to hold the camera steady in your hands.”
