52 Week Photography Challenge

May Edition: Ukraine travels

Rakhiv, Ukraine. All images by the author.

This is my first post for the challenge. The theme is my travels around Ukraine in 2019, in search of long-lost family.

Week 18: Roots — Human, or not

Roots (non-human)

The house is leaning as if roots have spread deep into the soil beneath it, causing the building to subside. It’s the village in Western Ukraine where my father lived until he was deported in 1940. On my final afternoon I wandered around with an old smartphone, perhaps retracing his long-ago steps. When I saw this building I crept up to photograph it, thinking it was empty, then noticed the motorbike.

Week 19: The Twilight Zone — Interpret that as you will

Yuliya’s house at twilight

A single square of golden light shone from a window into the creeping dusk. As the house merged into the sky, the silhouette of Yuliya’s cow moved across the window, its head bent as it fractured the blaze of light.