the W()RD: away 9 days

to Ushguli 9 days, back nov. 4. Stay tuned.

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!

National Manuscript Centre, Tbilisi, September 2007

Today, two dead tongues.

Above, Latin.

Below, ever seen Gothic before? Not the fashion statement or the philospohy or the literary genre, but the long-dead language? Well, now you can say that you have. As usual from this Centre, handwritten.

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.

National Manuscript Centre, Tbilisi, September 2007

Two more from the beautiful Armenian Bible of yesterday's posts.

Shkhara Glacier, Svaneti, August 2007

Walking towards the glacier, above Ushguli, alongside rocks stained iron-red and a mighty little river fed by the meltwater.

National Manuscript Centre, Tbilisi, September 2007

A lovely handwritten, hand-illuminated Armenian Bible. More to come.

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.

National Manuscript Centre, Tbilisi, September 2007

Bottom, Amharic from Ethiopia, the oldest manuscript I saw, from the 10th century.

Top, Armenian, written on a grape leaf, date unknown.

"Sword of Damocles", nr Ushguli, Svaneti, August 2007

I had noticed this delicately hanging slate blade several trips prior, on the walk through Svaneti in June. This was the first time I photographed it, though. How long has it waited like this? Months, years, decades? I wouldn't advise standing under it: it is big enough and sharp enough to split or decapitate someone if it falls.

National Manuscript Centre, Tbilisi, September 2007

A final two from the illuminated Quran, before moving on to other manuscripts and languages.