Joerg Daiber sorgt mit seiner  Little Big World immer wieder aufs Neue für phantastische Aufnahmen und Videos.

Seine jüngsten Kreationen beschäftigen sich unter anderem mit der Ukraine und der Hauptstadt Kyiv.

Video: Ukraine

I was visiting Ukraine by the end of last summer and finished this edit a few weeks back. This was about the time when the news started reporting about Putin deploying his troops around the border of Ukraine. Ever since then I was hesitant to publish this film and it got worse every day with events proceeding.

So I know it’s a very difficult time to post a film that shows a beautiful and picturesque Ukraine, that looks like it’s straight out of a magical fairytale, while there are currently tanks surrounding the major cities, residential areas being shelled and millions of refugees trying to get out of the country.

It’s heartbreaking to think about all the lovely people there and the suffering that they have to endure now. Something like this was unthinkable just a few months back. Of course the Donbas war was ongoing and everybody was still mad about Crimea, but regular and daily life was as normal as it could possibly be.

I spoke with many people about their opinion on Russia and none of them was in favour of Russian politics and literally everybody felt much closer to Europe than to Russia. Most of them didn’t even want their kids to learn Russian in school. I felt that the public mood towards Russian politics was even more negative as in many other former Soviet countries like Georgia, Moldova or Armenia. At least among younger people that I ran into.

I know its difficult to enjoy these images from another time, but it’s a reminder how fragile and precious peace is and that we should not take it for granted.

This film was shot mainly around the Carpathian Mountain area.

Shooting locations: Lviv, Lutsk, Tarakaniv Fort, Olesko Castle, Pidhirtsi Castle, Tunnel of Love, Dovbush rocks, Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle, Chernivtsi, Yaremche, Vorokhta, Yasinya, Drahobrat, Hoverla.

I also have footage from Kyiv, Chernobly and Odessa, that I have not even looked at yet.

Chapters: 0:00 Kamianets-Podilskyi 0:22 Chernivtsi 0:30 Kamianets-Podilskyi 0:51 Yasinya 0:57 Hoverla 1:25 Drahobrat 1:35 Hoverla 1:44 Yasinya 2:19 Waterfall Probiy, Yaremche 2:24 Railway Bridge-Viaduct, Vorokhta 2:30 Dovbush rocks 2:51 Tarakaniv Fort, Dubno 3:07 Tunnel of Love, Klevan’ 3:21 Olesko Castle 3:29 Pidhirtsi Castle 3:47 Chernivtsi 3:54 Lviv 4:42 Kamianets-Podilskyi

Video: Kyiv Forever

Joerg kommentiert sein Tilt-Shift-Video:

I was visiting Ukraine by the end of last summer and stayed a few days in Kyiv.

People called it the “New Berlin” back then and in fact it was a bustling city and daily life was as normal as it could possibly be. In many ways I even preferred Kyiv over Berlin, which has gotten so mediocre in recent years.

Only a few month later the city has been under attack and tousands of people have been killed in the outskirts of Kyiv by Russian troups. I still can not wrap my head around that.

At least for now it seems that Kyiv is safe again, but the fighting continues elsewere. It’s heartbreaking to think about all the lovely people there and the suffering that they have to endure.

I know its difficult to enjoy these images from another time, but it’s a reminder how fragile and precious peace is and that we should not take it for granted.