Misha Gordin was born in 1946.  He grew up in the Russian speaking country of Latvia where the Russian culture became his root culture. He graduated from a technical college as an aviation engineer but never worked as one.  Instead he joined Riga Motion Studios as an equipment designer for special effects.  He started taking photographs at the age of nineteen and about a year later decided that he would be a conceptual photographer.  At the age of 28, disgusted with communism, he left his country and for the United States.   Mr. Gordin now continues to work while living a secluded life.