Yeah awesome place. It has everything. Mountains, beaches, awesome ancient architecture. Industriel industries and rich farmland. Lots of valuable natural resources. Could be a great European destination spot with outdoor cafes and lots of interesting places. Many incredibly beautiful women with the slavic bone structure. Slender arms, legs and hips, & really small hands. Same in Russia. So as a photographer it caught my eye. You probably noticed it too with your artists eye.
I am always looking for places not run over by tourists yet. I was dating a Russian girl from Moscow and when that ended I went to explore Ukraine. Lviv is like Prague before the tourists.
I was bouncing around and enjoying the country and people when the conflict and fighting started. Later somehow the government found out about some of my background and I was persuaded to help train some of their soldiers as snipers and some to deal with explosives, ieds, and such. Not something I really ever wanted to be involved with again so I got out of that job as soon as I could.
During my time there I discovered that there are over 5500 castles all over the country built back around 1100 AD during the Polish occupation. Some are in shambles and some are amazing & well preserved. I was amazed there hasn't been a book about them. So I have been trying to photograph a few of them for a book. It really became "about the journey, not the destination" as they say. But I was blown away that so many castles still existed there and many of the people don't even know it although I have talked to many that do. There is no telling how long the fighting will go on. I lost track of a lot of friends in the east war zone. At times I get so frustrated with the conflict I try not to listen to news and want to forget Ukraine. But it really touched my heart at times. My girlfriend was born their but was living in the Netherlands when I met her. Funny, she is a real cruiser head and her father was taking her to races since she was a kid. We get into a lot of arguments about mods for the cruiser.

) So yeah...going back and photographing the castles has been in the works (on my bucket list) now for about a year or more and then the drive across Russia my girlfriend really wants to do. I want to do some fashion shoots at some of those castles also. I know so many amazing models and stylists and clothing designers in Ukraine. It's a boiling pot of talent and it's really sad things are such a mess there. I wish they would join Nato.
Interesting you did volunteer work there. That's cool.....