Ushguli, August 2007

More leaves and rain, below.

Above, Shkhara at that particular point where the stream crossing the road makes a nice reflecting puddle. A favourite angle, in other words.

Welcome first viewers from Latvia and Finland this week!

Ushguli, August 2007

Bottom 2: in the absence of good weather, concentrate on the details - in this case, raindrops on rose leaves. Minimal focus (depth of field) to allow you to notice what I think is important.

Top: Lamaria Church and Mt Shkhara at the top of Ushguli again. Every day new weather and a new mood, different lighting making a unique scene.

Nr Ushguli, August 2007

A closeup of the Shkhara Glacier, bottom; and the view back to where we came from, top. The river here comes directly from the glacier itself.

This week's first-time visitor countries: welcome to Denmark, Kenya and Greece! Now you are 60!

Shkhara Glacier, Svaneti, August 2007

Below, the river again. (All of these water shots have a shutter speed as slow as the aperture would allow, usually about 1/8 to 1/4 second, in order to blur the water a bit. Hand-held, not tripod-mounted. So they're not as pin-sharp as a tripod would afford; they're still pretty good for such slow shutter speeds.

Above, as close as I got to the glacier itself. It's hard to capture scales here - this is such a gigantic thing, and my 24mm wide-angle lens only makes it seem smaller by compressing more into the image. The little black hole at lower right is a cave big enough to stand up in.

Nr Ushguli, August 2007

Bottom, a massive, awe-inspiring slate outcrop a bit below Ushguli. Hard to get a sense of its scale from most angles; this is one scene which warrants many returns for different lightings.

Top 2, walking with my American friends towards the huge Shkhara glacier. Quite a few more shots from this walk to follow in the next days' posts.

Svaneti, July 2007

2 more cellphone photos from the recent trip.

Bottom, Another view of Ushba with several villages spread out below it, as we travelled down from the pass near Ipari towards Mestia.

Top, one of those wonderful finds - a small, spring-fed pond, great reflector! - near the pass from yesterday's bottom photo. Here it's displaying the main wall of Shkhara.

Ushguli, July 2007

A couple of teasers from the cellphone, though edited a bit before posting. Bottom, high above the village on its SW side, nearing the pass which gives 360-degree views including towards the Lentekhi region of Svaneti. This 7-hour walk gave me my second full-circle photographic panorama. At left, Mt Ushba; at right, Mt Shkhara's main peak. Below them is what can be seen of Ushguli, including, in the centre, Tamar's Tower fortress, which has apparently the highest watchtower in Europe.
Top, a view of the top half of Ushguli in all of its summer glory, with the wall of Mt Shkhara looming above it in the background. Near the left edge of the picture is the partly white house where I stayed this time, my 5th visit to Ushguli and 19th to Svaneti (and 4th this year so far, a record!).