Reaching the goal

If for some reason you're still subscribed to this blog - you're my hero and I appreciate you.
I've started this blog when I was 16, on Aug.28 and it's so funny to read my first records.
The reason for this blog to exist was to document my journey to profesional photography world. Back than I had no idea how this was going to happen, which step I would take next, would I ever reach it or would I change my mind in a year or two - I just kept doing what I was passionate about.
However this blog did its job well and, in some way, helped me to get where I am now.
"Where are you, Ira?", you would ask.
I'm 21 now. I've moved from my hometown to Kyiv. I've been to five countries and I had four jobs I'm very proud of. Getty Images signed me as a contributor. I had a lot of ups and downs, creative blocks and inspiring projects. I have my personal website now (my blog moved there,too).
And in month I'm about to move to Austria and study photography at my dream school.
Have I reached it? No, I'm just about to make my first baby steps. And these five years were shaping me as a person and preparing me to take this baby step.
Our life is a journey, not a destination, so make your journey beautiful.
I'll always be in process of reaching the goals and setting new ones, and I'll try my best to benefit the world around me on my way.
Currently my goal is to raise money for me to be able to move. I will be very grateful, if you can support me financially, vote for the campaign and share it.
https://www.funddreamer.com/campaigns/help-ira-fund-her-photography-education

Follow the black cat

I got to see many princesses!

We really do get used to things we love. Sometimes, not as often as I wished it to, it strikes me hard with understanding of how much I actually love and enjoy photography. It brought me to so many places, made me meet and speak to so many people and helped, in a way, to sneak behind the scenes of life .

And after shooting these little princesses of local ballet school - I wouldn't mind being a ballet photographer at all.

And sorry for not posting often, I'm doing something really exciting for me and hopefully for you too. If you'd like to see my presence daily - go to my Flickr.

Little life update and Happy Holidays!

I think it's time to start adding tags to my posts, because when I try to read my posts (which I usually never do), it's hard to avoid confusion. I'm somewhere doing something, and it's hard to put the events in a chronological and logical order.

So from now, little life updates from here and there.

Second Home: Bria Blessing

I'm so happy to present to you the last story of this year (but not the last in the history) for my Second Home project. It's been a wonderful journey, which gave me the opportunity to visit four cities and meet new people as well as share stories of people I knew for a long time. I hope it inspired and encouraged you at least a little.
Bria's story is the one I dedicated the most my time (as you will see by the size of it) because we stayed in the same city (L'viv) which gave me the opportunity to talk to her in different environments and make it deeper and personal. Her wonderful personality makes everyone around start believing in good again. She is made of light.
I can't wait to start the next round of stories and would be grateful to accept your help in terms of donations (if you found the project helpful), advice or ideas of people I could make stories with me.
Have a wonderful Christmas and May God bless you.
See you in the next post.

Дуже рада презентувати вам останню історію цього року (але не останню в загальному) для мого проекту Другий Дім. Це була надзвичайна подорож, яка дала змогу відвідати чотири міста і зустріти нових людей, а також розповісти історії тих. кого я вже знала багато років. Сподіваюсь, що історії надихнули та підбадьорили вас хоч трішки.
Для історії Брії я відвела найбільше часу (ви побачите це по розміру історії), тому що жили в одному місті (Львові), що дало мені змогу поспілкуватись з нею у різних середовищах і зробити історію глибшою та особистою. Вона надзвичайна людина, яка змушує усіх навколо знову повірити в добро. Вона дуже світла.
Дуже чекаю початку нової серії історій, і з радістю прийму вашу допомогу у вигляді пожертв (якщо проект був якось корисний для вас), порад та пропозиції людей, яких б ви хотіли бачити у проекті.
Гарного вам Різдва і нехай Бог вас благословить.
До зустрічі у наступному дописі.

Thoughts on being a concert photographer + Dakh Daughters

Sometimes I catch myself thinking that it would be nice to work a concert photographer. Somehow it happened that many of my friends in some ways are connected with music. And because I didn't have any natural musical talent, I show my love for music through photography. And I also love live music. And taking pictures of musicians (not only on the stage). But this is the 'bright' side of it. There is always a dark side, like it happened with Annie Leibovitz. Because of constant tours with The Rollings Stones, she became dependent on drugs along with the musicians (thank God she left in the past). Of course, I wouldn't like to travel with such band, but sometimes job happens. And I'm not sure I would love to do it as 'job' yet. But, I still can enjoy the 'bright' side of concert photography, that's why this time I'm showing you Ukrainian freak-cabaret band 'Dakh Daughters'.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Days behind the scenes

I'm not a big fashion fan, but when I had the opportunity shoot behind the scenes of a fashion show -  I felt like a street photography. Too many people busy doing their own business and no one notices you, which is always a plus for a street photographer.

EuroMaidan Anniversary

In honor of the Revolution which changed us and all the people who fought and keep on fighting for Ukraine.

Things that have changed

I've started noticing some things, that recently appeared or changed in our daily life, and to which we've gotten used already.

We watch news out of necessity, it is the source of information about how our tomorrow will look like.
I react very emotionally to people who wear military uniform on the streets.
It's impossible to avoid sharing your political views. Many things, including what kind of power will rule your city, depend on that.
I try not to look at exchange rates.

When asnwering a 'how-are-you' question, we add 'regarding the cicurmstances' part.

Our plans are quite unstable.
Many public entertainment events are criticized as inappropriate. However I don't know, what hurst more - their presence or vidsytnist.
Films, books about war and disasters have gained a different sound. Now we are looking for practical solutions there.
You can easily find maps with shelters in your city on the internet .
Our country is divided into several worlds.
We dream less.

Faces of Krakow

Once when I was in Krakow, I was two minutes late for a night bus. The next one was supposed to come in an hour. I was so frustrated and lost for a moment, I didn't know what to do. I was so tired after watching Street Theater Festival, and I had to walk for 40 minutes more...

But I wasn't alone in that position. One couple was also late for a bus, we started talking and walking in the direction to our homes (we lived on the same street). Later they took me to their taxi and brought me home. It is definitely the most memorable day in Krakow for me.
(See also Spaces of Krakow)

Long live the FANES!

Yesterday was the 2th anniversary of Kyiv indie acoustic-electro band FANES, whose lead singer, Elvin Kristian, I got to know exactly that period of time ago. And I saw it as a nice opportunity to show you the pictures we did together back in June, a day or two beforemy trip to Poland,and week or two before his trip to the U.S.,  on an extremely cold and rainy day. There is no such thing as bad weather for a photographer, right?
The was no way we could postpone it, 'cos we thought we wouldn't see each other for a few months (Elvin is still in the U.S., so we were right), that's why we decided to go for it no carrying for the weather.
Elvin and his friend performed at my personal little photo exhibition back in 2013, and I they saved that evening, I believe :) I am very happy to have someone I can share my artistic worries with, and someone who trusts me with my crazy ideas, usually incomparable with health.
Long live the FANES!

The First

It's 1:24 am, my battery says I have only 10 minutes left, so I should be fast.
This blog has been dead for too long, that's why i feel like I need to introduce myself again.
My name is Ira Yeroshko. I'm continuing to be 20 for the next 3 months..I am a Ukrainian.
I am also a photography enthusiast. I am a Christian. I think these are the typical spheres you define yourself with. But how limited it is for a human being. Today I live my dream, because I'm already on the way. A lot of things I wanted 3 years ago are coming true.I can't stay in my comfort zone. I am my personal trouble-maker.
I don't like to compete with other, but I constantly challenge myself. And now, God gave me and my country the biggest challenge we couldn't imagine, we live in a state of war, not officially, though. And we're all becoming fighters. We're learning how to stand for our freedom,how to fight for our belief, for our relationships, for our dreams, for our unity. 

We've been taking life for granted for too long. Now we have to fight for it. And I am forever grateful for that. 

"God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." - 1Cor.10:13

It means He knows that Ukraine is tough, and we need to go though this period with our hands in prayers. I started this blog four years ago to document my journey to professional photography world. These four years feel like a whole life, and it means this the right path for me. I am like this women in the bright t-shirt, whatever happens I'll continue being a photographer, a Christian, a friend, a traveler, a Ukrainian. 
Even if the dark walls are around.

Krakow, Poland, July 2014.

На годиннику 1:24 ночі, і заряду моєї батареї вистачить ще на 10 хвилин, тому я краще поспішу.

Цей блог настільки довго не жив, що вже час заново себе представити. Мене звати Іра Єрошко. Я живу останні 3 місяці свого 20річчя. Я - українка.Я - християнка. Я фотоентузіаст.Мабуть, це - основні сфери, якими людина себе визначає, але наскільки це мало для Людини. Я живу свою мрію, бо я вже на шляху до неї. Багато з того,що я хотіла три роки тому, вже здійснилось і продовжує здійснюється.Я не можу сидіти у своїй зоні комфорту. Я свій особистий баламут. Я не люблю змагатися, але я постійно впробовую себе.І сьогодні, Бог дав мені і моїй країні найбільше випробування, яке тільки можна було уявити.Ми живемо в стані війни, хоча й не офіційно.І ми вчимося боротися за нашу свободу, за нашу віру, стосунки, за нашу єдність.Ми надто довго сприймали життя як данність.  Тепер ми маємо боротися за це .І я навіки вдячна, що вчусь цінувати.
"Але вірний Бог, Який не попустить, щоб ви випробовувалися більше, ніж можете, але при спробі й полегшення дасть, щоб знести могли ви її." 1 Коринтянам 10:13Це означає, Він знає, що Україна сильна. Ми маємо пройти цей період з руками у молитві.

Я почала цей блог чотири роки тому, щоб документувати мій шлях до професійної фотокар'єри. Здається, вже пройшло ціле життя, і це означає, я на правильній дорозі. Я ,як ця жінка у яскравій футболці, не залежно від подій, залишатимусь фотографом, християнкою, подругою, українкою, мандрівником. Навіть якщо навколо темні стіни.

Kyiv nowadays

I made a photo walk on April 6th, the first one in a long while, especially a street-like.

That's how the center of Kyiv looks right now. On Sundays a lot of peoplee gather on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independance Square), a place where a lot of rallies and battles took place.

People come to honor the fallen, to see the barricades, to lay flowers, to listen to speakers and to sing Ukrainian anthem. It has completely different atmosphere, everyone is friendly and always ready to jump into a coverastion with stranger. It's truly the heart of Ukraine.

News and announcements

It feels pretty surreal, to write blog post for the first time in YEAR! I’ll save you from my useless apologizes and excuse. Instead, I’ll tell you what’s new and what has changed.

There will be no particular order, as I’m having hard times sorting information in my head right now.

• - The first thing that you might have or might have not noticed is a NEW BLOG DESIGN! Ines Perkovic, amazing photographer from Croatia and my friend created this design for me, and I’m forever grateful because right now I have no capacity to work on design nor looking for designer. I think she did it great and I highly recommend to visit her blog.

• - I started two projects on Behance. One is called ‘Second Home’, another one - ‘Portrait stories’. All the info about them you’ll find on Behance.
• - It seems like I’ve started a YT channel but it’s going very slow as I’m full time student, full time employed, I attend courses, I have finals, I try to run my photo projects and now - blog! and Flickr...So you know, I’m kind of busy!

• I’m looking for opportunities to edit video on the go, for that I need a good laptop and good editing program so your advices on that will be highly highly appreciated!

• - I had a photography brake since October 2013 till February 2014, which is long! And totally not healthy for any creative progress.

• - I bought a new camera! Now I own Nikon d610 and still shoot with 50mm 1.4.

• - I’m going to Krakow for Visegrad Summer School, it’s a school of political studies, but it’s gonna involve journalism, photography, and Ukraine as well! I’m thinking about having a Flickr meet-up between 30 June - 12 July there, so if you live in Krakow or in Poland and you’d to come and do a little shooting walk - please send me a quick note to yeroshkoiryna@gmail.com and I’ll send you all the details!

• - And there is war in my country...It’s not a like a World War (this is how I imagined any war), but there are certain regions that struggle a lot from Russian invasion. You can find a lot of articles about it here. Crimean peninsula is lawlessly annexed to Russia, some of my relatives live there, and there are constant clashes in the east.

I guess that’s it...God bless you all and wish me luck! not to fall apart from all of these haha.

L'viv streetwalking

I was lucky to travel a lot this summer and L'viv was one of my summer go-by-yourself destinations. While being on a little vocation once again , I want to take you for a little walk around this amazing  warm old city, which is fair to say is the most beautiful in Ukraine. Kyiv and L'viv are so different from other parts of the country, and as for me, it's great that you can change the atmosphere and feel like in another country for several days not actually leaving the one you live in. Dedicated to all the amazing people who connect me with L'viv.

(warning: lots of pictures below)

True love + blog anniversary

Today I want to show you one of the most beautiful things I am very proud of - Ilona & Yura engagement photoshoot. And I can't even take credits for me because together they are so incredibly beautiful and talented , they planned everything carefully - from hair to poses and colors - that I didn't even have to do anything. It is so easy to see the light pouring out from their hearts into something between them that gives you the chills.
Today is a special day for this blog - actually tomorrow but whatever - it turns 3 years old.
And it makes me kind of sad because many blogs that I read in 3 year gained more than 1000 followers,
and here I hardly feel someone is reading what I write here. So please, let me know what kind of content you prefer to see here and it will make me less sad :) And also I wanted to ask other bloggers awkward question - what do you guys do, to gain more readers?
Enjoy!

The whole world in letters

I am so excited about launching my personal mailbox!

I've been crazy about  buying and sending postcards to my friends abroad recently, as well as receiving them. From now you can send me a letter, a postcard, a little something from any country, and if you add your adress - I'll write you back! Also, I'll infrom you about getting your postcard - through Instagram or Flickr.

Thank you all for supporting Rennes.I photography and
carrying about what I do.

'The most talented people are always the nicest" - James Caan

Very creative, easy-going, all-time hilarious and loving couple of two actors Stas and Ivanka today in my blog. We've been waiting for this photoshoot for 3 months and at the end it went completly opposite to the way we planned, but still nice. Actually for me it never happen the way I plan and I'm always ok with this. That's how it works for me, at least. It was very special both for the couple - as Ivanka is pregnant, and for me - as I was just craving for depicting these amazing people.

What do you know about Estonia?

The only thing personally I knew before going to this country were some jokes about their slow way of talking and thinking, which is completely wrong, and that's actually it. Nevertheless, I was pretty excited to travel somewhere not too popular but still Europe :) I'll tell more about the country (with pictures, of course) in the next post.

If it doesn't challange you, it won't change you.

This year academic year went so weirdly quicky and hard yet very interesting and instructively. I've learned so much about myself and people around me, and experienced God's will and
guardianship through the whole freshman experience. Now I'm feeling much more confident about myself and ready to work productevly on photography and self-education (I'm kind of nerd, I've already got so many books and journals for self-educating, and found websites with online courses, e.g. coursera).
I've been thinking a lot about what should I do this summer and in autumn and what to prepare myself for  next summer (I'm very 'foreseeing' kind of person), and sometimes I am faced with a choice whether I am doing something for myself or should I do this for God. Have a courage to challenge yourself, your faith, your foundations and I think it'll pay back. God is faithfull, so how much we must be faithful to Him. I wish you to feel proud of yourself after this summer, to be productive and inspired. May god bless you wherever you are :)