So here is the first installment of images from the aptly named ‘Stans adventure’ that my dad, sister and I undertook at the end of April. I’ve decided just to share the film I shot to start off with and although I took a 5D as well I haven’t got round to editing many of the digital images yet. For me there is no question over which format I prefer. The colours of the film are so much deeper, more vibrant and true to life and the overall look of the negatives blows the digital stuff away.
Anyway, Turkmenistan… 6 months ago Turkmenistan was one of those made up countries, down there somewhere, that no one knew anything about. It took my dad around 6 months to start pronouncing it properly and I still didn’t really believe it existed until we got there. Turkmenistan was the first stop on our journey and probably the most totalitarian state we would visit. We were told we weren’t allowed to leave the hotel without a guide (although in reality this wasn’t quite true), there was no mobile network for foreigners and there is an 11pm curfew in the capital, Ashgabat. Internet connections are still pretty rare and the guidebook stated that “every smart hotel room is bugged”. So here is a small-ish selection of frames from this most bizarre of countries. There are no pictures of the capital here, these were all taken outside of the city, a landscape that lends itself much more to grainy film, but I will continue to post the odd frame or two over the next couple days.
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A few pictures from the Victory Day Parade in Moscow yesterday. We got up far too early, it poured with rain, and nothing actually happened until 10 o’clock but it was impressive to watch the tanks, missile launchers, jeeps etc roll by. From our position we only saw the mechanized part of the parade so when we got home we watched the highlights from Red Square where 14,000 troops had paraded around looking scary.
Below are some pictures of one of a few veterans I met yesterday and walking around Gorky Park later it was nice to see a lot of young people giving flowers and other gifts to veterans and their families. Quite rightly, they have a huge respect for the men and women who served in their army and it was encouraging to see such warmth being shown towards them. I have a lot of work to share from my recent ‘Stans’ adventure so get excited, tomorrow I’ll be blogging about Turkmenistan!
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Three frames to get started. More to come soon…
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Did a second edit of my pictures from Sunday night again yesterday and came across a few which I overlooked the first time. The first set here were all developed with a slight desaturation so I thought I’d try these few in black and white. I’m not a big fan of putting pictures into B&W for the sake of it but I do like the feel it gives to images taken at nighttime. Recently I’ve also learnt the importance of getting other peoples’ opinions when editing your work. I took the set from Sunday into the AP office yesterday and Sasha pointed out the flash I’d caught in the 1st picture here which creates that nice shadow on the wall. I’d seen it before and hadn’t really thought much of it but on reflection its grown on me and I’m glad he pointed it out.
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Yesterday was Easter Sunday in the Orthodox calendar so at midnight on Sunday morning we headed to a small church near Sukharevskaya metro to watch the procession and the service. Now I’m not in the least part religious but I must say I absolutely love their services. People were standing outside holding candles before the service and they then followed the procession of clergymen around the church which marks the beginning of the service. The atmosphere in the church is amazing; the choir sings something wonderfully incomprehensible and the room fills with smokey incense. I wasn’t able to make many pictures inside the church as it was absolutely rammed with people but it was great to experience it and I managed to find a few nice moments outside the church.
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