The results of the year will be this time about my separate project – Courtyardard spaces.
So, I officially declare that I have walked around and captured all the courtyards of the city of Vologda. I visited every microdistrict of the city, looked into every corner and managed to capture the atmosphere of the brightest places.
It took me three years to do it. It all started in November 2019. Then I was shocked by the huge area of the city compared to the small district center where I once lived. It seemed to me that it was impossible to go around and photograph everything. But I did it.
At first I studied point-by-point, I passed somewhere briefly, but then I structured my walks and already knew what to do and how to do it.
Over time, the concept of photography changed. At first, my attention was focused on the struggle between warm and cold sources of artificial lighting in terms of color temperature.
Then I started looking for color, and eventually it all came down to spots and graphics.
About three thousand photos were taken, about two hundred posts were written on a variety of topics about the courtyard spaces of apartment buildings.
I touched on both metaphysics with philosophy, and the layout of the courtyard with geographical features.
To sum up all my late walks, for all the time I have never met aggression from the locals.
There were many cases when people were interested in the purpose of the shooting, but no one ever said bad words or tried to do something to me.
If we talk about the characteristics of the best yards for photographing, then everyone can have their own.
Nevertheless, judging by the often similar pictures on the Internet, I can give a description of attractive places for photographing and walking.
The most interesting places were those where there are many houses of the Khrushchev and Stalin eras, as well as a wide variety of designs and number of storeys of buildings.
It will be good where there are many panel houses or wooden barracks.
All of the above can be combined with each other, or one thing can be concentrated.
The best time for evening hikes in the courtyards of any city will be the beginning of spring, from the moment the snow melts (March-April), to the end of spring, when the first leaves begin to appear (mid-May).
You can also shoot in the summer, but it will be more difficult to feel the atmosphere of the place and make a beautiful picture.
Then the best time will be late autumn, when almost all the leaves have already fallen and before the first snow falls. In winter, you can also shoot, but in cloudy weather it is better to avoid filming.
If in general, then the best time is leafless and snowless. But if there are both, then you need to focus on the shadows from the foliage or on the texture of the snow.
The most boring and uninteresting places were areas where there are new buildings or brick houses.
Such spaces don't seem to have caught on yet. There are no trees, lots of cars and new bright playgrounds. It's good for someone's life, but it's unacceptable for photography.
If in some city there are height differences with water bodies or a chaotic location of houses, then these are almost the main keys for the atmosphere and interest of the place. If the houses stand like a ruler, and their location is ordered, then it will be boring in such a place.
Garages, sheds, abandoned buildings, old trees, vacant lots – if all this is nearby, then it will be good for me there. Well, if we are talking about photographing, then in the presence of such elements of yard spaces, you can make interesting shots.
Of all the places I passed, I remember the Vologda microdistricts the most: Zavokzalny, Riverside, Center, 2nd, 3rd, 6th.
What I listed above is concentrated in them – this is the difference in the epochs of housing construction, this is the presence of wooden barracks with sheds and garages, this is a lot of trees and a share of the gloom of places.
But there is something special in every neighborhood, there are no bad places! I also once argued that courtyards, like streets, can be photographed endlessly. I don't agree with that right now. I did some research and found out why. I have long been convinced that space works and affects our perception of reality. And if I felt something in some place, then I try to capture it. So I went through one of the neighborhoods for the second time and I had a lot of coincidences. The shots were taken from almost the same points, and I remember very poorly where and what I shot last time. Based on this, I concluded that it is impossible to shoot spaces indefinitely if you are shooting like me, according to feelings.
And all the subsequent repeated walks through the places already passed proved every time that if you follow this principle, the limit will quickly come, even if your consciousness has been renewed after a couple of years.
And now, what's next?
And then the work continues, but already in the suburbs. These are towns and villages where there are apartment buildings. As well as neighboring nearby district centers. I am sure that these will be the same vivid impressions and pictures as in the city itself. I have already seen this at one of the regional centers in the spring of 2022.
And three years later, I still could not give an exact answer why I was doing this...