First of all, I’ll say that there are a lot of photographs here. But PLEASE be patient enough to look through them all. There are some gems here. I (Jason) am keying in this intro for Veta but she is responsible for all of these wonderful photographs. Armed with a D700, two zoom lenses and a 50mm, she did a fantastic job of capturing tons of striking shots of her home country. These shots were taken primarily in Kiev, Alchevsk, and Svyatogorsk (Holy Mountain). These selections were by no means all that she took. These are just the ones that made my heart smile. I’ll let her caption them so that I don’t mix anything up. Please check back in a day or so to read her captions. It’ll be worth it. Until then, you can guess what’s in each photo and what it’s significance is!
I have recently realized that I enjoyed photographing still life. The photo above is a very typical still life in an average Ukrainian apartment’s kitchen. You will find garlic, onion, nuts, breads, boxes of matches on the window sills, and I couldn’t skip photographing this one.
The next few photographs would have seemed very commonplace for me if I hadn’t lived in the US for the last 14 years, but now I look at the Soviet-era interior design with new eyes – very simple, functional, yet cozy.
A view from a kitchen’s window – apartment complex in Kiev. The majority of the population I would say lives in city environments like this. Although there is a slice of population that lives in the privately-owned and managed homes, it is not a familiar environment for me. Eventually, I would like to photograph a broader range of lifestyles in Ukraine. What you will see in my review of my trip home is the elements that are familiar to me – environments, foods, scenes I find characteristic of where and how I grew up.
View from apartment’s balcony at night. Kiev.
Apartment story – between the flights of stairs.
Kiev’s central railroad station.
Kiev’s central railroad station – McDonald’s is proudly seen and is a good place to hang out before your train arrives. We, however, supported the local economy by eating lunch at McFoxy’s – a very commercial spin on fried chicken, similar to KFC.
My sister, Irina, and my cousin – Yulia (Julia) in our train’s compartment. There are 4 bunk beds per private compartment. One of the improvements in the railroad travel – cars can now be air conditioned.
I tried to photograph from the train’s window as much as possible. It came to me that it would be a good way to photograph some of the country’s best landscapes, and later I heard of a photographer in St. Petersburg who collaborated with the Russian railroad to capture some of Russia’s most stunning scenes. Well, until the sun went down, I captured most of the stations we stopped at. Some local folks and just the scenery is what I have in this series of photographs (not all shown here, of course). I realized that even though we show the landmarks of our homeland, the common things often go unseen, and I wanted to share some of the beautiful countryside with Jason this time.
Drinking the tea in a glass with a special metal glass holder, while sweetening it with the cubed railroad sugar is as Ukrainian/Russian/Soviet as asking for ketchup with french fries in the US.
A railroad station, Krasnograd (Red City)
When I arrived to my hometown, Alchevsk, at 4 AM, I bathed and took a nap in my sisters. When I woke up, my sister and brother in law ran out for a few errands, and I took the camera out for a few opportunities. Loved the colors and the shapes of this fan against the wall paper. It serves as a continuation of the study of the Soviet, now contemporary Ukrainian interior decor in the apartments. Most all apartments I have been in have wall paper on the walls. In fact, when relatives visit the American homes, they love the painted walls as it is very different to them.
My sister’s nervous cat, Boris – any sound spooks the critter, thus causing his pupils to dilate like no other cat I’ve seen. He is unique as he entertains such social drugs as caffeine and nicotine by chewing on coffee beans and occasionally stealing and chewing on cigarettes he got from the kitchen table.
Bread trucks deliver fresh bread on wooden pallets, which are then transported to the stores. The bread is open, not packaged. Although supermarkets now carry packaged breads, local bakeries still deliver the bread like this.
On the way to a farmer’s market – about 7 AM, Alchevsk.
A Ukrainian Orthodox church on the way to the farmer’s market.
One section of the indoor farmer’s market – you can find fresh cuts of meat, fresh dairy and flower here. On this day, my Mom and I were looking for roses for my sister’s birthday. The flowers from Holland are most expensive and are very beautiful, but women still prefer locally grown flowers because local flowers smell better!
My brother-in-law doing what he loves to do outside of his dental work – relaxing on the couch in front of the TV. World Cup is soon to come on TV!
Vladimir and Boris – two Ukrainian men.
The view of the city from the “new” section of town – more apartment complexes, more people, more cars – the lines overhead are for trolleys, actively used public transportation throughout the town.
When several apartment homes surround a plot of land, people find use for it – for socializing, playing, and drying your laundry. This touches on one aspect of the difference between how most Americans and Ukrainians live – the difference between very communal and very private living.
A local beauty – a cat my Mom calls Marianne. She is loved by all of my Mom’s neighbors and she is awaiting a litter. Her blue eyes keep her from leading a hungry existence. One cannot NOT feed her when she looks at you with those eyes.
On one of our early morning trips through town, I was almost complaining about wanting some coffee. We tried to take our trips early in the morning, taking advantage of a very early sunrise and cooler temperature. As we walked on, we came upon a cafe/amusement park/petting zoo combination that we didn’t know existed. After talking with the owners, they informed us that they’ve been in business for 5 years. After having a really good cup of coffee, I proceeded to photograph all animals in their little zoo – a lama, as you see above, a female deer, a donkey, some chickens and goats, a ferret, a couple of peacocks, a pheasant, raccoons, a falcon. I think this is all.
My sister and my Mom.
We even made a trip to a local movie theater. Even though we were nervous of its condition (many movie theaters went into bad disrepair) – this one has been restored nicely, and the seats were super comfortable. We really enjoyed the Russian movie called “The Priest”.
Another early morning scene from the city (older part of town). The stacks that you can see below belong to a very large steel factory, which provides jobs and livelihood for probably 20% of the town’s population. You can pretty much see the stacks from almost every direction – not sure of the area the factory occupies, but it wraps around much of the city’s perimeter.
One of the local squares/mini parks dedicated to the Unknown Soldier of the WWII.
Entrance to the park.
This is also an old movie theater building, originally constructed by German POW’s during WWII. It is probably the finest piece of architecture in Alchevsk. It is in very bad shape, and I do hope that the authorities invest in remodeling the building.
Farmer’s Market – although there are western style supermarket for general shopping, you buy most of your fresh produce here. The pricing is in hryvna/kilogram. 1 USD = 8 hryvnas.
Souvenir/artisan stand at the market.
Highway on the way to Svyatogorsk (Holy Mountain) and the monastery that’s located there. My Mom, sister and I are riding in a tourist van.
Church pictures were not allowed without special permission – I snapped this quickly, and a few more, but there was a crowd, and we did feel we needed to participate in the service.
Drinking from/washing in the holy water fountain at the monastery.
I was completely taken aback when I came across this scene. It is an acting male monastery – access inside is not allowed, but I felt I was placed in 16th century Russia when I saw this. Construction of the buildings, rooflines and shingles is all wood. Such craftsmanship! More closeups below.
The river, Severskiy Donets (The Northern Donets) below the mount. It is said to be deep enough to have allowed trade ships from bigger rivers to deliver goods to this area.
After you came back from top of the mountain, you could refresh yourself at this stand – any cool, refrigerated drink is available, but the price is kind of high.
Our tourist van was parked next to this building – we were getting our picnic basket out, but there was a party and BBQ going on near here, so we looked for a quieter place to dine.
Found this spot by the river – some people laundered their clothes and were sleeping, kids were swimming and washing cook pots in the river. We were resting and enjoying the scenery. You can call this series of shots “By the River”.
On the way back.
Community yard – private pigeon home. I wish I took a portrait of the man who takes care of these – people here are somewhat shy to pose – there is a sense of fear that nothing good can come out of being photographed. I think he would be OK with me taking his picture, but when he was present, I didn’t have the nerve to ask him, and when he was not – well, I took a picture of his pigeons.
A little shortcut road. The dirt is cracked – it was hot and dry when I visited. Up until I came to the US, I had no idea that earth/dirt can be any other color but black. I only read in “Gone with the Wind” that dirt could be red, but didn’t believe it until I came to Georgia.
One of our dinners – my sister’s kitchen. Pan-fried squash, garlic to eat, shots placed for vodka, borsh, pickles, pickled fish (very similar to sushi only has salt), fresh veggies. I sent my brother-in-law an Obama shot glass (top right) – and it is his favorite one. He takes it with him when he leaves town for a while. I got it for him about 1 and a half years ago at the Washington D.C. airport’s souvenir stand on my way back to the U.S. The world talked then about the hopes for changes in the U.S. policies and economic recovery.
My sister took me to this building as she thought it would represent “the decline of socialism”. Totally dilapidated building not far from the local bread bakery. We were warned of the watch dog (chained), who barked at us viciously at first, but when we baby-talked to him for a few minutes, his tail went to wiggling.
One day before my departure, my Mom and I visited Ira’s concert at the Perevalsk (Over the Hill) civic center. Ira teaches music, and the group of teachers were asked to sing in a chorus in celebration of the National Medical Professionals Day. As you approach the civic center, you see Mr. Lenin’s statue – you cannot go anywhere in Ukraine without seeing one.
An obelisk in the park
Entrance to the park, on the grounds of which the civic center is located.
On the bus
Local supermarket from the bus’ window. Very yellow.
The day of my departure, my Mom took a walking trip to the steel factory, the lifeline of the city. As an engineer, I appreciated the manufacturing scale of this plant. Founded at the end of the 19th century by Mr. Alchevsky.
A monument to a steel worker.
“Metallurgical Plant” sign.
Karl Marx
I thought this was interesting. The city has many billboards throughout targeted at bettering people’s morale and morals. The top one says “Children – the future of Alchevsk”. The bottom one – “Profanity – a method of primitive communication. At which stage of evolution are YOU?”
Well, then I put the camera away, my Mom and I walked to her apartment, I finished packing the suitcase and got on the train to Kiev at 5:30 PM.
Hope you found this interesting!
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