roy ivankoe

Political Debate and Board Games along Prospect Svobody – Lviv, Ukraine

rivankoe — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:53:43 +0000

"Political debate and board games. Prospect Svobody - Lviv, Ukraine. August and September 2011."

Board games and political debate are favorite pastimes along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine. Walk through the area any weekend, holiday, or some evenings, and there will be small groups of older men, and a few strong ladies, participating in some pretty intense political debate. I’m told this pastime took root, at least in public view, after the fall of the Soviet Union. I still recognize some faces from my first visit in 2002. I hope this tradition survives in the Facebook generation.

I enjoy walking with a camera along Prospect Svobody , looking for interesting light, and photographing people’s expressions. Sometimes I get in fairly close, using a 35mm to 50mm type lens and maybe a hand held flash. Other times I stand back a bit with a 70mm-200mm lens. Most everyone is aware that I am shooting their picture. Every now and then I’ll draw stern glances and questions. Fortunately I’m usually welcomed, especially if I’m able to communicate that my grandfather was originally from Rohatyn, about one hour away by car. In a couple of instances it was made clear that it was time for me to step away. The next time I visit I’ll carry a set of prints to hand out to the people I can find.

I couldn’t decide on back and white or color images, so I did both and it made for a large number of slides. I think they look better when viewed larger on a full screen, so I created a flash slideshow. You can see that here (make sure to click the little box on the lower right for full screen): http://royivankoe.com/sspro/2012/prospect-svobody-lviv-ukraine/

Cliche – Wien/Vienna Cafe. Lviv, Ukraine.

rivankoe — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:48:09 +0000

Wien/Vienna Cafe - Lviv, Ukraine.

Going through photographs of older guys playing chess and practicing political debate along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine, I ran across this memory. It’s said that photographs of sunglass reflections are cliche. So be it.

A few pictures from yesterday’s run across the Golden Gate Bridge

rivankoe — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:17:58 +0000

This has to be one of my favorite runs – start anywhere along the San Francisco water front and head across the Golden Gate bridge. I’ve done it so many times yet I still do not take it for granted. Yesterday I started near the St. Francis yacht club and shot a few pictures along the way:

Klong Toey Market – Bangkok, Thailand

rivankoe — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 19:45:25 +0000

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"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. The entrance to the market from a walkway over Rama IV at approximately 4:30AM."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Aisles of fresh pork, poultry, seafood and beef. It was about 80 degrees F and 80% humidity, and closed in under umbrellas and a patchwork of tarps to stay dry. Being closed in, you start smelling like raw meat parts after a while."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Besides food, there are a handful of clothing vendors."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. I've seen dumspter divers before but never a chicken cage diver. This fellow is fetching live chicken."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Live chicken on their way to a cleaning station."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Chicken meet their fate. People purchase live chicken and have them butchered at the market. Some are cooked as well."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Chicken await their fate."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Bags of chicken parts line the floor."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. A chicken cleaning/butcher stall."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Around 6AM and the end of the shift, chicken feathers pile up. Chickens are placed into large pots of boiling water, making it easier to remove feathers."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Workers wearing boots stand in pieces of chicken fat and skin while they prepare other parts."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Around 6AM and the end of the shift, workers shower off in the same place they were cleaning chickens."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. A refreshing hose off after a warm and humid night cleaning chicken."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Workers hose off after after a night cleaning chickens."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Showering after a night cleaning chickens."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Chicken parts. Workers stand in puddles of chicken debris- mostly pieces of skin and fat - while they carve other chicken parts."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Pickup trucks loaded with fresh half hog carcasses pull up to the market. I figured the slaiughter house must be close by but I didn't find it, fortunately I guess."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. PIckup trucks filled with fresh hog carcasses pull up to the market."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. The pork she is carving was probaby walking 8 hours earlier."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. A small army of porters, identified my their vest color and number, haul goods through out the market."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Waiting for fresh fish."

"Klong Toey market - Bangkok, Thailand. Large refrigeration is done with large plastic ice coolers and ice. Low tech but effective. I think these fellows have the best job in the market - nice and cool and good excercise moving the ice around."

Odds are you haven’t been to a market quite like Klong Toey (Toei) market in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a place where you can get anything food related, and all of the food is very fresh - produce, fish, poultry, and meats, some of it arriving at the market alive. The market is popular with small street side food vendors and restaurant owners – they visit very early in the morning, long before sunrise, to stock up and have their shop running when everyone starts heading out for the day. Around 6AM, the market starts slowing down. Arrive between four and five in the morning, a great thing to do while adjusting to the timezone, and it’s bustling – fresh meat, poultry and fish for sale as far as you can see, guys hauling in freshly butchered hogs, guys selling blocks of ice, porters hauling stuff all over the place, raw meat and animal parts everywhere, and their scent too. It’s a rush on your senses – the colors, sounds, smells, heat and sweat, and soggy/slippery walkways, especially at 5AM during the monsoon season.

Redwood Park, Oakland

rivankoe — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:07:01 +0000

I doubt most people think of tall redwood trees when they think of Oakland but up in the hills there are plenty.

Some time ago these were old growth forests, but were cut down for timber. Some of it could be in my old house. One hundred or so years later and it looks like the forest is doing pretty well. Here are a few pictures along one of my long time running routes: http://tinyurl.com/6u8dpv7

jetlagged

rivankoe — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:28:40 +0000

What do you do when your are fourteen timezones from home, take a late afternoon nap but wake up after midnight, you aren’t going back to sleep anytime soon, and Anderson Cooper 360 is showing on CNN International?

you never know – Rohatyn, Ukraine

rivankoe — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:34:16 +0000

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"Rohatyn, Ukraine"

Sometimes a great time happens when you least expect it. Rohatyn is a small town about five miles away from Cherche, the tiny village where my ancestors are from. There are two hotels in town, about ten rooms each, inexpensive, and nice enough. I splurged and stayed at the fancier place, about twenty five dollars a night. It had a very small bar and restaurant and a larger room that was used mostly for weddings. The restaurant had a pretty large menu. I forget what I ordered, but a few minutes after ordering, the waitress returns from the kitchen and says “tonight we can make borscht for you”. So borscht is was and I was also able to get a heavy mayonnaise based salad, and some bread. It was pretty good. Wanting another beer, I wandered back into the kitchen looking for some help. Greeted with smiles, I sat down and spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen with my new friends, a new beer, toasting Ukrainian vodka, enjoying salo (cured pork belly), and more bread with butter. I learned that Salo and vodka go surprisingly well together.

Santa Barbara (СИХІВ/Suhiv) Ukraine

rivankoe — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:14:44 +0000

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"Suhiv, Ukraine. At the end of the long and straight roadway going through the middle of Suhiv, a sign welcomes you to Santa Barbara."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. A view down the main road through Suhiv."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Apartment buildings like these line the roadway."

"suhiv-lviv-ukraine-001"

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Large walkways and public spaces connect apartment buildings, playgrounds, schools, and markets."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Demonstrating and selling carrot/root shredders."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. A public school, I'm pretty sure elementary."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Waoting for the bus."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. I met Olec working his stawberry garden outside his apartment builidng. Unfortunately I wasn't able to learn much more than his name."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Olec's friend Slaba. I was able to communicate that I had relatives from Rohatyn which got a rise out of these guys."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Used clothing vendors keep their goods in the blue metal containers lining the street."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. New cars and buildings line the parking lot at a large and modern grocery store."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Although there are large new Safeway type markets, you can't beat the food available in the locally run places. This indoor/outdoor market is located at the end of the road."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. Busted - three kids shooting off firecrackers."

"Suhiv, Ukraine."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. I forget this woman's name. She lives in an apartment with her parents, grandparents, and daughter. She works at a Salon in Lviv."

"Suhiv, Ukraine. One of many small playgrounds."

During a recent visit to Lviv, Ukraine I mentioned that I wanted to wander around a Soviet era housing complex when someone suggested that I visit “Santa Barbara”. When I heard the name I knew I had to go.

Its official name is СИХІВ, which is pronounced as Suhiv, but it also has the name Santa Barbara. Built in the late 1980′s around a long and straight four lane roadway, it’s a large Lviv suburb with housing, schools, medical facilities, and an industrial area for work. Housing consists of high rise buildings with typical Soviet era apartments – 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, and bathroom. During the Soviet era, an apartment was shared by three families assigned by the government. Each family would have their own bedroom and share the kitchen/bathroom facilities with the other families.

All of that changed after 1991. Today the apartments are occupied by single families, although it’s not uncommon for three generations to share an apartment. There are new movie multiplexes, modern supermarkets that are very nice by any standard, plenty of great looking produce and meats, new condominiums and apartment buildings, and new SUV’s. It’s very different from what it must have been like in the late 80′s and early 90′s.

I asked how the name Santa Barbara came about. Turns out that it’s not named after Santa Barbara, California after all, but got its name from the 1980′s soap opera named Santa Barbara. Some Soviet bureaucrats must have been fans. I had never heard of the show.

the Beatles weren’t kidding

rivankoe — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 18:58:34 +0000

Late one afternoon last August, I ventured out to Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine to photograph the older guys playing chess and having political debate. But I ended up photographing young ladies walking around the place.

The Beatles weren’t kidding when they wrote the song titled Back in the U.S.S.R.. During my recent visit to Lviv, Ukraine, there seemed to be a disproportionate number of head turning ladies compared to other places. I was the only one in flip flops… Click through the thumbnails for larger images. Here’s to the women in Lviv!

Lviv, Bangkok, and in between – from my phone

rivankoe — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:32:32 +0000

I left my house early August and returned last Monday – three months away from Oakland. Minus an unplanned return trip to Arizona in October, I spent my time around Lviv, Ukraine and Bangkok, Thailand. I visited Lviv to spend time in the village my father’s parents came from. I’m impressed by how people in the villages live. Why Bangkok? Simply, it’s a place I’d like to live. I’ll post photographs from the trip as I go through them. Until then, here’s a dump from my phone in mostly chronological order. It’s a lot of pictures and it’s Adobe Flash based, so you can’t see them on an iPhone or iPad. Click the little box on the lower right to view the slideshow full screen and hover over an image for captions.