I visited Ukraine the day after I signed up for my trip to Cuba. Since I wanted to be ready to take pictures of people in Cuba, I tried to start practicing immediately. Rather than “sneaking” pictures of strangers, I would need to force myself to interact with them.

I found this incredibly intimidating! I’m an introvert by nature and though not shy, I’m very respectful of people’s privacy.

I had visited Ukraine, on business, many times by then. I had noticed that Ukrainians love being photographed. As I walked to play volleyball on the beach after work, I brought my camera and started shooting strangers, this time, more obvious than before.

The first time a woman saw me taking her pictures, she smiled and gave a special pose for me. That’s the first picture in this gallery.

The second time, I took a picture of two women sitting on a bench (second picture above). I walked over to show them the picture after taking it. They did not seem to speak English, but one said shyly, “Thank you!”

That surprised me. I was not getting the angry reaction I feared, but rather friendly appreciation.

The third time a subject that noticed me shooting looked boldly into the camera (third picture above). When I went to show her the pictures, she also thanked me. I offered to send her the pictures by email and did that night.

She responded that she normally doesn’t like to have her picture taken, but she liked the image I sent.

Since I was in Ukraine for that visit for 2 weeks, I offered to meet her again to take more pictures and she accepted. The results are in the next gallery below.

Alena was one of the first women that showed interest in “playing model” and inspired me to return to shooting women more seriously.