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'.

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)

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.

Lviv streets (live). Part Two.

Finally I managed to edit and post the second part of our trip to Lviv. I kind of postponed it because of my senior year, i'm so excited to end it one day and have more time for my photography stuff.
I love this beautiful  historical city so much, i feel like only there I can feel happiness when I simply walk down the street and shoot(not literally) people.  It seems like I can picture life on streets only in Lviv,        at least   for  now any other city doesn't inspire me as much as Lviv does.
  I hope you'll enjoy some street and (of course) still life shots here.

Also check out the first part of our trip.

 

Lviv streets (live). Part One.

Two weeks ago two photography geeks went to Lviv - one of the most charismatic cities of Ukraine - to shoot life on streets. Take in a count that we both are more candid portrait photographers. But as I said we are geeks and we love photography in any way. Actually I was inspired to try street photography by Thomas Leuthard's books, which you can download for free here. Even before that I had few street shooters that I followed, but these books motivated me to try by myself. So here we're, photography obsessed strangers, wandering around ancient Lviv streets, taking picture, having fun. Btw, Lviv is just 4 hours from Lutsk, but the trip there is quite exhausting =) And as you know me, I couldn't resist to shot still life, which is everywhere!!! kidding. Maybe this post will seem weird because of mash-up of still life and portraits, color and b&w, beutiful and sad moments, but it's how I see life and Lviv in particular.