When I lived in Veliky Ustyug and photographed this city, it was difficult for me to go beyond the boundaries and shoot freely in any other place. There were sometimes moments when I would relax somewhere not at home and take pictures in relatively dangerous neighborhoods.
Right now, there are no places for me where I would feel uncomfortable or not be able to photograph something.
There is only an adequate sense of common sense and basic security.
That is, I will not approach a crowd of aggressive drunks who communicate with each other on the verge of a fight.
But there were quite a few cases when adequate drunk people contacted me kindly.
If Ustyug used to be a home and was some kind of imaginary protection: a lot of friends, acquaintances and all sorts of connections.
Now I'm on my own and I feel much more confident and stronger.
...This city has remained a home, but it has long been no longer a fortress.
If you don't live in a place for a long time, then you feel like a stranger in it.
I still know every corner of it.
I still remember where the best places to take photos are.
But it is perceived differently, as from the past.
Maybe this is the past? In other words, each of my visits to Veliky Ustyug is a journey into the past...
But it seems to me that the past should feel like the past, like the atmosphere of the past.
And I'm coming as if to nowhere...There is almost no trace left of the past, and I don't feel the future.
