Sometimes all you need to do to find beauty in everyday life is just look through a window. That is what Ukranian photographer Yevhen Kotenko has been doing for the past 10 years – looking out and taking pictures of one bench and the life happening around it.
“I didn’t give myself any time limits or goals, I just went to the kitchen and looked out the window,” Kotenko explained to Radio Liberty. “Usually there was something to see.”
That something wasn’t always pleasant to look at, and part the public, that recently got to see the pictures for themselves at a Kyiv art pub, wasn’t too pleased with the unsettling side of life that Kotenko captured. Yet, it is the same honesty that makes these photos so charming.
Warmth, sadness, and humor are all mixed up in one in these series of pictures. The high angle is responsible for the observational look, the perspective that doesn’t take sides and stays rather objective about what’s happening in front of the camera. Still, the pictures manage to be intimate and full of emotion as people, who are completely unaware of the lens spying them, reveal themselves completely, their joys and worries written in how they look like and the way they’re sitting.
