I was lucky to visit this ancient Russian town with photo-school where I teach in May 2010. The history of this settlement exceeds 12 centuries. It used to be very important city, “Veliky” means “the Great”. Now Rostov Velikiy is just one of many provincial towns with population around 40k. Its economy has seen better times and life quality is not up to western standards.
Rostov Kremlin was built in 16-17th centuries and is the main tourist attraction of the town.
Saturday morning
You can see artists all around Rostov. Its beauty cannot leave indifferent.
Many people have farm gardens where they grow vegetables and fruits to make both ends meet.
What you find just a step off the tourist routs - Rostov courtyards and they look pretty depressive.
Most of the people had to move out of this building because it was literally falling apart but some decided to stay.
Lenin with mohawk and punk ‘rok’ - this Graffiti sends us back to 80th. Just like many other details that you can come across anywhere in the town.
Rostov is still very important in Russian Orthodox world. One of the youngest priests serves in one of the oldest orthodox churches of Rostov
Climbing on the top of the bell tower is totally worth cramps in the legs.
Rostov is situated right beside the lake called Nero. Navigation has not started yet.
I should have put my blog on hold for a while because of I had some commercial job to get done before. In the last post I wrote that our team finally made it to the camp right in the middle of Kyzyl-Kum desert. When we reached the destination it was very dark. We even did not have an idea what the surrounding landscape looked like. What we discovered in the morning was quite impressive!
The camp was surrounded by red hills on one side and flat desert spreading up to the horizon line on the other.
I found a saxaul tree and it was pretty much the only one as far as I could see.
We spent all day long on the road and almost ran out of diesel. We could not get refill because local diesel plant was on reconstruction. To save fuel we got to switch air conditioning off. That sucked!
Camels scared by the roar of our trucks were running away. Quite a show I should say!
Bukhara! Our quite exhausted team managed to get back to civilization only a couple of hours before the sunset.
A craftsman is making traditional rugs sitting on the street and trying to sell his work to not numerous tourists.
Historical part of the town of Bukhara has been a marketplace for ages.
The skyline of the city is still the same as centuries ago!
After great night in yurts we got to do a lot of driving to reach the heart of Kyzyl-Kum desert. I spent all morning looking for the signal to send the photographs to Moscow without any success. Even on top of the biggest dunes the signal was not good enough and finally I gave up.
A lot of locals are still living their lives in traditional way. This shepherd is taking care of the sheep on the border of the desert.
The road was getting worse and worse. It was so bumpy that I could not catch the subject in viewfinder of my camera. After I missed a couple of dozens of shots I finally got it .
A giant lizard. It does not have natural enemies. Its bite can be mortal because its saliva contains bacteria that can result in blood poisoning. Sheep attacked by this lizard usually dies in a day or two even if it manages to escape.
By the lunch time we made it to the town of Zerafshan surrounded by sends and gold and uranium mines.
This is the first time that our winners Viktor and Esenia are looking at their story and photographs published on ZoBo web-site. That was quite exciting moment for them... actually for me too!
The access to this area is strictly controlled by the government because of gold and uranium mining. We spent hours on check points while security officers were verifying our papers. Those mines are impressive! It looks like a giant kid was playing in a few kilometers long sandbox.
I snapped just one pictures through the window before our guide asked me not to do it anymore.
When the sun set, we were still on the way to our camp in the middle of the desert.
Many times we lost our track and got stuck in sands.
It was already pitch dark when we reached our campground.
Traffic in Samarkand is very diverse. It looks like people on the bus packed like sardines are jealous of the man on the donkey cart.
To get some footage while going through the desert our video director and cameraman Andrey installs a tiny HD dust-proof camera on the windshield. Suction cup mount did the job very well.
Lots of local people wear traditional cloth. Even though there are more and more people on the street dressed in western style at homes Uzbek robes are still the first choice.
Looking at vineyards and rich green vegetable plantations it is hard to believe that Kyzyl-Kum desert is so close.
Slowly but surely the color of the landscape changes from green to yellow. It starts to smell sagebrush.
Turtles and lizards of different kinds are the main inhabitants of this land.
That was a nice change! After a few hours in the truck camel back was a lot of fun to ride on.
She is definitely cute!
Finally, we made it! Aidarkul lake just an hour before the sunset.
There are still a lot of old Soviet era trucks used by local population.
Our hosts in yurt camp are cooking traditional Uzbek pilaf in Samarkand style. To make Samarkand pilaf they put the components: lamb, veggies and rice in layers not mixing them up.
Moon rises over our yurt camp.
That night we did not manage to get Internet connection at all. So after I wrote the text for ZoBo web-site my colleague had to call to Moscow by satellite phone and to spend good 40 minutes yelling dictating the text.
I was really glad when I won this contract with SABMiller in April 2010. The contract included a series of trips to different extraordinary locations covering their promotional program Bochka Vpechatleniy (Barrel of Impressions). And the first destination was Uzbekistan: from Samarkand to Bukhara through Kyzyl-Kum desert spending 3 days in SUVs following the Silk Road. Crazy stuff!
The trips are organized to promote the beer brand called Zolotaya Bochka (Golden Barrel). And the way it works is: people drink Zolotaya Bochka, collect codes hidden under the caps then use them to win the main prize – extraordinary journey. The lucky bastard grabs two friends and goes along with them on a magnificent trip. My role is to show how cool it is and how much positive emotions the winners get. And believe me they get plenty of them!
There was one detail that was especially challenging for me. I had to send the photos every night along with a page of text to Moscow. In Moscow copywriter made proof reading and oops… next day everything is published on ZoBo web site. So the whole nation can follow the adventures of our team almost in real time. That was my first experience of this kind – very challenging and very interesting.
Uzbekistan is situated in Middle Asia and has very different culture and traditions. We felt the difference right in the airport. The queue to passport check lived its own Uzbek life. At some moment all people behind us magically teleported in front of our group and none of us even noticed how it happened. Oh, those Asian wizards! Then our team got lucky and our luggage came before the others. Keeping in mind resent experience I decided to watch the line to the luggage check. I was trying not to let aborigines to sneak before us again. I was rock solid blocking the way like a basketball player until that tiny woman with sad eyes asked me to let her in front of our group. Well, 20 minutes and a couple of dozens of luggage later I concluded that local traditions are definitely stronger than me and gave in.
Samarkand is totally awesome ancient town! Tamerlane tomb, mosques and tall minarets decorated with mosaics – everything was above my expectations.
And by the way, for a little baksheesh they let us inside of a minaret. The spiral stairway was very narrow but the view from the top was worth it. This is Misha – the lucky one climbing to the top .
The local market was very clean and surprisingly quiet. People were super nice, friendly and welcoming. I did not know that Uzbek like Russians so much.
It’s been a year since I’m back to Russia. Time passed by pretty fast but quite a lot of things have happened since October 2009. I decided to continue to work on this blog in hope that it will help me to stay in touch with those who are far and not-so-far away.
I’m very happy that I travelled a lot this year both on commercial and editorial assignments. I could have travelled even more but sometimes my schedule was not flexible enough to fit everything in .
There is another good thing that happened to me – I started to teach photography since May 2009 in Media School in Moscow. My first students completed crash course in commercial photography in September and I’m very happy about that. It’s so much true that teaching is very interesting, exiting and fulfilling. I’d love to thank everybody who taught me photography and helped me with advice at school and in real world.
Much more pictures and stories are coming soon! Stay tuned !
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