Sometimes you just wish that you were someplace else. Not that the current place is no good, but just for the change.
After a long hot summer, we want freshness, a cool breeze. After a long cold winter, we want sunshine. And we do everything we can to get it, isn’t that so? Come on in to see what I found to change air …
Photography is nothing but a bunch of memories in paper or digital form. After all, we take pictures for posterity. But most of all, we take pictures because we feel ourselves great at a certain moment in time. Photography is a great way of remembering feelings, hopefully great feelings.
That is what this post is all about: feeling great.
Great skies, fresh greenery
In the north of Ukraine lies a small village called Dubinka. The village is an old (ex) kolkhoz and today it is in a rather derelict state.
To say that there is nothing left, no, on the contrary. There is lots to see. And lots to feel and photograph. In the last few years, I have been in this place many times. Every time with great pleasure, whether it was cold or hot or wet.
Evening panorama (scroll to see more)
Places like Dubinka have an atmosphere of their own. It is difficult to describe though. It’s easy to say: “No running water” or “limited electricity”. It would not do credit to a place where people have lived for centuries in the same way, more or less.
Feeling that the sun will rise soon and you need to go outside to the outhouse is one thing. Feeling on your skin that the temperature is far below zero outside is another, certainly, if you just get out of bed.
Old material
Some people might complain about that. For me, this is simply an experience too good to pass. In villages like Dubinka, there are not many ways to have (modern) entertainment, no television, at least useful television, no telephone, no game consoles and no internet. Well, this is probably just what you need for a few days.
Simple barbecue
Barbecuing and grilling the coveted “Сало” or lard is a little pleasure I can never get enough of. Seeing young geese eating seeds and grass in front of the house is also something we don’t experience much anymore.
Youngsters
It’s all about differences, without the inevitable criticism that is. Experience a village where time has lost track, make do with whatever commodities you may have and have a blast of a time. Isn’t that what holidays are all about?
Typical farmhouse with barns
When staying in Ukraine, I always want to go to Dubinka, although the last time we were in Ukraine, the gods decided otherwise. Oh, well.
Old fashioned haystack
Looking at the great skies, empty or filled with stormy clouds, it’s always clean and fresh. Just wonderful. Haystacks like this, they don’t make them anymore in Europe or Canada, just “heaps” of hay, kept together with four stakes and a cover.
Potatoes and sky
This is a place where any type of transport is better than walking. The motorcycles are few and old, but still working perfectly.
Perfect working order
This is where the geese walk the streets without the danger of being run over or transformed into food before their time has come.
The road is ours!
In a way, this is a totally different life. And I am happy to have a small part of it, to have the possibility (not often enough, true) to go back there and recharge those ancient batteries with ancient feelings.
Panorama of the main crossroads in the village
Feelings and photography go together, at least for me. Shooting a model or a building may give me some financial return, but looking at these pictures gives me far greater pleasure.
Something we shouldn’t forget. Even if there is no electricity or other modern comfort, nothing can take these feelings and memories away.
This is what photography is all about for me. This is what I do to get away for a few moments when life needs me somewhere else.
How about you?