The photo story featuring storks circling in the sky over Rivne Polissia secured the eighth position in the ranking of the best bird photos of 2023 by the Spanish magazine El Mundo. It was selected from over 20 thousand participants worldwide. The author of the photograph is Petro Katerynych, originally from Liubikovych in the Sarny district, and it was precisely there that he took this picture.
The Spanish magazine El Mundo organizes the ranking of the best photographs every year, and the results for 2023 were published on Facebook on December 16th.
The photograph by Petro Katerinych secured the eighth position. He is a Ph.D. in Journalism, a lecturer at the Department of Film and Television Arts at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Originally from the village of Liubykivychi in the Sarny district, Petro Katerinych captured the moment of farewell between storks and Polissia at the end of summer when hundreds of birds circled the village.
According to Katerinych, the image represents the storks bidding farewell to Polissia, a symbolic act in the local folklore, signifying the birds' return after winter migration. The storks, like migrants forced to leave their homeland due to war, will return despite the difficulties they face on their journey.
The photo, taken a few years ago, gained international recognition, being featured in publications such as "BBC Wildlife," "National Geographic España," "Der Standard," "GEO," "South China Morning Post," "The Times," and others. It has also been displayed in several galleries in the UK.
Katerinych, a bird photographer since the beginning of the quarantine, explained that capturing bird images requires a combination of factors, including patience, technical skills, and camouflage techniques. The photograph was processed using special tools to create a sky resembling Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night," adding a touch of magic, rhythm, and emphasizing the geometry of the birds' flight.
