Karelian miracle, a photo from Karelia, North

Photographer's Note

Kizhi is a small island in Lake Onego. Usually the famous outdoor museum on island is open during the lake navigation time i.e. from May till October but I'm lucky to go there at winter drove from Petrozavodsk by hydroskimmer.

In olden time Kizhi was the center of a large pogost, an administrative unit consisting of several villages centered on a church and a graveyard. The pogost has a church of the Transfiguration of Our Savior and another church of Intercession of Our Lady. Both of them saved to our days together with the belltower while the surrounding villages are almost unhabitat. We don't know anything on the man of genius who built the churches. We only know that it was sanctified in 1714. The legend is told on Kizhi on the time of churches building sais that all of them were built without any nail at all. Actually this is not a true but we may be sure that all of wooden buildings of pogost were made by hands and axes. Now the pogost is under restoration and restorators use only axes as well.

In clear weather its 22 domes shine as if coated with silver. There is a magnificent and light quility about the church that gives the impression that its floating in the sky. Hope you enjoy that.

Marche, Theana, Djipi, vagabondtravels, PixelTerror, pastadog, Hayri_CALISKAN, yogi32, eska, Stan, lara, Andrzej_HHH has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Marche (4307) 2006-03-01 14:13

Bonjour Tatiana,
Quelle chance tu as eu de voir l'ile de Kishi enneigée. J'y suis allée en 1997 et j'ai beaucoup aimé cet endroit.
C'est une superbe photo bien composée, avec un bon contraste malgré le ciel blanc. Grande netteté du détail dans la trace du premier plan.
Très bon travail
Amicalement
Martine

Theana (623) 2006-03-01 14:23

Very beautiful! Actually we had already planned to go and visit this place twice in the last year but unfortunately there has finally been no time then. So I hope we will manage in this year as this seems to be a very nice place. I also like the nice "cotton" clouds which make a very nice backgroun.

maki (0) 2006-03-01 16:03

Priv'et Tatiana,
Great place and You did a good work. Very good proportions in this compo, interesting POV and impressive sharpness. Well done. Beautiful Orthodox church. Karelia is so poetic region... TFS and best regards. maki

uzaklar (684) 2006-03-01 17:18

Hi Tatiana,
Very beautiful photo.Congratulations!!!

rbcy1974 (20756) 2006-03-01 17:35

Hello Tatiana
Beautiful scene but I thik it can be uch better by cropping a bit around so y can have m colour in the photo as ll as plaing with levels and contrasts,
regards
daniel

ptibelo (3329) 2006-03-01 17:37

Un superbe shot...un endroit qui respire la tranquilité avec une belle architecture.

vagabondtravels (6458) 2006-03-01 20:13

Very unique capture. Interesting place.

Bianconeri78 (701) 2006-03-02 4:17

Hi Tatiana,
What a fantastic picture!, very sharp. How did you manage to get there in winter?
Best wishes,
Jeremy

PixelTerror (96880) 2006-03-03 3:32

Privet Tanya,
I've seen this place already on the photos brought back from a Russian friend of ours, I'm glad to see it again on TE now, it's a beautiful example of wooden architecture, the snow covered landscape and cloudy sky are here the best possible conditions for its structures to stand out by contrast. I like too how the accumulated snow outlines the roofs. Nice photo.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

pastadog (12880) 2006-03-04 13:43

Hi Tanya - this is an epic winter shot. The fantastic church building looks like floating in a sea of heavy snow. Very beautiful! Thanks, Daniel

Ebbe (9617) 2006-03-04 15:10

So clean in the composition with this horisontal band of buildings just balanced by the tree. Fine tone and texture of the snow. And as the snow and sky almost melts together yuo really make it float.

Hayri_CALISKAN (934) 2006-03-07 18:30

Excellent winter scene.
Ver interesting image also.
Regards, Hayri.

Stan (2768) 2006-04-10 16:21

Bonsoir Tatianna,
Amazing architecture! It looks so strange here alone in the snow. Very nice compo, good exposition. Well done!
Kind regards
Serge

lara (915) 2006-05-03 7:47

... and I thought Karelia is only the Greek cigarette that I smoke... ;)
Zdravstvuite, Tatiana.
Great your series of castles and churches. The Russian style is great and you are doing very well in capturing its beauty.
On this one, I like the larger plan you chose, and the soft light of the afternoon. Also, the story is nice. And the way you got there ;) It must be really nice to be in those places on a hydroskimmer. How cold was it?
Congrats,
Andra

Andrzej_HHH (2480) 2007-03-02 17:36

Great shot of this beautiful wooden monaster. Very interesting note. Thanks for sharing! Andrzej