Heidi Hollinger is widely credited with having revolutionized political photography in Russia during her 10-year residence in Moscow in the 90s. Her ’’non-iconic’’ portraits of leading politicians created new ways of depicting personalities, while making her into a celebrity herself. Her professional exploits and even her personal life were followed by the national media, making her, in the words of former Canadian Ambassador to Russia, Rodney Irwin, ’’the best-known Canadian in Russia’’.

Heidi began photographing in 1980 when she was 12 years old.  In 1988 she became photo editor of the McGill Daily, one of Canada’s oldest university publications. In 1990, she graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Modern Languages. She speaks English, French, Russian and Spanish.

In 1991, Heidi moved to Russia and taught English at Moscow State University. In 1992, she continued on as a graduate student in Political Science. From 1992-1993 she worked at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow in Immigration issuing visas. In 1994 her first photography exhibit opened at the Moscow Photo Center, enjoying enormous success. ’’Faces of the Opposition’’ featured stylistically unprecedented photographs of Russia’s political elite, and was later shown in cities across Russia, Canada and the United States.  That same year she became the first non-Russian photo editor at the leading national daily newspaper Pravda. Heidi worked as a Moscow-based photojournalist for The Globe and Mail from 1996-2000.

In 2001, a major retrospective of her photography work was exhibited at the Canadian Parliament and the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. In 2002 she exhibited at the Russian Consulate in New York City.  Her photos are published in leading publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Time, The Globe and Mail, Macleans, Elle, Le Monde, The Guardian and The Telegraph.