The Church of the Saviour on Blood

The Church of the Saviour on Blood stands in the very heart of Saint Petersburg, easily visible from the Nevsky Prospect. Colourful and fancy, it looks like a birthday cake.

The Church of the Saviour on Blood, film photo, January 2015 

It drew my attention from the first sight, but it took me two weeks to make up my mind to go inside. I have seen it numerous times both in daylight and night. Still, it was a bit pricey for me and I didn’t have any discounts as I wasn’t a Russian student.

Leningrad of 80s

I have found several old postcards of St. Petersburg of around 1980’s at home.

Cover of the set, 1980

But to tell the truth this is not St. Petersburg, but Leningrad. It is in the air, in the flowerbeds, in the buses. See it for yourself

One hundred and one ticket to Hermitage

I have found some of my tickets form Hermitage lately. These are not all of them. To tell the truth I have lost count of the times I have been to Hermitage late December 2014 - beginning of January 2015.

Going to Hermitage in the late December is absolutely fine. You get in, take your ticket and relish the art you came for. Besieging Hermitage in the beginning of January can be the worst decision of your life. As Orthodox Christmas is on the 7th of January everybody is on holiday. After a few days of New Year's feast people are suddenly eager to see art. This mass craving is still a mystery for me. You have to stand in a queue for several hours to get in. You get a very nasty weather into the bargain. Cold, soaking wet, bored to death you are finally in, but you have something about an hour before the museum is closed.

A sunny winter day in Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, 2015

Failed vacation photographs

I am sure that sounds familiar: you are on vacation together with you friend or boyfriend/girlfriend and you are getting a bit tired of taking turns when photographing. Whether you are near the St. Paul’s Cathedral or the Colosseum there is not even one picture that would be an evidence of you being together there. So you finally decide to give you camera to a passerby. This is a difficult choice, isn't it?
Today I shall tell you about 4 typical mistakes of the vacation photograps.

                   

Summer in Kiev

Last summer I needed to take an internship in some media as a part of my studies at university at the faculty of journalism. This is how I happened to live in Kiev for one month. After the end of my internship I stayed in Kiev as an MDF scholarship holder till the end of the summer.

              

Sea of Azov

Crimea won’t be among summer holiday options for a number of reasons for many of us this year. It is time to think about another seaside just a few hours ride from the place where I live. We have another sea just around the corner. It is the Sea of Azov. In fact, many Ukrainians have never forgottеn about it by some mistake considering it to be cheaper than Crimea. It never was.

Estonian ducks

Estonia is a northern land. It does not belong to Nordic countries but it is almost as cold. What seems to be a warm golden September on these photographs is a deadly cold mid-October. The sun plays its role in creating this beautiful delusion. My light coat plays along.