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Sonya Kydeeva’s Crimea
Photography Sonya Kydeeva

Capturing Crimea’s youth on the cusp of summer

Photographer Sonya Kydeeva shares her washed out, sun-soaked shots of the peninsula as it prepared for summer

Now that summer is officially over, we asked some of our favourite photographers to share their visual diaries with us. See more here

On the verge of summer, photographer Sonya Kydeeva flocked to Crimea for an early taste of sun and sea. Renting a car she travelled to bays, small towns and villages. “It’s a peninsula with a myriad of historical and cultural spots. Everywhere I met local folks who I got acquainted and hung out. Spring there is like summer here in Moscow, because there everything is beginning to bloom and many people love spring in Crimea for its early warmth and summer.”

Her shots – now published in the zine The Prayer Book – sees her follow Crimea’s youth as they ring in endless hours of sun-soaked freedom; skating, surfing and hanging out on the idyllic streets. “Summer is a symbol of freedom, energy and power. The whole year you are saving your strength to live it up in the summer: new acquaintances, regeneration, sleepless nights and dawns. You always realise – and it does not matter where you are – your own attitude, mind and strength when travelling. Sometimes it becomes ‘home’ and what you invested eventually comes back to you in the triple amount.”

See more of Kydeeva’s work here. To purchase The Prayer Book, click here

Translation courtesy of Alina Gutkina