Near Kyiv, tourists are trampling a farm field en masse for the sake of Instagram photos
Social media was abuzz over a post by blogger olik.kotsuba on Threads, in which she shared a story about a poppy field near Kyiv.
What became a free “Instagrammable spot” for hundreds of photography enthusiasts turned into a personal tragedy for the elderly landowner.
The owner had planted the land with red poppies for oil, but wild poppies sprouted abundantly alongside the cultivated plants. They turned the plot in the Boryspil district into a sea of bright red.
News of the picturesque photo spot quickly spread across social media, and crowds of photo hunters flocked there, mercilessly trampling the crops.
The author of the post spoke with the elderly owner of the field and admitted that the farmer could barely hold back his tears due to the influx of visitors. While the farmer’s family is devoting all their efforts to defending the country, visitors are destroying his work.
“The man spoke with me and was nearly in tears. He told me how much effort he puts into farming. He told me that his son is at war and has changed a lot, and when he comes home, he’s very nervous. He told me that his son-in-law went to France to train the local military to operate drones,” the author shares.
The blogger urged her colleagues and lovers of beautiful photography to be more considerate and always respect others’ work. She noted that before taking photos, it’s important to find out who owns the land and ask for permission.
“Dear photographers! If you find a field in bloom, please check if anything else is growing there besides the flowers. If the field is in a village, don’t be too lazy to go into the nearest house and ask who owns it so you can ask for permission to take photos. Come on, can’t we be human, at least a little bit?!” — olik.kotsuba writes.
The post sparked a wave of outrage among Ukrainians, who condemn the behavior of photo hunters amid the war.
Threads users report that some “Instagrammers” have lost all sense of decency and are driving their cars right into blooming farmland.
“I’m the daughter of an agronomist, and today I see every other post about a field of poppies. I fully share the pain of a man who grows his own crops, stays up all night, tends the fields, and worries about every single plant... Ukrainian agronomists are doing the impossible during the war! They’re saving the fields while “suicide drones” fly overhead, working amid the sound of explosions, and laboring from morning until night. I’m so ashamed of these people!” writes anastasiia.burtova.
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