Author: johnkunstadter

Harvesting Potatoes, Trashchychy 2009/Трашчычы 2009 год

Portraits of Mjensk I/Партрэты Менску І Andrej Pjetrushenja, Mjensk 2010/Спадар Андрей Петрушэня, Менск 2010 год

There is something deeply comforting in the natural light that suffuses a Belarusian home.  This is a light as ineffable and timeless as it is bound to place and season.  Сонечнае сьвятло напаўняе беларускі дом і робіць яго невымоўна ўтульным. Гэтае сьвятло і няўлоўнае, і вечнае, і непарыўна зьвязанае са сваім месцам і сваім часам.… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 14, 2010

Autumn Bounty, Azjarany 2009/Азяраны 2009 год

A striking reminder that summer is ending is the mid- to late-August mass migration of storks from Belarus to their winter home in the Nile Delta.  Groups of storks assemble into large flocks and, wheeling and spiraling to catch favorable air currents, soar off to the south.  Fledglings, forced to sleep away from the nest… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 12, 2010

Flowers for 9-11 in front of the American embassy in Mjensk, September 13, 2001.  Каля амерыканскай амбасады ў Менску, 13 верасьня 2001 года.

Honey-Blessing Festival-Maccabee Festival 2010, Part II/Мядовы Спас-Макаўе 2010 год, частка II August 14 is one of the clearest examples of syncretism, the overlapping or fusion of different traditions, in the Belarusian cycle of the year. Traditionally August 14 (August 1 in the Julian or Orthodox calendar) is seen as a marker of the change from… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 10, 2010

Honey-Blessing Festival-Maccabee Festival 2010, Part I/Мядовы Спас-Макаўе 2010 год, частка І August 14 is one of the clearest examples of syncretism, the overlapping or fusion of different traditions, in the Belarusian cycle of the year. Traditionally August 14 (August 1 in the Julian or Orthodox calendar) is seen as a marker of the change from… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 9, 2010

Granny Eufrasin’nja was waiting patiently at her fence for the arrival of her daughter and son-in-law on a tranquil mid-August Belarusian evening.  I approached and, remarking how kind she looked, asked if I could take a portrait.  During our conversation she noted that she would be at the Honey-Blessing ceremony at her church in nearby… Continue reading Photo of the Day for September 8, 2010

First Cutting, Khotamjel’ 2010/Першыя закоскі, Хотамель 2010 год