Dmytro Malyshev is a photographer, recently a member of the UAFF, who has been engaged in panoramic photography for more than 10 years. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry has documented the consequences of Russian crimes in VR format. By this time he had taken more than 1700 panoramic photographs in more than 30 settlements.
“VR is a very useful service that can fully show destroyed objects and destroyed settlements. It gives unique opportunities to display a specific place. In my opinion, this is the most emotional format that can transfer a person to this place, to this location, and make it possible to feel everything that happened there,” says Dmytro.
The photographer notes that he makes not just panoramic shots, but spherical: “That is, such a shooting covers 360 degrees. What does it look like? Imagine such a ball, inside which the viewer is and looks around, that is, he sees the space around. So a person can plunge into a certain location: to be in this destroyed and burnt apartment. In fact, a person himself becomes a director, choosing the desired angle. She can see everything around her. She can look under her feet and see the remains of the residents' personal belongings. And then it can lift its head up and see the broken floors hanging over it.”
Dmytro started doing panoramic photography in 2013 and virtual tours since 2015, since Google Street View came to Ukraine. Google Street View is a feature for panoramic views of streets around the world, provided through the Google Maps and Google Earth extensions.
“Since 2016, together with the Ukrainian office of Google Street View, we have filmed many objects. We even filmed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and much more. At the same time, I was contacted by the State Enterprise “Antonov”, and I was shooting the Ukrainian plane “Mriya”. It was a virtual tour: both outside and inside. There was the passenger compartment, the cockpit, and everything else was filmed.”
Of all the footage that Dmitry had to shoot, it was the documentation of the destroyed “Dream” in VR format that was the most emotional moment for him. In 2016, he was proud to have had the opportunity to make the only one in the world virtual tour of the largest cargo aircraftIt was created by the Ukrainians. Even before the invasion, Dmitry was negotiating with SE “Antonov” to update the virtual tour, because during these few years technical progress had been made. New better lenses and software appeared, so it was possible to shoot the Ukrainian “Dream” even better. The photographer got access to shooting in 2022, but with a different purpose.
“Broken, burned, blown up “Mriya” is an AN-225 aircraft. We and SP “Antonov” had big plans for 2022, but I had to shoot, I say, the dead “Dream”. Of course, when I got to this location, frankly, I had tears in my eyes. I stood, looked at her, and she lies like a person, just dead. I was in complete shock, how could this be allowed, because the AN-225 aircraft is the property not only of Ukraine, but of the whole world. This is the only such plane! It was very emotional for me,” Dmytro admits.
The photographer actively takes panoramic shots and virtual tours for the project 360war.in.ua, the author of which is Taras Volyanjuk. This is a map where you can see the consequences of Russian aggression in certain locations: “This is a story that needs to be recorded. It's a documentary so people don't forget. This is the idea of the project,” says Dmytro.
The team removes mostly destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure by the Russians: schools, kindergartens, apartment buildings. For security purposes, Dmytro never covers what is connected with military facilities and may threaten national security.
Unfortunately, the war continues, the Russians are shelling Ukrainians every day, and therefore the number of places that need to be recorded digitally is also growing. Dmitry says that feedback from people gives strength to continue working in this direction.
“We have had cases where people commented on filmed locations. For example, when we published pictures from the village of Dovgenske in Kharkiv region, people began to write: “This is my grandmother's house”, “Not far from this house my husband died”. Someone wrote, “We had defenses there.” And once the teacher of the destroyed school wrote: “We were preparing food for the military in this school until the last time,” he says.
When asked what Dmytro wants to shoot in VR format, he replied — Mariupol and Crimea: “When Google Street View entered Ukraine in 2015, the Russians had already annexed Crimea. And there are a lot of incredible tourist, historical, cultural places. This is such a simple dream.”
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Olga Kovalyova
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
Dmytro Malyshev is a photographer, recently a member of the UAFF, who has been engaged in panoramic photography for more than 10 years. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dmitry has documented the consequences of Russian crimes in VR format. By this time he had taken more than 1700 panoramic photographs in more than 30 settlements.
“VR is a very useful service that can fully show destroyed objects and destroyed settlements. It gives unique opportunities to display a specific place. In my opinion, this is the most emotional format that can transfer a person to this place, to this location, and make it possible to feel everything that happened there,” says Dmytro.
The photographer notes that he makes not just panoramic shots, but spherical: “That is, such a shooting covers 360 degrees. What does it look like? Imagine such a ball, inside which the viewer is and looks around, that is, he sees the space around. So a person can plunge into a certain location: to be in this destroyed and burnt apartment. In fact, a person himself becomes a director, choosing the desired angle. She can see everything around her. She can look under her feet and see the remains of the residents' personal belongings. And then it can lift its head up and see the broken floors hanging over it.”
Dmytro started doing panoramic photography in 2013 and virtual tours since 2015, since Google Street View came to Ukraine. Google Street View is a feature for panoramic views of streets around the world, provided through the Google Maps and Google Earth extensions.
“Since 2016, together with the Ukrainian office of Google Street View, we have filmed many objects. We even filmed the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and much more. At the same time, I was contacted by the State Enterprise “Antonov”, and I was shooting the Ukrainian plane “Mriya”. It was a virtual tour: both outside and inside. There was the passenger compartment, the cockpit, and everything else was filmed.”
Of all the footage that Dmitry had to shoot, it was the documentation of the destroyed “Dream” in VR format that was the most emotional moment for him. In 2016, he was proud to have had the opportunity to make the only one in the world virtual tour of the largest cargo aircraftIt was created by the Ukrainians. Even before the invasion, Dmitry was negotiating with SE “Antonov” to update the virtual tour, because during these few years technical progress had been made. New better lenses and software appeared, so it was possible to shoot the Ukrainian “Dream” even better. The photographer got access to shooting in 2022, but with a different purpose.
“Broken, burned, blown up “Mriya” is an AN-225 aircraft. We and SP “Antonov” had big plans for 2022, but I had to shoot, I say, the dead “Dream”. Of course, when I got to this location, frankly, I had tears in my eyes. I stood, looked at her, and she lies like a person, just dead. I was in complete shock, how could this be allowed, because the AN-225 aircraft is the property not only of Ukraine, but of the whole world. This is the only such plane! It was very emotional for me,” Dmytro admits.
The photographer actively takes panoramic shots and virtual tours for the project 360war.in.ua, the author of which is Taras Volyanjuk. This is a map where you can see the consequences of Russian aggression in certain locations: “This is a story that needs to be recorded. It's a documentary so people don't forget. This is the idea of the project,” says Dmytro.
The team removes mostly destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure by the Russians: schools, kindergartens, apartment buildings. For security purposes, Dmytro never covers what is connected with military facilities and may threaten national security.
Unfortunately, the war continues, the Russians are shelling Ukrainians every day, and therefore the number of places that need to be recorded digitally is also growing. Dmitry says that feedback from people gives strength to continue working in this direction.
“We have had cases where people commented on filmed locations. For example, when we published pictures from the village of Dovgenske in Kharkiv region, people began to write: “This is my grandmother's house”, “Not far from this house my husband died”. Someone wrote, “We had defenses there.” And once the teacher of the destroyed school wrote: “We were preparing food for the military in this school until the last time,” he says.
When asked what Dmytro wants to shoot in VR format, he replied — Mariupol and Crimea: “When Google Street View entered Ukraine in 2015, the Russians had already annexed Crimea. And there are a lot of incredible tourist, historical, cultural places. This is such a simple dream.”
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Olga Kovalyova
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
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