Interlude: Erisioni Georgian Dancers' Rehearsal, Tbilisi

So I was invited to join some Americans at a rehearsal (out of costume) of the Georgian State National Singing and Dancing Academic Ensemble (a.k.a. Erisioni) in Tbilisi this afternoon. They rehearse every Saturday at their HQ on Rustaveli Ave, right next to where the TMS Gallery, late and lamented, used to be.

I adore Georgian music, singing and dancing - it sets my blood afire. Even without costumes and fancy lighting, this 2-hour performance was a delight. All the more so as we were allowed to take photographs, and I had my camera ready just in case.

I was mostly trying several of my favourite techniques for showing motion in a single frame, all without using a tripod. These include a slow shutter speed to blur the action, coupled much of the time with a bit of fill-in flash to add an instant of frozen time. (The flash on my lovely new machine can be set to what's called "second-curtain synch", which means it fires at the end of an exposure rather than at the beginning. The advantage of this is that the motion trails from the slow shutter are going in the right direction, with the flash coming in at the end of the blur, not at its beginning.) Sometimes, either with or without the flash, I was also panning - moving the camera in the direction of motion while shooting.

Nearly 230 frames later, I was revelling in digital again - instant visible results to check whether what I'm doing works. Yup, I'm delighted with the results. Thanks again, NWB, for the camera - it's changing my artistic life. More of this sequence to follow...

Kakheti, Georgia

4 more from Eastern Georgia recently. The top 2 are a kvevri, or large wine container - the house has one in the ground up to its neck with a capacity of around 2 tons of wine.

Next is a grapevine after the harvest.

The bottom shot is persimmons in the sun.

Kakheti, Georgia

These are from a recent trip with Somebody to her home province of Kakheti, eastern Georgia. Autumn, autumn.

Top 2: barberries.
3rd: pears.

Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

A final few from up to Tamar's Summer Tower, including (top) a quick shot down to Ushguli from the grounds of the Tower itself. I didn't want us to pause there for long as we were wet nearly through, warm from the walk up, and at risk of getting quite chilled if we stopped long enough to rest nicely. So, down we went right after this, to the fires of home at the top of the village.

Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

These are from the walk up to Tamar's Summer Tower high above Ushguli, Europe's highest watchtower. Light rain, thunder and lightning made it a challenge just to get up there, let alone to take pictures. But the fall colours made me try.

En Route to Svaneti, Georgia

Exercises in Creative Fencing, Samegrelo province... with mountains looming as always in the background.

(I'm actually away in Kakheti with Someone as these last 2 days of posts are hitting the blog, thanks to being able to "send now, post later". Back on Tuesday.)

En route to Svaneti, Georgia

I know, these are all out of order from the whole last trip to Svaneti - the first ones I showed were from the last day, and now I'm showing ones from the way up there... whatever.

This is a bus stop in rural Samegrelo.