Belarus is a country in central Europe. It is a former republic
of the USSR and the place where I was born and lived until the
age of ten. Whenever I come back to visit there is always a sense
of familiarity, a feeling of being home, but although I have
been taking travel photographs around the world for a few years
now, I have never shot anything in Belarus. In the past the opportunity
to pursue the subjects that interest me wasn’t there, and
because I don’t make images just for the sake of making
them I never went out shooting.
However during my last trip the circumstances were different.
Everything fell into place, and along with some friends I went
out into a region that has stirred my imagination for quite a
while. The region is called “Palesye” and it encompasses
all of southern Belarus, West to East.
Palesye used to be famous for its vast number of swamps, its
unique people as well as their customs and their language; a
blend of Belarusian, Ukrainian and Polish. While over the last
century the swamps have been drained to make way for crop fields
and the customs are not practiced as widely as in the past, this
is still a region where you often feel like time has stood still
for about half a century. This ‘time machine factor’ is
ever present through most of the rural Palesye. Old, traditional
houses, water wells, absence of paved roads, horse carriages,
these are some of the signs which indicate that ‘civilization’ has
passed by a lot of the Palesye countryside.
But things will not remain this way forever. Some of the older
villages will fade away and become eaten up by the forest.
Others will modernize, the indigenous population will resettle
elsewhere and not much will remain of their culture and traditions.
It is not clear when the changes will come. Some customs and
traditions are being reborn, but a lot of the living relics of Palesye - its
old people are inevitably disappearing. On my trip I set out into the Palesye
countryside to capture the old, disappearing as well as the new Palesye through
its people.
It was interesting and surprisingly challenging taking photos
in a country where for me there was no language barrier. What
I quickly found out was that my ability to understand and speak
the local language was potentially as much of a problem as
it was a virtue. Unlike my time in Asia, a local was not usually
speaking on my behalf. I had to explain what I was after myself.
The villages of Palesye are not like those of Asia. They are
sparsely populated, much less happens on the streets and the
people can be extremely shy and self conscious. Shooting candid
shots is not the answer, so some explaining about what I was
doing was in order. Initially my experience was a bit of a hit
and miss. If I said the ‘right’ things people would
not only agree to a photo, but open up their inner self. I was
truly touched while some of the older people shared with me their
incredible yet sometimes tragic stories. They were very thankful
that someone cared enough to listen. Many of them were very lonely
and even a few moments with people stirred deep emotions inside
them.
However if during my approach I said something that was too
unexpected (that I am from Australia or that I had traveled around
the world) people became confused, embarrassed and generally
wanted no part in having their image taken.
Eventually I was lucky enough to stumble upon a wonderful local
woman who offered to take us around to meet the kind of people
I was after. A few of these images are a direct result of her
help. I studied the way she talked to people, what language she
used and gradually I adapted and was able to not ‘freak’ people
out when approaching them. After we parted I had to be my own ‘guide’.
It was much more challenging than simply being the photographer,
yet very rewarding.
All the images were taken with a Canon EOS 350D. Some minor
adjustments to color and levels were done in Photoshop CS2. A
light reflector was used for a lot of the images.
About the Author
Mitchell Kanashkevich is a filmmaker/photographer who has
worked primarily in Hong Kong, Laos, Thailand, India, and Belarus
since he graduated from Sydney University in 2003 with a film
studies major. More of Mitchell's work can be seen at www.mitchellkimages.com
Mitchell can be contacted at mitchellk81@hotmail.com
