We visited the Garni temple, built in the 1st century AD, where we found a pleasant surprise, as our guide knew an employee who had not trimmed the ends of his mustache for 40 years. He was completely willing to pose for us, and only asked to use his camera phone to shoot the LCD image of […]
Armenia 1 – Yerevan, Part 1
The last country of our photographic tour with Mehmet Özbalci is Armenia, where we started with three days in the capital city of Yerevan. It felt like luxury being able to stay in one (excellent!) hotel for 3 nights, and Yerevan proved to have plenty to keep our interest – and our cameras, happy. One of our main […]
Georgia 4 – Akhaltsikhe
We finished our tour of Georgia with a long travel day on the bus going from the far north (Mestia) to the far south of the country to reach Rabati castle, staying in the town of Akhaltsikhe (and no, I still cannot pronounce it even after staying there for a day…). Lower-left is the view from our hotel […]
Georgia 3 – Mestia
Our tour included a visit to Ushguli, a tower village, and a stop at Lover’s Tower in the Mestia area in 4-wheel drive cars. Mehmet hired two models to dress in traditional clothing (above block) to pose, and to thus add color to our shots. I thought it was interesting to see our local guide to use her iPhone […]
Georgia 2 – Kutasi
We spent our second night in Georgia in Kutasi. Enroute, we made several stops for photography. Our local Georgian guide, Gvantsa, liked daisies and picked them whenever we stopped. Seen above, she has found another field of wild daisies, and is picking a bouquet for her seat on the bus. Throughout Georgia, we often pressed […]
Georgia 1 – Tbilisi
We have complete the Silk Road tour (aka “-Stan countries”), and have now entered Georgia with Mehmet Özbalci. One of our stops on this first day was at the Metekhi Georgian Orthodox church. A wedding was being photographed while we were there, and the groom’s men were willing to pose for us in front of […]
Kazakhstan 3 – Kaiyndy Lake
One of our destinations today was Kaiyndy lakes national park, a lake created as the result of an earthquake induced landslide blocking the river, in the Kolsai Lake National Park. The trees in the region were flooded and died. However, the water is so cold that the trees did not deteriorate, and instead remain standing, making an […]
Kazakhstan 2 – Singing Dunes
While driving to our Kazakhstan destination the next day, we saw a herd of horses standing in a pond not far from the road. As is common with this tour, that meant stopping the bus, and getting out for half an hour of photography. The horses did indeed present wonderful images to capture (bottom). However, we were […]
Kazakhstan 1 – Almaty
We have now left Kyrgyzstan and entered into Kazakhstan. Within the group, we refer to the three countries we have visited as “the Stans,” because the separate names are so long and tongue twisting to say. We stopped at a photogenic church by a small lake for a reflection shot. The weather cooperated, with almost no wind, resulting […]
Kyrgyzstan 3 – Eagle Hunters and Headless Goats
Our last evening in Kyrgyzstan was spent watching two local traditions that are unique to this part of the world. First up was a form of falconry with three nomad eagle hunters. Though often associated with Mongolia, this form of hunting with the golden eagle on horseback actually originated here. In addition to posing for the camera, as seen […]