JDHS Photography Website

This picture was taken while I was in Poland during my vacation. Poland is located in Eastern Europe. Germany, Belarus, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia surround it. The Baltic Sea borders Poland in the North. This picture was made in a small village in southwest Poland, called Kopanie. Krakow and Rzeszow are two cities that are near to Kopanie. The person depicted in the picture is my grandmother, from my father’s side. In this photograph she is seen cleaning red beets. Since there are no mountains nearby, the land is very flat and good for farming. Red beets are not a necessary part of the diet, but when processed they taste delicious with various meals, or can be made into a soup called borsch.

Candles on a grave are a sign of honor and remembrance. The candles seen in this photograph are in honor of my grandfather; my family placed them on the grave, so that it won’t look bare. Also, because we want to show that even though my grandfather is gone he is not forgotten. In this photo, we see the headstone, as well as flowers. On the headstone, it is a tradition to have the name of the deceased engraved, as well as the dates that they walked the earth. This photo was taken in a small village in the south of Poland called Wola Zarczycka. Wola Zarczycka is located in the very southwest of Poland, near a small city called Lezajsk. This small village has a population of about 2,000 people, all of whom are spread out over a span of about 4 miles. The cemetery where the photo was taken is not very big, but crowed with all the deceased that have lived in our village over the last century. My grandfather lived in this village all of his life, so he would have wanted to die there, and be buried in the same cemetery as his parents and those before him.

This picture depicts my grandfather holding up the reins. He is going to use these reins to fasten the horse to the wagon. In Poland, in the smaller, poor villages, many people own farmland that they cultivate by themselves. These people, like my grandfather, need strong animals like horses, to pull the wagons into the field to help with the farming. This picture shows my grandfather taking the reins off the wall in the barn. In order for the reins to restrain the horse, they need to be put on properly, and securely, as to not hurt the horse, or the people on the wagon that the horse is pulling.

In this picture, my grandfather is shown holding up the reins by the wagon, so that he can bring over the horse and fasten them to each other. In order for the horse not to be hurt when it is being bound to the wagon, a certain procedure is to be followed. First, a person must take the harness and put it around the animals’ torso. Then, attach the remaining lines and attach the harness as a whole to a long pole in the front of the wagon. If those rules are followed, then there is very little chance that the animal will be hurt when pulling the wagon.