Anton Maliauski Anton Maliauski

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My observations during walks


August 2026
Minsk, Belarus
A food stand with a “Döner” sign against the sunset; a person inside is preparing food.
Two people sitting on the floor in the metro; one is reading, the other is arranging goods for sale. Flowers and food are nearby.
People in an underground passage browse goods laid out on the floor. A woman in a blue vest sells food.
A sign with three black arrows pointing left on a light-colored wall.
A woman sits on a bench at a bus stop beside a yellow bus. A city street is reflected in the glass.
A shop at night, customers at the counter, shelves of drinks, and bright lighting.
A nighttime city scene with people on the sidewalk, illuminated buildings, and moving cars.
A nighttime city scene with illuminated buildings, moving cars, and pedestrians on the sidewalk.
A young man in a white cap crouches on the sidewalk and looks at his phone. A car and a passerby are visible in the background.
A group of people crosses the street at a pedestrian crossing in the evening. Buildings and lights are visible in the background.
People walk down the stairs into the metro through an illuminated corridor, with railings and tiled flooring visible.
A man in a green T-shirt looks at his phone beside a brightly lit advertisement reading “КРЫТЬ”.
A nighttime city scene with pedestrians, streetlights, and illuminated signs. In the foreground, a couple holds hands.
A nighttime city scene with people on the street, bright lights, and an advertisement on a display.
A nighttime city scene with pedestrians and a traffic light, illuminated by streetlights.
A nighttime city scene with cars and potted flowers in the foreground. Lights are visible on the building.
August 2026
Minsk, Belarus
A person’s legs resting on a balcony, with a building and blue sky in the background. Sunlight illuminates their feet.
A nighttime cityscape featuring the DoubleTree hotel and bright lights, with people relaxing in the square.
Two women on a street at night, one holding a camera and the other wearing a light-colored dress. Shoe marks are visible on the pavement.
Trees beside a metal wall at night, illuminated by light and casting contrasting shadows on the pavement.
Feet in sneakers on the pavement, viewed from above.
A woman wearing earrings looks out of a bus window, with her reflection visible in the glass. Evening light.
A woman on a bus looking out of the window, with city lights reflected in the glass.
A man in a black-and-white shirt sits on a bench while a woman in a light-colored coat stands outside at night.
Two women on a street at night, one wearing a backpack and the other dressed in light-colored clothing. City lights and an urban landscape are visible in the background.
An elderly woman wearing gloves holds a bottle while sitting on an empty bus. Yellow handrails and seats are visible in the background.
July 2026
Minsk, Belarus
Favourite
A yellow bus with symbols for people with disabilities, strollers, and animals. A person’s shadow on the pavement.
A bare tree with a few leaves against a clear blue sky and a streetlamp.
A tree in the foreground, with a lake and high-rise buildings in the background beneath a clear sky.
Green grass with yellow flowers creating a vivid contrast.
A person’s shadow against a green hill and trees on a sunny day.
A path between trees at sunset, with green grass and rays of sunlight.
Feet on a sidewalk paved with tiles of different colors and textures, with long shadows cast by the shoes.
An empty underground parking garage with sunlight streaming through the windows.
An empty underground parking garage with concrete columns and markings, viewed through a grate.
A bright corner of a parking area with green plants and cars in front of a residential building. Sunlight casts shadows.
A birdhouse with a stork figurine against a blue sky.
Abandoned bicycles behind a fence in a sunny courtyard.
The setting sun illuminates trees by the river, creating a calm and cozy atmosphere.
A person sits on a bench by the river while two anglers fish nearby. Trees are reflected in the water.
A calm stretch of water reflecting the sky, with green banks and trees and buildings visible on the horizon.
A person sits on the riverbank fishing, surrounded by greenery and water.
Sunset over the river, with sunlight reflected on the water, ducks swimming, and greenery along the bank.
A yellow bicycle stands on a wooden deck by the water, surrounded by green trees and shrubs.
Dried grasses against the sunset, softly illuminated by the light.
A grass seed head against blurred green plants. Soft light creates a calm atmosphere.
July 2026
Minsk, Belarus
A bearded man wearing glasses holds a pastry against a cityscape.
Silhouettes of people against a street with trees and buildings on a sunny day.
Cloudy sky between two buildings, viewed from above. A stretched wire is visible in the background.
A woman with a camera takes a selfie in a parking lot, with other people and cars nearby.
Three women on the street, one holding a camera and a drink, look upward. A black car is in the background.
A person with a camera around their neck walks down the stairs beside a fence covered in writing.
June 2026
Minsk, Belarus

I took a few photographs during a fire in a building in central Minsk. I tried not to get in the way of the emergency responders, and I did not want to breathe smoke for long, so I did not stay there and soon moved on.

I think these photographs convey the contrast between a warm summer evening and the tension of an emergency situation.

People walking along the street next to a fire truck. Buildings and evening lights are visible in the background.
A pedestrian street in the evening, with people walking past a fire truck and shops.
A fire truck on the street, with people walking past, fire extinguishers and hoses visible. Buildings and evening lighting are visible in the background.
A fire truck connected to a hydrant, while a firefighter checks equipment on the street.
A fire truck on the street, with one person standing nearby and another sitting on the ground using a phone. Buildings and shop windows are visible in the distance.
An evening street, with people walking past and a firefighter working with a hose near the truck. Shop windows glow in the distance.
Smoke rising above a building, with fire trucks and equipment at the scene.
A crowded street, with a man walking past with a bicycle and other people standing and looking at their phones.
A fire truck against the backdrop of a building, with trees and a glass structure in the foreground.
A group of girls on the street, one with a suitcase, in the evening city, with reflections in puddles.
A girl with a suitcase walking down the street, with reflections of buildings and puddles on the asphalt. City views are visible in the distance.
A nighttime cityscape with a taxi and illuminated buildings in the background. Streets and car traffic are visible.
A street at sunset, with a traffic light showing red and buildings on both sides of the road.
A street with car traffic, evening lighting, and a cloudy sky. The word “ГИТАЖЬ” is visible on a building.
A street with a green traffic light and road signs, evening lighting, cars, and pedestrians on the sidewalk.
A nighttime cityscape with people on the sidewalk and car traffic, with illuminated buildings along the street.
A nighttime cityscape with illuminated buildings and moving cars. The word “ВИТЕЗЬ” is visible on the roof.
The word “ВИТЯЗЬ” is written on a building, with smoke rising above it against the evening sky.
Smoke and a building with the word “ВИТЯЗЬ” are visible against the evening sky.

I saw this pictogram in an underground passage and felt all of its pain.

A sign showing a person in a wheelchair, with arrows pointing toward a staircase and an exit.
An accessibility pictogram in an underground passage in Minsk.

Honestly, I don’t know how to draw it better. I haven’t looked into the details or researched how signs like this are designed around the world. But what I see here scares me more than it reassures me.

There is a staircase here. These jagged steps are very prominent, very active. There is a wheelchair user on some kind of surface. But it is unclear how this surface is supposed to move along the steps, and why this movement should create any sense of safety.

I’m not saying the pictogram needs to show the entire mechanism. But it should contain at least the idea of smooth movement. Here, it doesn’t. The eye does not move upward with the platform. It trips over the steps.

The arrows look strange, too. They seem to live in a world of their own. It is unclear what exactly they are explaining. If the sign is located below, inside the passage, then the downward arrow no longer makes sense. The task is not to go even lower, but to get back up. Yes, I understand that there is standardization and that there are standard templates. But the standard should follow the meaning, not the other way around.

Formally, this pictogram has everything. Stairs. A wheelchair. Some kind of platform. Arrows. The logic seems to be assembled. But the meaning gets lost.

A pictogram of this kind should be a saving symbol. A sign that a person’s problem has been solved here. But this pictogram does not solve the problem. It creates a new puzzle. Where should this person go? What will move? How does it work? Is this person supposed to overcome this staircase?

I look at it and see not accessibility, but a barrier. Not “you will be lifted,” but “here are the stairs, good luck.”

This is a small scene of tension, not a sign of help.

June 2026
Minsk, Belarus

Before it got dark, I decided to take a walk through the microworld.

This is my first experience like this, and I already really like it. I got stuck near some tiny white and yellow flowers, literally on ten centimeters of ground. But in macro, it is no longer ten centimeters. It is a whole little city square: the flowers stand in different ways, some in pairs, somewhere there is a blade of grass, somewhere gaps between them, somewhere light.

It felt like I had looked into a small world that had been right here all along.

Yellow flower with delicate petals against a dark background.
Yellow flowers with rounded petals against a blurred green background.
Macro shot of white clover with delicate petals and green tones.
White clover with green leaves, close-up. The flowers have tiny petals and a dense center.
White clover with pink tones in the center, close-up.
From series Brownian wandering
  1. Brownian Wandering. Episode 2

A small documentary sketch from a photowalk in the Zavodskoy district of Minsk. People with cameras, a random route, evening light, conversations on the move, and a city that seems to lead us a little by itself.

Featuring: Andrey, Ira, Roman.
Me behind the camera.

FILM BY ANTON MALIAUSKI
CAMERA / CANON EOS M
CROP MOOD / OPENGATE 4:3 / 14BIT
LENS / MIR-1V
HANDHELD SHOOTING
LOCATION / MINSK / ZAVODSKOY
MUSIC / PORADOVSKYI / FUNKY
ANTOMAL.COM / 2026

Two people on the street: a man with a backpack and a woman wearing a cap and sunglasses.
00:00:00:05
Brownian Wandering, episode 2. Text about freedom and the participants in the process. A person against a wall.
00:00:07:11
A person with long hair photographs on the street, standing against an abandoned structure and greenery.
00:00:29:02
A woman with a camera, with a bearded man in the background, both outside among greenery.
00:00:48:02
A person with a backpack photographs against a background of a truck and buildings under a clear sky.
00:00:58:21
Two metal doors on a brick wall, numbered 58 and 59. Sunlight illuminates the facade.
00:01:02:05
A person photographs the sky on a smartphone, with silhouettes of branches and evening tones visible.
00:01:38:01
Two people walk along a wooden wall, one in a brown coat with a backpack, the other in light-colored clothing.
00:01:42:22
A man with long hair and blue glasses, wearing a brown jacket, looks down against an urban landscape.
00:01:53:02
Two people walk along a road, one holding a camera in their hand.
00:02:03:21
Three people walk along an empty street against an evening sky and green trees.
00:02:07:03
A group of people walk along the street, one of them wearing a UFC cap, with trees in the background.
00:02:10:11
A foot in a blue sneaker on asphalt. Text: “FILM BY ANTON MALIAUSKI”, with camera and music information.
00:02:26:12
June 8, 2026

I am sitting under a tree.

It has sheltered me beneath its huge canopy. I cannot see the structure of the leaves, cannot see whether there are flowers there or not. It is just a large dark roof above me.

In front of me is the Svislach. The embankment, concrete, rare passersby. Night, silence, darkness. I am a little bored.

During the day, it feels as if we have many options. Any photographer will understand me. And not even necessarily a professional photographer, but a person who goes out with a camera, or a person who goes out without a camera but simply knows how to look. During the day, you dive into this abundance. You see so much. The world itself offers you frames, shapes, light, faces, trees, reflections.

But sometimes you do not want to choose from what is already given. Sometimes you want to look into the unknown. To trust what is here now. To see what is around me within arm’s reach. To touch it, in another language.

I take out the camera. Maybe out of boredom. Maybe with a childlike curiosity. I point it upward, turn on the flash, and take one shot.

Not ten. Not a series. I do not check the screen.

Just one shot.

I see the flash light up the tree for a second. And the world immediately returns back into darkness. I put the camera away and continue walking through the night city.

But later, already at home, when I open this photograph on the computer and develop it, I suddenly see what I did not see there, on the bench. Leaves. Flowers. Structure. The beauty that, at that moment, was right beside me, above me, around me.

Flowering tree branches against the night sky.
I saw all this beauty only after the photograph was developed.

I made a simple accidental “shot” with the camera, but it illuminated what was already there in reality.

In the note “A View from the Dark”, there was the thought that sometimes you need to remove the excess light in order to see differently. To look from the dark. To listen from silence. To step out of the noise of the day, out of the obvious, out of ready-made illumination.

Here the thought is similar, but it is about something slightly different.

Here I am not simply looking from the dark. I am trusting the space. Trusting the moment. Taking a step without knowing what exactly I will see.

Perhaps this is how it happens in life too.

We make some simple step. Sometimes almost accidental. We direct our attention toward a place where there seems to be nothing special. We illuminate a piece of reality for a second. And in that very moment, it may tell us nothing. We see only the flash, a brief illumination, an instant. And then everything returns to darkness again.

But something has already happened.

We have already exposed reality.

And now we only need to stop and see what has emerged.

See also  Link to this section

June 2026
Minsk, Belarus
Two buildings against a blue sky with clouds.
A blurred red station wagon moves down the street, with other cars and green trees around it.
A bottle labeled “Coca-Cola” lying on the ground among grass near the sidewalk.
A bottle of “Arbishinka” syrup lying on the ground among grass.
A narrow passage between buildings with a view of a modern facade with black-and-white geometric patterns.
Sunset with clouds, light breaking through them, with cars and trees in the foreground.
The sky with clouds and a streetlamp in the foreground.
Green shrubs against the background of an asphalt path.
Sunset over a lake, with clouds and trees reflected in the water, creating a calm atmosphere.
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