gave up on the blog.

when it came apparant that internet access would be less frequent than i thought. thanks alot for checking ion on me tho. i am well and am getting some interesting photo's. looking forward to getting back home. today marks the halfway point of my trip to Ukraine. i have left Kiev and am now staying with a family in the town of Ivankov. tomorow im going to Chernobyl Pripyat and to meet self settled families, this is what i am mostly interested in and will be using for my Profesional porject at uni. has been very difficult letting them know this is what i want to do, and trying to arrange another trip to meet more families. very exausting trying to talk to people who dont understand me.

Scedules (Ivankov, Korosten) графики

If anyone is interested, here are the detailed Schedules for my days in Ivankov and Korosten, i recieved them today. they are in downloadable Word files.

Ivankvov.doc

Korosten.doc

Sounds pretty exciting.a very diverse schedule.

Stress. стресс

A big thank you to my essay, for making this week incredibly stressful so far.


Today i heard from Dennis from Chernobyl Children Lifeline, he has been in contact with the people who will be responsible for me while im in Ukraine,

here is the basic time plan, a more complex plan cant really be established till im there and see how long it takes me to get the photos im after:

24days in total.

Sunday 15th March - 8.00 flight from London Heathrow.

15th-25th in Kiev - several visits to Pripyat and setlers within the 'Exclusion zone'
Meeting with Scientist
Visits to Cancer Hospital
Staying in emergency medical centre

25th - 30th Ivankov - Visits to; school, Hospital and Orphanage.
Trip to exclusion zone and Pripyat.
Meeting with American photographer
and heads of charity
trips to local villages and a local church
staying with a host family.

30th - 4th Korosten - im not fully aware of my agenda here yet.
i will be attending the opening of a new Chernobyl
care centre.

4th-7th Brodyanka - again i am not fully aware of details from Brodyanka.
it is a more rural town, i will be visiting a mental
asylum for children. and talking
to victims of the Chernobyl accident who have
been relocated.

7th April 13:00 flight from Kiev.

My transport and translators have been arranged and i will have to pay for petrol and for student translators. im taking money out there in Dollars, as you cant change into their local currency outside of the country. ij ust need the exchange rate to sort itself out. 1.2 today... thats rediculous.. this time last year it was 1.9 pff. anyway, ill keep you posted with any updates.

thanks for your interest in my trip. :).

One week. одна неделя.

One week to go, and i have so much to get done! really starting to get excited.

Finances. финансы

The meeting with VICE was really positive, if they like the images then it could hopefully be published in the June Photography special issue, wich would be amazing. and even if not there is still a possibility of it being published in the next no theme issue (may) wich would also be sick. unfortunately Vice dont really pay for their articles, so this dusnt really help me out any financially, when im bak an actually have the story i will be working on getting it published somewhere that might help me out a little more financially, aswell as trying to get a grant to reimburse me for some of the money. whether or not i can raise the amount im spending to get these pictures back from them in the end or not i will be satisfied, as i feel the trip itself will be an invaluable experience, and hopefully i will be happy with the images i get.

Ever since i first properly started researching Chernobyl(last year), mostly due to my love for abandoned buildings an the fact the city of Pripyat is entirely abandoned, and then saw the images Paul Fusco had taken in Belarus relating to the Chernobyl disaster, i told myself i would go there, and meet some of the people effected, i never thought i would be going so soon, and im incredibly happy and as gay as it is proud of myself for actually setting this all up.

finiancially speaking it is quite an investment, i have already spent £495 on the trip before even leaveing and im taking a further £1200 with me, plus £100 emergency fund. there was a bit of a drama with my finances today in that im not sure if my rent has come out yet... if it has then im fine, but if it is yet to be taken out of my "available ballance" then im £260 down, and will have to.. sell something.. wich will be gay.. anyway, ill go to the bank tomorow to find out, all should be fine.

UPDATE/// My rent has come out, meaning i should be fine!