noita_ahava

Personal blog of a photographer, minimalist and eco-warrior

[noita-ahava]

Hi everyone, long time no see! June may be over, but we celebrate pride every day!

[noita-ahava]

It feels almost sacrilegious to post the pictures of ice when it’s May, but these are the last shots of Iceland, I promise

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We spent the night in the igloo, which is basically a fancy tent if I am being honest, because there are no facilities or insulation inside. It would be great if we could see the northern lights while sleeping there, but the whole trip we were unlucky and didn’t get to see any because of the snow, clouds and bright moon.

[noita-ahava]

We celebrated the New Year’s Eve of 2024 in Iceland 🇮🇸

There’s a tradition to have a communal bonfire “Áramótabrennur”, which symbolises the burning away of the old year and the welcoming of the new. They also love fireworks, they were going off from 11:30 p.m. to 00:30 a.m.

[noita-ahava]

Some more photos from the Diamond Beach and Reynisfjara 🖤

[noita-ahava]

Reynisfjara Beach was on the top of my to see list for the Iceland trip. It was all that I expected it to be and more. I only wish it was less known so that it would be less busy. In fact we liked it so much we came another day when it was still early.

[noita-ahava]

Driving in the snow in Iceland helps you understand why the country’s speed limit is 90 km/h 🚘

[noita-ahava]

The view before and after snow ❄️

[noita-ahava]

Road trip across the south of Iceland 🇮🇸

[noita-ahava]

Gulfoss waterfall, one of the most visited tourist destinations in Iceland, in the winter. I would love to see it in the summer.

[noita-ahava]

It was snowing heavily, but we went hiking near Skógafoss waterfall just a bit up Fimmvörðuháls trail. It was too dangerous to hike all the way, but I think it would be so great in the summer, the trail is about 25 km long, and there are so many waterfalls on the way, 27 to be exact, which is basically every km.

[noita-ahava]

Diamond Beach is called like that because there are pieces of ice from the glacier there.

[noita-ahava]

Jökulsárlón - the glacier lagoon - is one of the most beautiful places on earth. There I drank water from. It’s salty, because the water from the glacier mixes with the ocean.

We’ve also seen many seals there, but I forgot to bring my tele lens with me, so I couldn’t take a closer look.

[noita-ahava]

One of the most beautiful place to visit in Iceland, in my opinion, are Hraunfossar, a series of waterfalls on the so-called Silver Ring in East Iceland.

[noita-ahava]

With the polar day being around 4 hours, Iceland is just the constant sunrise and sunset. The country is the permanent golden hour.

[noita-ahava]

Beautiful pink sunset in Iceland

[iirych]

My two years today

Two years ago I was in Ukraine with my family. We will never gather at the same table as before. I have no opportunity to come home, my grandmother died, several acquaintances are missing, my cat also died without veterinary care. The city is empty, my younger sister goes to school under occupation, where she is forced to draw thank you cards for russian soldiers and the teachers mock her for her Ukrainian accent. She constantly cries and asks me to pick her up, but I don’t know what to say. My mother had a stroke, but she was not admitted to the hospital during the occupation because she did not have a Russian passport, and they did not manage to help her in time. Parts of her brain are permanently disabled, and she barely recognizes me or moves. I'm glad she's alive, but I no longer have support in my mother, this happened too soon.

Abroad, I was once attacked by russian emigrants in Lithuania. They saw my passport when I was buying tickets, and then they followed me and started pushing me and calling me a Nazi. A taxi driver helped me and took me away from there. The last time I was in Ukraine, a rocket fell near the house where I was visiting. Neither I nor anyone in the house was surprised or frightened, it was just the deep despair of millions of people from hopelessness.

I don’t remember well half a year during the occupation, but I remember how we made a fire to cook food, that there was no water, buses with loudspeakers drove through the streets, calling for surrender. How they came and took our medicines from our houses. How we went to rallies and had grenades thrown at us. I saw two huge piles rising above the ground - with the remains of cars and, apparently, with the remains of bodies and everything else. This picture is very unclear, I almost threw up, and after a couple of minutes a russian military man came up to me and asked if I loved russia. I answered "yes". What else could I say?

Now I am undergoing treatment from a psychiatrist and am trying to work to donate to those in need. Every day there are only more and more and more of them... those who have lost their home, limbs or loved ones. It pains me to see requests for help with funerals.

I feel nothing today except emptiness