Women's handbags have always been a mystery to me. As a kid, I was convinced that my mom had to carry around all sorts of magical items, plus a couple of bricks in case she needed to save the world.

As a grown man, I can't say I find purses any less puzzling. So, driven purely by curiosity, I decided to ask some women I know, as well as a few strangers I bumped to on the street, to let me photograph the contents of their bags.

I spent the couple of months wandering around my home town St. Petersburg, asking every woman I met to "show me what's in your bag." Some thought I was a mugger, some thought I was insane, and some complied. I also asked these women to let me snap their ID photos. I feel that the combination of each portrait and the subject's personal items gives a striking first impression of who these Russian women are.