Ukrainian photographer Oleksii Klitovchenko photographs the small Lincolnshire town of Stamford in ways you don’t always notice on an ordinary walk: the glow of old street lamps, reflections on the water, morning mist, the colours of the sky before sunset, the texture of stone, and chance details along its old streets.
But his fascination with the town did not begin with its architecture. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Oleksii moved to the UK with his children and settled in Stamford.
One day, he noticed the hollyhocks — flowers he often came across in and around the town. To Oleksii, they were deeply familiar.
Hollyhocks
‘Hollyhocks’. Photo: Oleksii Klitovchenko
The hollyhocks took him back to Ukraine — not only to the place he had been forced to leave, but to much older memories: Ukrainian poems and stories he had read at school, his childhood and summers spent in the village.
Oleksii writes that their warmth and colour awaken his ‘inner child’ and remind him of carefree days spent in the village with his grandmother’s sister.
And so, familiar flowers growing in an English town became one of the first reasons for him to pick up his camera again.
Photography as a Language
Photography had, in fact, entered Oleksii’s life much earlier, when he was eleven years old. A childhood fascination with light gradually became a way to express emotion. He worked in a photographic laboratory, encountered the work and experience of Ukrainian and American photographers, and experimented as he searched for his own way of seeing.
Oleksii’s professional life eventually led him into IT, but photography never disappeared.
Over the years, it became increasingly personal — a way of observing ordinary things closely and transforming what he saw into his own emotional language. After moving to Stamford, that language took on a new meaning.
At first, the new town unexpectedly reminded him of his old home.
Remembering Ukraine
The City of Chestnut Trees
During one of his walks through Stamford, a view of steps, railings and sunlight filtering through large leaves suddenly transported Oleksii back to the courtyard in Kyiv where he grew up.
Chestnut trees stood outside the windows of his childhood flat. He would sit in a tree and look out at the world through small gaps in its dense green canopy. Many years later, a similar image appeared before him in England.
‘I knew I was in England, but only one thought echoed in my mind: “Kyiv — the city of chestnut trees,”’ the photographer recalls.
For a brief moment, two cities met within a single frame.
Discovering Stamford
Beyond the Gate
Oleksii says the thatched roof beyond the gate first caught his attention. It immediately took him to a Ukrainian village — whitewashed houses beneath warm straw roofs, images that have stayed in his memory since childhood, shaped by books and old illustrations.
‘I understand perfectly well that English houses are quite different, and that beyond this gate lies another history, another architecture and another way of life. But I cannot — and do not want to — resist the images my imagination creates. Sometimes the familiar silhouette of a thatched roof is enough to make a distant English landscape feel close and deeply familiar for a moment,’ Oleksii says.
Gradually, Stamford stops being merely a place where Oleksii can find reminders of Ukraine. In his photographs, the town begins to acquire a character of its own.
He is drawn to the warm tones of its historic architecture, old stone and dark timber, narrow streets, bridges across the River Welland, old lamps and the way light transforms familiar façades depending on the time of day and the weather.
The camera becomes a way of getting to know the town.
Kings Mill Lane
In the evening, Kings Mill Lane always feels to Oleksii like the set of an old English film.
‘Stone walls, uneven and perpetually damp paving, a pavement washed in amber light, and houses huddled closely together. A single warm lamp draws the eye around the corner, to where the lane dissolves into a quiet shadow, enticing in its mystery. Beneath the lamp, the arch of a doorway darkens, and my imagination carries the scene forward: it feels as though, at any moment, the door will open, and someone in traditional English dress will step onto the threshold, as if from another age,’ the photographer says.
‘Perhaps that is why Kings Mill Lane never feels like an ordinary lane to me — in the evening, it becomes a frame from an old story, and I find myself waiting for the next scene.’
‘The Local’
‘He stood in the middle of the green lawn with such calm confidence that it seemed everything belonged to him: the water, the trees, the house on the opposite bank — even my right to take the photograph. His shaggy coat made him look a little comical, but his gaze remained serious. A true local.’
Where the Light Settles
‘Where the Light Settles’. Photo: Oleksii Klitovchenko
Against the setting sun is the silhouette of Oleksii’s son. But for the photographer, the image is about something else: in it, he sees himself as a child.
‘I used to run across the stubble in just the same way, feeling its prickly touch beneath my feet and unable to take my eyes off a sky that became different every evening. Back then, I knew nothing about photography, light or composition — I simply wanted to remember those sunsets and carry at least a little of their warmth home with me.
‘Perhaps it was on those evenings, long before my first camera, that light first settled within me. Now my son runs across another field, and as I look at him through the lens I see how one moment can join two childhoods, two lands and the same sun.
‘This is where the light settles for me — in memory, in photography, and in what we quietly pass on to our children,’ Oleksii says.
From a New Home to Supporting Others
On Sunday, 13 September, Oleksii Klitovchenko will take part in the London to Brighton Cycle Ride.
Ahead of him are 55 miles — around 88.5 kilometres — from London to Brighton.
Oleksii is raising money for Diabetes UK, a cause that is deeply personal to his family. His younger son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was two years old, and for the past eight years diabetes has been part of the family’s everyday life.
That is why Oleksii wants to turn those 55 miles into support for Diabetes UK’s work, while also drawing greater attention to what living with type 1 diabetes means for children and their families.
For Oleksii, it extends the same principle that has gradually emerged through his photography: personal experience can remain personal, or it can become a way to support someone else.
You can support Oleksii’s charity ride for Diabetes UK through his JustGiving fundraising page.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oleksii-klitovchenko
Money donated through the fundraising page goes directly to Diabetes UK.
