Photos From Ukraine

Olenevka - Maryino

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 23:46:00 +0000

...iPod touch - one player trip.

Olenevka - Maryino, Tarkhankut.

To the reflectors collection.

Tree-grass.

Hunting prohibited.

Nothing superfluous.

Soil.

My rented friend.

Cow in sepia.

"The End."

Silhouette of the tractor which raises gold dust.

Final destination.

Stones and clouds.

Me full-length.

Milk.

Rest.

Homing.

"Low battery!" No-no, please! One more shot! Yes!

Foros

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:57:00 +0000

Last year I finally made a trip to the most southern point of Ukraine - Foros.

In soviet times Foros was closed for ordinary people. Here were only political elite's summer cotteges, sanatoriums, gardens and farm which provided food for the same elite.

Now anyone can arrive and have rest here paying the highest price in Crimea. I was here in November realizing my another dream to see the autumn sea.

I drunk hot tea with ginger to warm up, walked through juniper and cedar parks. I saw Foros in autumn as a very clean and quiet soviet town surrounded by general southern Crimea delicious nature - mountains, forests and sea. See Foros gallery on Photos-from-Ukraine.

I had not much communication with local people but mostly with Foros cats so I had totally good time there :). Noticing the amount of cats in this town I can assume they had eaten all dogs and the half of birds. Watch your back if you are dog :)

Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0000

One of the most exciting impressions of the year that passed was for sure my hang-glider flight on Tarhankut.

When I saw that green bird overhead I decided that I obviously should rise to the sky next day.

I didn't search for the pilots too long - they were based on the dried up side of the firth - a good plain ground for the take-off, and at the same time the place vacationers certainly pass on their way to the shore.

Nice, green, shiny moto hang-glider stood and almost smiled to me. The pilot with 30 years of experience was resting in the shadow and his friend "salesman" talked all the time.

First came jackets, helmets and glasses - "if you meet a fly 'there', it may happen that it will have three eyes, and you will have one" - valuable instructions from the "salesman" Andrey.

Then there was noise, more noise and even more noise - the engine.

Then there was a take-off run. It was just like riding a motorcycle, less than a 100 meters. And...

No-o-o-o!! O-o-o! A-a-a-a-a-a!!!! U-u-u-u-u!!! Ya-ha-ha-a-a-a!!!

I CAN FLY-Y-Y-Y-Y!

The incredible moment when you no longer riding - you fly! I felt absolutely safe in the company of such experienced pilot. And when I put my stomach back into its place, I forgot about the noise, about the wind. We raised higher and higher. I was told later - that was about 350-400 meters. And...

Flying!

For the first time in my life I saw so much space around me. I was touching it with my hands and cheeks, I was getting lost in it, I was everywhere in it. It is really something completely different from any previous experience (If you are not a pilot or bird of course). Air! Sky - it is everywhere. Sky is under me, over me, and all around me. In our daily routine we forget about the sky. We stare under our boots or in rare cases straight forward! We sit on.. chairs, walk to.. beds and lay like.. doesn't matter what. We fly only in our dreams! I'm sure that everyone knows this feeling of flight. Knows it from the dreams. But for some reasons we forget these skills and feelings, we forget our best beliefs and hopes, we forget to be good, we even forget to look at the sky!

But in the first 10 minutes of flight in a hang-glider I remembered this sensation from deep inside and then I felt like it is the "most normal" state for the human - flying!

My photo camera has one eye and a tiny piece of photo sensitive something. It has transistor brain and no emotions. I added my two hands and my delight to it. Together we want to present you these 42 cutouts from the huge empty space, from the sky and earth.

Cape Tarhankut - western end of the Crimea land.

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:04:00 +0000

Autumn was late this year. It was even later in Crimea - peninsula on south of Ukraine. I went there first week of September and if I had lost my calendar I would have thought that was usual summer days. I've never been there before, so I decided to go to the most western point of Crimea - Cape Tarhankut.

I settled at Olenevka - small village at the heart of Tarhankut - which became a "Mecca" for divers at the summer season, and which by that first September days received mostly child preschool age guests, their grandmas and romantics like me.

I could not even imagine that so much beauty, so much impressions, experience and inspirations can be so concentrated and fit to only 7 days trip. I understood it there that each moment is unique and is the endless source of experience. And that the key point is my own state, my ability to grasp that moment and "catch", "feel" that experience, my readiness to see and understand certain wisdom of life or its beauty. I'm grateful for that experience.

I'm grateful for the lonelyness.
I rode dozens kilometers on bike and met nobody. Nobody from horizon to horizon. Everywhere, only me and my breath. That lonelyness which is almost like freedom, when you can be yourself. Recommended! :)

I'm grateful for people I met.
The King of the Sky - he really can fly, and the King of the Sea who can sweem better then fish underwater. That amazing and absolutely real, free men who loved what they do, loved the life itself so much, that even could live almost all the summer under the wing of deltaplan and be happy! It is the other story about them which I tell you next time.

I'm grateful for the beauty that was opened to me.
It's difficult to talk about the beauty. Its almost impossible to describe it. But I can't stop to search for it and to try capture it, remember it forever. To transfer and to show other people at least the tiny part of that beauty, like the evidence, which proof and inspire - It Is Our Life! And It Is So Beautiful!

I updated Galleries with 29 new pictures from Tarhankut. You are welcome to see this beautiful land by my eyes :)

Independence Day 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:59:00 +0000

Embroidered shirts, I noticed they have some magic power. Unique, hand-made originally, these colored national shirts make people smile, make them be proud and happy, make them be little better.

See more pictures on Gallery.

Mukachevo

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:38:00 +0000

...And as I promised, the last Transcarpathian Castle I visited this summer - Mukachevo Castle. The Castle photos you can find in the Gallery And Below are some pictures from the trip and impressions from the Mukachevo.
On the way to Mukachevo

The Castle appeared on the horizon

City Hall

Kind people, many bikes and interesting monuments - three things I took from the town

Nevytsky Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:39:00 +0000

It is one of the famous Transcarpathian Castles. It is in 12 km from Uzhgorod. The Castle is almost completely ruined. But the flow of tourists and visitors (and Helens with photo-cameras) seems to be never-ending here. Drugeth family owned it, as well as Uzhgorod Castle, over centuries and both Castles are connected with long-long underground (according Rumors). I've also heard that this place is known as magical or even cursed...

Uzhgorod Fame

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:53:00 +0000

Castle and the Architecture museum called "Selo" (Village) are the most famous places in Uzhgorod. Each tourist must be here. And I was, and here are my photo reports:
Gallery - Uzhgorod Castle:

Gallery - Architecture Museum "Selo":

In this photographies I experimented with style. You'll find "church in kitsch" :) and also some HDRs
P.S. Next I'll post pictures of two other castles of Zakarpattya - Nevytsky and Mukachevo Castles.

Uzhgorod City

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 05:38:00 +0000

First was the long-long way, about 18 hours, from Kiev by train without a ticket. I know that travel without tickets is not good. But I could only buy a ticket back. All tickets to Uzhgorod had been sold. I wanted there so badly so I decided to try.

It is possible to come to an understanding with the conductor and for the doubled ticket price travel sitting in corridor or even lay and sleep if there is free berth between stations. Corruption is bad. But otherwise many good people would never have got to many good places...

I went here with the confidence that everything here will differ from the rest of Ukraine. But no, it was found that Ukraine there is the same as everywhere, just mixed with other different cultures, history and languages.

As everywhere here I see young ladies driving their cars, fishermen on the river, colored clothes drying on the balconies and dozens of antennas on windows.

What was unusual for me? Ukranian-speaking traffic lights which name the street, big outdoor clocks show correct time, travel guide for blind people, pieces of Austro-Hungarian history and architecture here and there and mix of not two like everywhere, but three languages.

And absolutely incredibly delicious handmade Lviv chocolates ))

If you want to see more photos please visit Uzhgorod gallery on my website.

P.S. See Uzhgorod, Nevytskyi, Mukzchevo Castles on the next posts.

Mangup Kale

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:55:00 +0000

New photos of ancient cave city of middle Crimea - Mangup Kale

Mangup Kale is an ancient city situated on stone plateu 500 meters over the sea.

The plateu has form of four fingers palm is covered with forest and
has two natural water springs which never dry.

First human settlements placed here about 5000 years ago.
One after another have lived here principality of Theodoro, Turks, Karaites.

You can find lot of information about Mangup over the Internet. There are many
legends and myths related to this place. It is now place of piligrimage of modern
hippy, photographers, painters, advanced bikers and psychics...

Archaeological excavations are still carried out here and people still find treasure here.
Hundreds of tourists come to see the ruins of the citadel, Karaite cemetery
and other remains of antiquity. Also, in the ancient caves are still living monks...

Another summer has passed...

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:03:00 +0000

..What it was for you? Was it good or bad? You can get billions of different answers, as billions of "different" summers passed. And all these answers are correct and they will all be about this summer. They are joined to one huge summer mosaic.
But a couple of pieces of my summer mosaic once were forgotten or lost. They have been found just now. I want to show them to you. They are separated, but they are all one and the same.

See 11 Recent Photos:

Island Velikiy (The Great)

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:58:00 +0000

It is relatively big island on the Dniper river right in Kiev. Its not very popular among kiev residents. And its very good I think. There are no cars, no asphalt roads. I escaped here from the extremely hot Kiev this summer.

Please join me in this trip to the island:

Chernigov is a magnificent city!

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:23:00 +0000

I loved Chernigov with the first step from the bus. Fresh air made me dizzy
and kind people surprized and charmed me from the first look. Great number of historical monuments, all in good keep, pleased my photographic eyes. I visited only half of interesting places and had beautiful impressions for the whole month. Sure, I'll back to Chernigov soon!

So, I recommend you to visit it or at least see photos from Chernigov.

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:57:00 +0000

Hello!

What are you doing on photo web sites? Staring on photos? Sure!

But remember, visual is only 80% of information you get about this world
even if it is the international language of photography.

Today you are welcome to Articles, new section on my website.

If you ask somebody to read them to you, you'll get other 20% - audio - information about Ukraine!

It will be interesting. For those who want to visit Ukraine this reading may be even useful :)

Web-site Transfer Completed!

noreply@blogger.com (Photos From Ukraine) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:42:00 +0000

Hurray! From now Photos From Ukraine will live with SmugMug. It is wonderful engine which provides dozens of great features such as very nice gallery viewer, slideshow, site search, RSS feeds, Google Maps integration, images commenting and voting and many, many others... And yes! Printing and selling! From now you can easily buy prints of various formats, downloadable images and even merchandises like mugs, puzzles, bags and many others with images from Photos From Ukraine!

Please visit and enjoy! I will be glad to hear your opinion about new web-site look and feel!

Photos-From-Ukraine.com