Participating in the Local Guides program helps me get to know notes from other experts and share mine, discover lists and plan my trips. In ordinary life, I just look at the general assessment of the establishments for dinner, adjust the mode of work and add photos of places so that it is easier for the community to choose. So, I use it like many others.
But once I traveled to the Arctic Circle, to the North of Russia. This is the land of local indigenous people - the Sami, an amazing people with its unique culture and beliefs. The Sami live in the tundra and are engaged in deer breeding. These are people who do hard work every day and live in a nomadic life.
They have their own beliefs and local deities. And their places of power. One of these places is Lake Seydozero. Its name comes from the word “seyd”. “Seyd” is a sacred object, stone of rock or another natural artifact in which, according to Sami’s beliefs, the spirits or souls of dead shamans live.
One of these stones is located near the Seydozero lake. This stone called Kuyva.
Kuyva was an ancient giant hunter who for a long time frightened and oppressed the Sami. Then the Sami prayed to their gods, and the gods incinerated the giant with lightning from the waters of the Seydozero. The memory of those events is captured on a rock near the lake - the huge silhouette of a giant does not disappear to these days.
Nowadays, the lake is calm and has magnificent water that gives peace and tranquility. It all really inspired me. And I wondered how best to talk about this. These places are far from the places of classical tourism because it is difficult to get here. And then it occurred to me to create a 360-degree panorama with views of this lake so that everyone could see it.
You can see it by your own eyes too - just check my panorama.
Over 8500 people have seen this panorama in two years! Among them are not only locals but also people from all over the world. This is the best way to share your culture and traditions in my opinion. And to save them. So this is the most interesting thing that I have done and do as a local guide.
PS or FYI:
All the photos are mine. I use film cameras and don’t use photoshop.
Camera: Canon 3000N
Film: Fuji C-200