Olenevka - Maryino

...iPod touch - one player trip.

Olenevka - Maryino, Tarkhankut.

To the reflectors collection.

Tree-grass.

Hunting prohibited.

Nothing superfluous.

Soil.

My rented friend.

Cow in sepia.

"The End."

Silhouette of the tractor which raises gold dust.

Final destination.

Stones and clouds.

Me full-length.

Milk.

Rest.

Homing.

"Low battery!" No-no, please! One more shot! Yes!

Foros

Last year I finally made a trip to the most southern point of Ukraine - Foros.

In soviet times Foros was closed for ordinary people. Here were only political elite's summer cotteges, sanatoriums, gardens and farm which provided food for the same elite.

Now anyone can arrive and have rest here paying the highest price in Crimea. I was here in November realizing my another dream to see the autumn sea.

I drunk hot tea with ginger to warm up, walked through juniper and cedar parks. I saw Foros in autumn as a very clean and quiet soviet town surrounded by general southern Crimea delicious nature - mountains, forests and sea. See Foros gallery on Photos-from-Ukraine.

I had not much communication with local people but mostly with Foros cats so I had totally good time there :). Noticing the amount of cats in this town I can assume they had eaten all dogs and the half of birds. Watch your back if you are dog :)

Flight

One of the most exciting impressions of the year that passed was for sure my hang-glider flight on Tarhankut.

When I saw that green bird overhead I decided that I obviously should rise to the sky next day.

I didn't search for the pilots too long - they were based on the dried up side of the firth - a good plain ground for the take-off, and at the same time the place vacationers certainly pass on their way to the shore.

Nice, green, shiny moto hang-glider stood and almost smiled to me. The pilot with 30 years of experience was resting in the shadow and his friend "salesman" talked all the time.

First came jackets, helmets and glasses - "if you meet a fly 'there', it may happen that it will have three eyes, and you will have one" - valuable instructions from the "salesman" Andrey.

Then there was noise, more noise and even more noise - the engine.

Then there was a take-off run. It was just like riding a motorcycle, less than a 100 meters. And...

No-o-o-o!! O-o-o! A-a-a-a-a-a!!!! U-u-u-u-u!!! Ya-ha-ha-a-a-a!!!

I CAN FLY-Y-Y-Y-Y!

The incredible moment when you no longer riding - you fly! I felt absolutely safe in the company of such experienced pilot. And when I put my stomach back into its place, I forgot about the noise, about the wind. We raised higher and higher. I was told later - that was about 350-400 meters. And...

Flying!

For the first time in my life I saw so much space around me. I was touching it with my hands and cheeks, I was getting lost in it, I was everywhere in it. It is really something completely different from any previous experience (If you are not a pilot or bird of course). Air! Sky - it is everywhere. Sky is under me, over me, and all around me. In our daily routine we forget about the sky. We stare under our boots or in rare cases straight forward! We sit on.. chairs, walk to.. beds and lay like.. doesn't matter what. We fly only in our dreams! I'm sure that everyone knows this feeling of flight. Knows it from the dreams. But for some reasons we forget these skills and feelings, we forget our best beliefs and hopes, we forget to be good, we even forget to look at the sky!

But in the first 10 minutes of flight in a hang-glider I remembered this sensation from deep inside and then I felt like it is the "most normal" state for the human - flying!

My photo camera has one eye and a tiny piece of photo sensitive something. It has transistor brain and no emotions. I added my two hands and my delight to it. Together we want to present you these 42 cutouts from the huge empty space, from the sky and earth.