The great philosopher Voltaire applied the literary method ‘the view from outside’ to describe France on behalf of foreign characters or, even better, the Earth on behalf of aliens in order to better comprehend French society. A traveling artist also sees a foreign place from a different angle and often captures something special that looked ordinary for a local. A VIEW FROM OUTSIDE collection presents small collections of photographs taken during my short trips to various European cities.
Austria
Vienna Impressions
Vienna is a fascinating city for an urban fine art photographer because the yesterday of the city does not let you go, but at the same time the spirit of vibrant tomorrow is in the air. This is a challenge to catch this contrasting spirit in photographs, and I hope to find more time in 2020 to dwell deeper into Vienna photography…
Switzerland
La belle ville de Genève…
These photographs of Geneva were taken during two hot days in summer 2018, when temperatures rose above +35C and the Lake of Geneva rescued with its fresh winds.
Germany
Across The New German States…
The photographs document my first impressions of urban life in so-called new German states – Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia – which were dissolved by the East German government in 1952 and were re-established in 1990.
Russia
Beyond Moscow
Russia is actually the biggest country in the world, but I realized this only when traveling more across the European continent. Everything seemed to me so near! For us Russians, a neighboring city is located only on a night trip by train. And it’s quite usual to travel by train for 40 hours and beyond. Russia is really worth exploring by train beyond Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It’s actually the only way to better comprehend Russia’s philosophy of time and distance. The photographs below were taken during my various train trips across Russia.
Estonia
Tallinn
Tallinn is a charming Baltic town that absolutely caught my heart. After gigantic Moscow, it seemed to me like a little fairy tale – its old town, the Estonian language that sounds so extremely difficult to learn… I visited my family there, and I did not photograph much, but I have realized how much I have yet to explore in the Baltic States in general. Tallinn is a little hidden nordic gem on the European continent. Not suffocating from mass tourism, it has much fresh air to breathe… The air is actually one of the purest in Europe!
Ira Golenkova Ferrero 