Church, Poshtova Square

The Poshtova Square (Ukrainian: Поштова площа, translit.: Poshtova Ploscha, literally: Postal Square) in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is one of the oldest historic squares of the city.

Archeological finds are dated back to the 4th century A.D.

A crossing of several historic streets such as Volodymyrsky Descent, Borychiv Descent and Sahaydachny Street, the square is located at the Dnieper riverfront right next to the Kiev River Port.

The square is served by the metro (the Poshtova Ploshcha station), the funicular, trams, and buses.

The square received its name from Podil post station that was opened there in 1846. The square was also known under an alternative name as Rizdvo (Christmas) Square, derived from Rizdvo Church built in 1810-1814 and destroyed in 1930s. The square underwent a significant reconstruction in 1970s when the Kurenivsko-Chervonoarmiyska Metro Line was in construction and only the post station was saved. Currently, the post station is used as a small art gallery.

Poshtova Square

Processing Notes:

Photo taken with Sigma 10-20 mm lens, setting 14mm. As often happens with this lens, unless the camera is horizontal, or nearly so, buildings will often have the "falling backwards" look. But you often have to point the camera up, ever so slightly, to capture the whole building.

Fixing the "Falling Backwards" look. Plus other processing adjustments...

1) Go to the lens correction function of Photoshop * Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. Set Vertical Perspective to -27. OK.

2) Use Photoshop Crop tool to make the photo square again.

3) The Lens Correction tool will often distort the original ratios in the photo. With a -27 Vertical Perspective, the top of the building will look too big vertically, and the bottom will look too small. Use Free Transform * Edit > Free Transform. Pulled the center point on the bottom of the photo down to lengthen the bottom dimensions of the building.

4) Used Topaz Adjust (not included with Photoshop), Filter > Topaz Labs > Topaz Adjust. Used the "Enhance Contrast" Preset, then boosted Brightness to 0.8.

5) Save back into Lightroom.

6) Used the Crop tool in Lightroom to make the aspect ratio of the corrected photo as close to the aspect ratio of the original as possible.

Kiev Opera House

The Kiev Opera group was formally established in the summer of 1867, and is the third oldest in Ukraine, after Odessa Opera and Lviv Opera. Today, the Kiev Opera Company performs at the National Opera House of Ukraine named after Taras Shevchenko in Kiev.

Kiev Opera House (from Wikipedia)

View from Rodina Mat.

Up until a few weeks ago, the picture would not have been possible, short of renting a small plane or helicopter. And even then, you'd likely not have gotten permission to fly in this area.

I knew from some of my earliest days in Kiev, that Rodina Mat, the "Motherland Statue" had at one time allowed visitors to go up into the statue. (My wife, a lifelong Kiev resident, in contrast, was not aware that the statue was ever open to the public).

Link to Rodina Mat picture at Flickr. The observation area is where the base and the statue come together.

A few weeks ago, an observation area opened for the first time in many years. Yet, you're not likely to see a big rush to visit, since few people even know about it, and because the admission fee, per person, is 50 hriven, about $6.25. Which is a bit of an expense in a country where the average salary is about $8,000 USD a year.

You must be escorted by a staff member. First, you walk up to the third floor of the museum complex. At this time, you are matched up with a staff member. They even assigned my wife and I a bilingual guide, seeing that I am not too fluent in the local languages.

You are escorted to the elevator, a typical Soviet era one similar to what you would find in most Soviet era residential buildings. Maximum number of passengers is four, or maybe five. (No children under 14 allowed). It's certainly not a heavy duty commercial strength elevator by any means. Although there are six stops listed on the control panel, your guide takes you to the third level. From here you climb up a series of steps, some fairly steep, to get to the first observation area 36m (120 ft or so) up. Your money gets you 15 minutes to view, take pictures, and ask questions of your guide. I'll have more pictures from up here in the upcoming days.

In the left foreground, you'll see some Soviet era military hardware. The large tower is the Great Lavra Belltower, and the other gold domed buildings are all part of the Kiev Perchersk Lavra complex.

In the future, there are plans to allow visitors to go all the way up to level six, which will allow visitors to view from the shield. No mention of when that might be...

Cactus Canyon

Seen on the island of Ilsa Danzante, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Spring Rain on Evergreen.

Could be a spring rain anywhere, and an evergreen anywhere, but this one was taken at Ann Van Middlesworth Park, Hillsborough, NJ USA.

A film capture from a few years back...

Momma, Don't Cry

мама, не плачь, or "Momma, Don't Cry" pub, Kiev, 2008. A victim of the financial crisis, maybe, it disappeared in September 2008, to be replaced by "Porter Pub".

St Michael, Independence Square

One of many statues and monuments in Independence Square, Kiev.