I got inspired by this photo album so much and I decided I
have to write about it! I am talking about Tania D’Avignon’s series of pictures
from Carpathian Mountains , western Ukraine .
Tania is known Ukrainian-American photographer; her works
were published all over the world. Tania is actually sharing her life between
two countries – USA
and Ukraine .
She took thousands pictures of Ukraine
(Ukraine is a
country where Tania’s roots are); she had lots of exhibitions of her
photographs; she has published a book entirely of Ukrainian pictures – Simply Ukraine
And this Tania’s photo album fromCarpathian
Mountains – it’s something! I love the photographs as well as the name
Tania gave to her Carpathian album – “Life with a View”.
And this Tania’s photo album from
I know what Tania is talking about, saying “Life with a View”.
I am originally from Ukraine
and I live in Canada
now, in a nice picturesque mountains place, which remind me so much of Carpathian
Mountains ! In warm days I have my breakfast on a deck with amazing
view – that’s what I call “Breakfast with a view”. And I see something like Carpathian
Mountains almost every day, directly from my deck, only in
Canadian version. Well, let me take a look at Tania’s pictures again… Nope,
Ukrainian version is better! So, here we go – let’s take a little tour to a life
with a view in Ukrainian Carpathians, through the eyes of Tania D’Avignon:
Beautiful, isn’t? Well, the roads to get to this beauty are not really attractive. This is a part of Ukrainian reality too – not the best part though, and a truthful photographer like Tania cannot have her eyes closed on it:
Beautiful, isn’t? Well, the roads to get to this beauty are not really attractive. This is a part of Ukrainian reality too – not the best part though, and a truthful photographer like Tania cannot have her eyes closed on it:
Despite of breathtaking views, life in Ukrainian mountains
is really hard for locals, especially farming life:
Kids from the Mountains in
their early age learn how to take care about horses, cows and sheep and how to
work on a land. Here is a sweet little girl with a horse:
Well, hardships and farming skills from the very young age,
and, let’s be honest, a dream to escape from the Mountains somewhere to a big
city, where life is more easy to maintain – this is a price that locals from
Carpathians pay for having these gorgeous views to themselves.
But for tourists, especially for those, who are looking for
non-touristy places, who wants to see local farming and the way
Mountains people live, Ukrainian
Carpathians is a right place to go. I am not talking about bigger cities in the
Mountains, like Yaremche or Vorokhta, where picky tourist can find everything,
including luxurious rooms with a spa etc. I am talking about little towns and
villages in Carpathians, like Verkhovyna, Pysanyj Kamin’, and many-many other
little places in the Mountains, where Tania took her pictures and where life is
REAL. Life with a view…