A Church in the City Context Photo

Photographer’s Note

This shot was taken at the Kharkiv’s district called as Kholodna Hora (Cold Hill). In the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century at this place two religious processions met each other two times annually to hand the Kharkiv’s most sacred object over from one monastery to another. This sacred object was a holy icon depicting the mother of Jesus. The icon was found at the end of the seventeenth century in the Ozeryana region (near town of Merefa, 20 km from Kharkiv). Our Lady of Ozeryana was believed to be the second most miracle-working and healing icon in Russian Empire after Our Lady of Kazan. Grigoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko (1778 – 1849), a famous Ukrainian writer, was saved from blindness by the icon, when he was five years old.

The church in the picture was built in 1901 to mark the place, where Our Lady of Ozeryana was handed over from the suburban monastery of Kuryazh (now there is a labor settlement of juvenile offenders there, on the former monastery territory), where it was in summer, to the community of Pokrovsky monastery, where it was in winter inside the specially built Ozeryana church. The full name of the church in the picture is “Sreteniya (meeting) of Our Lady of Ozeryana church”. Now there are only two copies of the icon, one being in this church and another being in Blahovishensky cathedral. The original was lost after 1926, when the both monasteries were closed.

As the church is situated at the thoroughfare, which is called “Poltavsky Shlyakh” (Poltava Road), I could not capture it without those tram wires, billboards, vehicles and so on. But maybe these urban surroundings are interesting to somebody, especially because the billboard advertises a healthy Ukrainian product, mineral water Morshynska (the sad and colorless girl becomes a real beauty after drinking the water; if this is true, the effect is similar to that the Ozeryana icon did). On the other hand, at the right-hand side of the picture we can see another product from Lviv region, a Bogdan minibus, which has helped to solve the passenger transportation problem in Ukraine (Ukrainian name Bogdan means “given by God”).

The bus in the picture is yellow, but some buses are yellow-blue, because yellow and blue is colors of Ukrainian national flag. If a guest of Ukraine sees a bus painted such a way, he or she should be aware that the English words “YELLOW-BLUE BUS” sound very similar to the Russian or Ukrainian phrase “YA LYUBLUE VAS”, which means “I LOVE YOU!” Of course, the answer is going to be “I love you too!”

GPS coordinates: 49.98556 Lat; 36.19083 Long

fotosergio, mkamionka, Dyerco, saxo042, denisn72, jlbrthnn, feather, Henryk_Bilor, photoray, belido, jafadabret, maloutim, jhm, papagolf21, Gerrit, JCG, shevchenko, paura has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rodgerg (23849) 2009-03-12 5:38

Hello Sergiy,

A very interesting presentation of this beautiful churc: the church located in the everyday's life. An image rich in details and colours very well collected.
Best regards,
Roger

mkamionka (4338) 2009-03-12 6:20

Hi Sergiy,
Nice church, interesting scene.
I really encourage you to upload some more everyday life shots from your town. It is so exotic for people living in the west.
Thanks for sharing that,
M

Dyerco (9038) 2009-03-12 7:26

Hi Sergiy
A good slice of life shot. Excellent sharpness and well composed.
Phil

saxo042 (15544) 2009-03-12 8:51

Hi Sergiy,
The brightly coloured vehicles are a nice contrast to the church in the background. This is an interesting street scene and a fine example of daily life in your country!
Kind regards
Gunnar

siamesa (12744) 2009-03-12 9:39

Hi Sergiy

Very nice and interesting picture. It shows very well the context of the city with vehicles , people walking and an out-door. This churcs the main subject is reallybeautiful. TFS
Regards
maria

Silvio1953 (41557) 2009-03-12 13:30

Ciao Sergiy, interesting urban view with beautiful church, great composition full of life and colors, very well done, ciao Silvio

denisn72 (6977) 2009-03-12 13:34

Hello Sergiy
That church is really beautiful. The wires, billboards and vehicules don't bother me. It looks like the real and daily life. Very good light, sharpness and colours. Good job and thanks for sharing.

Ukrainain architecture always pleased me very much.

Best regards
Denis!

Fis2 (45687) 2009-03-12 14:09

Witaj Sergiej!
Your photo is unteresting.
Good reportorial photo.
I like the church.
Well done.
Regards
Krzysztof

skippy007 (6971) 2009-03-12 14:43

Hello Sergiy, Where this beautiful Church is situated it was always going to be difficult to capture without all the modern day paraphernalia like wires, poles vehicles etc,, the way you went about this in my opinion is a good idea, capture it as it truly is. Well done. Colours look good & natural & detail & light are excellent. I also like your note. very interesting & entertaining.
Thank you
Santo
I forgot to mention the water, Maybe we can export/import some to Australia ;-)))

dta (5000) 2009-03-13 11:00

Hello Sergiy ,
I like a lot the tittle ... and the picture . It is not easy to take a good shot of a church with cars . You've done that . A colorful scenery , very well framed .
Regards
Denis

jlbrthnn (37749) 2009-03-14 3:32

Hello Sergiy,
I like much this image showing the worthy church in an urban context agitated pressed people, completely being unaware of the presence and the historical role of the religious building. The inclusion of the radiant advertizing panel adds a little impertinence to the scene. Under a beautiful light, it is a realization of great quality. congratulations.
Have a nice day
Cordially
Joël

npecanhuk (13713) 2009-03-14 3:44

Hi Sergiy!
Pretty interesting city life picture, with so many elements put together in a very attractive way!
Daily life, city transportation and architecture harmoniously composed in this image!
TFS - Congratulations!
Best regards,
Neyvan

feather (49858) 2009-03-15 15:36

The church architecture is beautiful and with so much going on in the vicinity I imagine it would be almost impossible to take a picture of it on its own. This is a clever idea to include the urban environment and it also gives us an interesting glimpse of daily life here.
Kath

Juntas (3175) 2009-03-16 8:18

Hi Sergiy. I guess the result is ok with those colorful cars surroundig the church. Great light and nice colors in this daily life scene. Well done. Regards. PAulo

Henryk_Bilor (20365) 2009-03-16 14:54

Hi Sergiy
Great capture of this great church with th ecolour vehicles in the foreground. Good idea, excellent light. Only the girls advertising a mineral water distract a bit ;). Thank you for the explanation od the name Bogdan. Some of them work here :)(they build the hotel in Charlotta Valley).
Regards

photoray (1268) 2009-03-16 20:38

Hello Sergiy,
Interesting image contrasting modern transportation with classical church. The colors are a bonus. And would like to see the church closer up later?

Good job,
Ray

Graal (57729) 2009-03-17 0:35

Priviet Sergiy,
good reportage and presentation of church in Kharkiv. Interesting informations and links in note. Good photojob.
Gr., Aleksander

belido (16357) 2009-03-17 4:46

Hi Sergiy,

you did a nice job with all those elements. The image is full of colors. Very good daily life scene. Well done!
Regards,
Carlos

jafadabret (39485) 2009-03-19 12:40

Bonjour Sergiy.
J'aime les couleurs vives des véhicules qui dynamisent la photo.
Les publicités sont venues dans le paysage assez récemment. C'est une bonne idée de prendre cette église au milieu de l'animation de la ville.
Beau travail !
Jacques

zumoduvas (1974) 2009-03-19 14:58

Hello Sergiy.

Excellent urban picture, nice composition and colors.

Regards.
Jose Luis.

Nicou (44641) 2009-03-20 22:40

Hello,

mangigiqu ensemble, urbian avec les voitures et la vivacité. et cette belle église qui regarde passer inlassablement les voitures, mangigiuqe.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

maloutim (3943) 2009-03-21 7:07

Hi Sergiy!
Good composition of this church situated at a crossroads! True, one would prefer the photo without the wires and such like; but that's really what the place looks like!
Good sharpness overall, even for the moving traffic, good colours and interesting note about the church!
Here you show us yet another style of Ukrainian churches, which is all instructive.
Thanks for sharing!
Best wishes.
Marie Louise.

jhm (82319) 2009-03-23 4:17

Hello Sergiy,

Splendid summer picture, you placed the church towers excellent in middle of the picture.
Also a wonderful perspective and a lot daily life objects here.
Also your subject is very well, splendid colours, and lovely presentation. TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

papagolf21 (56251) 2009-03-25 16:02

Bonsoir, cher Sergivy,
Le temps passe, la beauté reste et demeure pour notre plus grand plaisir.
Le modernisme nécessaire n'efface pas la beauté d'antan.
Un grand merci pour ce partage. J'apprécie beaucoup cette composition.
Amitiés.
Philippe

UlfE (8965) 2009-03-28 6:35

Hi Sergiy,

Wow, what a brillant street scene. It very vivid and colourful with the cars in the street, the advertisment and the church in the background. The composition with street diagnonally across the picture is excellent and adds dynamics to the picture. TFS and have nice weekend!

Cheers,

Ulf

Gerrit (35613) 2009-04-01 14:53

Hi Sergiy,
excellent city photo in beautiful vivid colors. Great composition,
regards, Gerrit

ElAprendiz (7370) 2009-04-05 14:26

Hello Sergiy:

A good time to capture this shot, was expected to have the time the cars finished on the left side to move to avoid being cut to the scene.

I like the point of view, the elements of a growing city, maybe. Beautiful colors, correct use of lighting and proper framing.

Greetings from Colombia, John

JCG (25207) 2009-04-06 11:42

Hi Sergiy,

An urban landscape colorful and full of details that attract the eye. I love the contrast between this beautiful church and the modern life that has developed over the years. Well done and congratulations for the beautiful picture quality.

With all my friendships and soon,

Jean-Charles

shevchenko (9872) 2009-04-07 23:26

Hi Sergiy,
Lively shoot at a street with church, vehicles, advertisement signboard and wires appear in our vision, colorful sunny day, full in energy of life, good shoot.
Ally

janusz2054 (811) 2009-04-15 2:09

Hello Sergiy
Nice composition,sharpness and colors.

Janusz

paura (38278) 2009-05-01 4:44

Sergiy,
Very nice urban photo composition here. The point of view is good and the settings exposition great. well done!

Regards

Paulo