Andrii Zakharchenko photography

Air

connecting with Air...

When you think you need to be a good friend and take at least one picture of your buddy during your trip together, but the best you can manage as a portrait photographer is something like this. Well, the portrait didn’t turn out so bad, as long as he can find himself in the picture. Not even sure why he still talks to me...

I like to think about this photo as the one marking a new period of my hobby. More involved and determined. Perhaps because waking up that winter morning after an almost sleepless night brought a funny mixed sensation of utmost beauty and suffering. “Looks like I just got the very essence of landscape photography“, I thought to myself.

I don't know what the minimum distance a path needs to be to be considered a hiking trail but the Window Trail in Badlands National Park is 0.15 miles long one way.

There is something absolutely magical about this place a few miles south of Seward. After winding through the thick forest, the hiking trail descends to a big opening at the shore. A creek flows into the fjord. In September, thousands of salmon live their last hours in the shallow water, and seagulls feast on the easy prey. Despite the somewhat disturbing scenes, the whole place has an absolutely peaceful aura. Allegedly, grizzly bears love the spot for its atmosphere too. I was (un)lucky to encounter none.

...they are gone. When scouting this area just 1.5 years after I took this photo, I was trying to recognize these trees among the others. Finally, I realized that there were only two of them left.

Everything in Alaska highlights how wild this place is. Even here in Seward, the mountains shrouded in blue midday mist look massive and mighty despite their relatively low height.

A long-exposure (and overexposed) shot of this boneyard beach gives an interesting effect of something otherworldly.

If you happened to look at the world light pollution map, you’d find out that there are almost no places with true dark sky in the entire US east of Mississippi (Western Europe is even worse in this sense). A few exceptions include Northern Maine, Adirondack mountains in upstate New York and, to some degree, Dolly Sods/Spruce Knob area in West Virginia. And at the same time, on the other side of the ocean, in the country I was born, the electricity now is one of the most valuable assets.

A very special and intimate combination of colors during a high-tide sunrise at Edisto Beach.

I love staying somewhere not far from potential photo locations during my photo trips. There's no need to wake up at 4 a.m. Instead, I can enjoy my sweet slumber until 4:30 a.m.

Bass Harbor Marsh might not be the most famous part of Acadia National Park, but its presence highlights the diversity of nature in this wonder of the East Coast.

Boneyard beaches like this one in South Carolina completely change their appearance during low and high tides. They also become completely impassable during high tide. After all, the dead trees “grow” exactly where the beach gets flooded and exposed twice a day.

A big, lazy part of me is still looking forward to the moment when I create a photo masterpiece in my backyard. This was a close call, though. It took me a 7-minute drive from my house to enjoy this beautiful sunrise fog over the Potomac River. I even managed not to miss my morning coffee.

It is such a simple yet profound process of living the cycles of nature. Feeling every moment instead of letting them disappear in the routine of a regular day. Thirty minutes before the first twilight, full darkness, taking pictures of the sky, astronomical twilight, nautical twilight, a few other shots of the foreground, civil twilight, sunrise, then driving back home and to the office.

I'm so lucky there was no representative of social services in this Alaska state park when my little daughter was crying, exhausted after the long hike, cold and wet in the rainy and windy highland tundra, while her retarded daddy was trying to create a composition for the photo. I'm sure she's still plotting a revenge in her head.

Air represents the mind, intellect, and the realm of thought and communication. It is the element of movement, change, and freedom, symbolizing the breath of life and the ever-changing nature of our mental landscapes. Air is associated with clarity, intellect, and the ability to communicate ideas effectively. It governs the processes of learning, reasoning, and the sharing of knowledge.

Air encourages us to seek knowledge, express ourselves, and remain open to new ideas. It highlights the importance of mental agility, curiosity, and critical thinking. This element teaches us that our thoughts and words have power, shaping our reality and influencing those around us. Engaging with the Air element can help us develop clearer communication, enhance our intellectual abilities, and foster a more open-minded approach to life. Practices such as deep breathing, journaling, and studying can strengthen our connection to this element, promoting mental clarity and insight.