A Quiet Celebration

Well, Sept 1st is the 20th Anniversary of Uzbekistan's independence. There are signs up everywhere, huge posters plastered over walls and as I walk home after an evening get together at The Matter. I pass a huge electronic billboard with flags waving and the national emblem flashing in dazzling LED brightness powerful enough to light a large film studio. On this evening of celebration the streets are curiously empty - a bit like Helsinki 20 years ago when quiet summer nights meant that most of the urban population had retreated into their summer cottages. I couldn't help wondering where every body was on this celebratory evening in Tashkent.

It was the end of my fifth day here - a day spent wandering around the Alayskiy Bazaar just around the corner. This concrete covered market was quiet in the late morning heat - the traders seemed amused to see where I pointed my camera - small clusters of fruit - a cup balanced on a small wooden board; strange designs with familiar fruits and vegetables.

As their curiosity increased, we began to talk - neither of us understanding the other and ending in laughs as I took their portraits.

A woman high up in her pulpit preached the virtues of her goods - her full set of bright gold teeth shining through an infectious broad smile. She spoke a little English - said 'I have relatives who live in America!' I took many pictures of her as she laughed and chatted.

It was here that I met the Tashkent poet Akbar Aliev, with a mountain bike buying vegetables. He came up to me; spoke fluent English - and after we had spoken a few words together casually said 'You can use my picture if you want to - in Finland - you can publish it - anywhere.'

Akbar Aliev - Tashkent poet

I copied his name down - spelt it wrong and later found a poem translated in English.

To Aristotle
Like an ant who uneasily acquires knowledge
Under His knowledge's light many mainlands are bright
And who hides his heart from knowledge's light
He is the single ruler in the wild of night.

On the way out we stopped by a bread shop and I made this 2 minute video with Hasan having a go!

Of Bazaars and Birthdays

It seems quite impossible to get to bed in Tashkent much before 5am. What with taxi trips to the airport to pick up friends arriving at 2am - getting back into the city - having a welcome drink and a chat, I've never really reached my pillow before the sun has started to rise.

On Tuesday, Kristiina, Julji and I headed into Chorzu bazaar via the metro. At the entrance to the station our bags were checked and passports and visa's inspected and a clear message that pictures are not allowed. This was my second time at Chorzu - and a chance to look around again and have time on my own. It takes a while to find your way into quiet corners and find the intimacy you need to make connections with the people in such bustling environments. In one of the clothing malls, away from the burning sun I found myself being invited into small boutiques, left alone to browse around; the vendors quite happy to be photographed.

Later in the afternoon we went to some friends of Rene's - a house near Brakit where the workshop was held - old streets with wonderful houses hidden behind tall walls and steel doors. By now we are 7 with Rene, Christian, Kristiina, Julji, Hassan, Reudi, and myself forming the main group including at least for a day or so still, Edgars and Janis - from Latvia.

Vika

Timur

Ayuma

The party was for Ayouma - 23 and we sat around the yard eating, drinking and dancing until late. 

Making Connections

We have been preparing for tomorrows workshop - at least me here in the hotel during the early part of the day - and later over at The Matter including a brief visit to Brakit who will provide the space for us to work.

This morning I must have struggled for an hour or more to keep the internet open in my room - but it was running slower than a 64kb modem most of the time so I drank tea and gazed at the strange phenomenon taking place in the sky outside my window; clouds.

As the next few days are holidays here in Uzbekistan, Saturday and Sunday were normal working days. So at The Matter I met Jamol and Timur who have been putting things together as well as the interpreter Alex who will be keeping those participants who don't understand English up to speed.

Jamol

The visit to Brakit, only a short walk from The Matter took us through leafy streets with beautiful run down low level buildings - the old style - as I image was pretty much the norm before the earthquake of 1966 which flattened most of the city. The rebuilt version of Tashkent is very much wider streets and buildings with little character - typical of the Russian style of the time, but like many urban developments around the world the late 1960's wasn't the high point of 20th century architecture.

Inside Brakit the rough exterior is contrasted by clean clear spaces and bold elegant statements. The lighting, the walls, the ambience is great for the creative team that works there. The room where we will be is equipped with projector and being without windows promises a great dark space for presentations.

And so with not much left to do we headed back to the part of town where I live and stopped in for a beer at Rene's favorite bar (still can't remember the name and if it wasn't for the trees I'd be able to read the name from my 8th floor window).

Timur joined us and of course the conversations were mostly about photography, photography and, well - photography. The ubiquitous mobile phones appeared as we sat around the table outside on the street casting their eery brilliant glow as people began to read menus from their LED lights.

So I suddenly got an idea - why not set up three phone lights as a 'studio' setup! With willing voice activated light stands I placed Rene on the hair light - just above and behind Julji who was the willing model. Then Reudi to one side and in front of Julji's face (working on a tight portrait shot) and one more on the other side as the fill. Well its hard to keep voice activated light stands from moving - especially after a few beers - but in any case it was worth a try.

Julji -our willing model

With a rather high ISO at 1600 with F 2.8 on a very dim lit street I wasn't getting any ambient - and I wasn't getting any depth of field either. But it was worth a shot and after six shots and a few rearranged light angles (really in the dark) I got one that was passable.

As I'm checking focus and deciding that one is enough without turning the evening into a lighting workshop, Janis shows me the picture he took on his mobile of the lighting setup behind the scenes! If you look closely you'll see me in the right hand corner with my 70-200mm barely in the frame. And Julji - with her beaming smile lit up by three mobile phones.

The lighting setup - Thanks Janis!

The high-light gathering.

Today is the workshop. Now for breakfast......

Money, Money Money, and the Chorzu Bazaar

The Uzbek Sum is a curious animal. Changing money into the local currency is something of a ritual here as the largest note is 1000 Sum and is equal to around 0.4 Euro. So you inevitably end up feeling extremely rich with wads of cash stashed in your bag.

After sorting out the finances, Julji, Reudi, Rene and I headed off to Chorzu Bazaar. Every car in Tashkent is a taxi - or so it seems. You just put your hand out and a car pulls up. You need to negotiate the price before you leave, and forget about a map and street names as nobody knows the names of streets. You need only orientation points - so if you don't know them already you wont be able to tell the driver where to go. Even the name of the hotel I'm staying in is unknown to taxi drivers - except by the name it had ten years ago.

Our taxi driver is chatty and animated as I photograph him driving towards the market.

The bazaar is huge. Rene takes us through the alleys leading to one of the main buildings. Its crowded early afternoon, and inside the domed building is an incredible array of food and vegetables.

People are very friendly, happy to have their picture taken, offer samples of food at every step from roasted almonds in their shells and raisins, to apricots pistachios and dates.

There is too much to take in on this first walkabout and as the sun is going down we head over to the snail building - a spiraling tower near the bazaar to take in the Tashkent skyline before sunset.

Last preparations

This time next week I should have landed in Tashkent airport, collected my visa, passed through customs and had a few hours sleep in the hotel. I have a busy week ahead with a lot of work - including a brave effort to pack light which is always an effort for a photographer.

Weight is one of my main considerations. I hate having a lot to carry. Last week I picked up an amazing little tripod made of tent supports - the Tamrac Zipshot. I mean this is light - a mere 300 grams compared to my usual traveling one at 2.4k. OK, it isn't the rock steady unit you can use in a high wind - or even a low wind - and it is either up or down with no in betweens, but it works and with my little Sony R1 and my iPhone it is perfect for my purposes.

The Tamrac Zipshot Tripod

The weather has been cooling off - that late summer slight chill still with the deep greens and the water warm enough + 21C (for the stoic) to take an evening swim and sauna by the lake. Last night we went to Kotaniemi - a small cottage at Hirvijärvi about ten minutes from home - had a few dips between sauna and ended up grilling some sausage on a log fire and just relaxed as the sun set by the water.

So I made a short video of this amazing place. The high heat of summer gone - the place was empty except for a couple of families, and by the time I shot this we had the place more or less to ourselves.


Kotanemi, Hirvijärvi, Finland iPhone 4 with iMovie - Music © Martin Simpson


I'm looking forward to those rather warmer days in Tashkent. The Finnish summer as glorious as it is ends too soon. This time next week - all going well - I will probably be overwhelmed by the heat that hits you when you step off the plane in another climate zone!

From the heart of Finland to the heart of Uzbekistan

A few weeks ago we were visiting a photographer friend in Parikala in the east of Finland. Kirmo Vilën spends some of his year in Hainan - China, photographing the changing lifestyle of local people. Its a long term project which he says will go on until he can't travel anymore.


Kirmo described how he communicates to the people of Hainan as he doesn't speak any Chinese. He speaks in pictures; carries small booklets of photographs of Finland so when he enters the homes of people whom he has just met he can give them a better idea of where he comes from. The pictures say a lot about the culture and landscape of Finland - a place most of these Chinese people will never see. It goes a long way towards establishing friendship.


So I thought - why not make a couple of short videos (while I'm waiting for my visa application to be approved) - something that the people I'm going to meet in Uzbekistan can see to get a better idea of where I'm coming from - the place I spend most of my waking days - my studio.

So, my little phone makes movies and it was a piece of 1hr cake to make. Just an overview with slightly frantic music because its free. I guess if I want music that isn't copyright I'll just have to start playing again....


My studio is situated about 1hr drive north of Helsinki in a quiet hamlet called Hyttikortteli - the homes of glass blowers when Riihimäki was an industrial town. Now the glass factory has gone; turned into warehouses and small businesses, the older houses remain as an historical reminder of the working life of this community.

The Finnish National Board of Patents and Registration

I guess the last people I ever thought would be involved in my trip to Uzbekistan would be the Finnish Board of Patents and Registration. Now, I have done quite a bit of globe-skidding (not globe-trotting as that is too refined a term for what happens to me when I'm on the move); and I've put applications in for visas for places like Estonia in the days when Finns could slip through customs with their regular passports and Canadians were forced to queue up at the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki weeks in advance and deal with a seriously maladjusted official who loved it when your documentation wasn't complete and turned you away.

Those days are gone - at least in Estonia. The European Union with all its bad money management and strange directives have at least made my passage in and out of the EU a relatively painless process.

Visas are part of that curious relationship countries have between themselves where they can exercise their authority on you in a somewhat arbitrary manner and do it in such a way that makes little sense to me and who cares away because that's our law and if you want to come then get your application in order and we'll throw the dice to see if you can come in or not.

There is no Usbek Embassy in Finland. So my travel agent Anvar in Tashkent - who is trying his best to get my papers in order, book (and pay in advance) hotels, and provide me with documentation that will allow me to pass through check-in in Helsinki on a connecting flight through Riga so that I may pick up my visa in Tashkent on arrival, informs me that there is a little problem.

You see, the required information insists that I provide a signed and officially sealed document from my employer. Well, I don't have an employer. I am my employer. In a quick response to his request I informed that I am the director of my own company and therefore I don't have anyone above me who can do this. To be even more helpful I pasted a link to my business registration (from 2000) as featured on the National Board of Patents and Registration website.

Back came his reply, and, well this just wasn't going to work as they need copies (at least) of formal 'paper' documentation of this fact. So.... into the company archives I delved and came up with the papers that were drawn up the day my company was born - Gary Wornell Studios - in 2000 and there they were in three pages of Legalese Finnish! I've been here 17 years  and I still find it difficult to understand what is written there. In any case, the official stamp is embedded in the document and shows up in a photograph which I posted off to Anvar. My company name appears a few times in the text, and a few dates, but otherwise I could imagine that the consular section in Tashkent would pass this document around the office during coffee break and have a giggle before deciding that it too was not going to be enough.

Patents and Registration - Gary Wornell Studios 2000

So I called the Finnish National Board of Patents and Registration and asked them if an English language version was possible. I mean, I should make the effort to not only provide coffee time humor for the consulate people, but also provide them with a document that at least one person can actually read. 'Yes of course we can do that' came the answer from the Finns - 'and €40 plus postage should have it with you in a couple of days'. Ok still time for Anvar to get these by email and do his stuff.

So, its the sticky-visa phase of my journey. I have no idea at this stage if there are more hurdles to get me past the customs barrier in Tashkent airport skidding into another adventure at 1:30 am. I did wonder though - if I was unemployed - I guess they just wouldn't let me in.

Getting ready to go

Of course you don't just book a flight and to travel to Uzbekistan. There are lots of easier places in the world where you can do that - but how interesting is that? I mean if you need a Letter of Invitation (LOI), and a visa and loads of USD because there are very few places where you can use an ATM, and prepay your hotels before you can even get your visa - well you are already getting into the Uzbek feeling.

In the next few weeks I'll make a few updates to this - just to get into the blogging mood. There is just as much fun to be had in the preparation as there is in the going.

So what's the plan? Uzbekistan is a big place. Rene Fischer from The Matter has got together several young enthusiastic photographers whom I will meet during the 2 weeks we'll be traveling round. I'll be giving a few workshops, demonstrations as well as teaming up with the Epson distributer in Tashkent to run through a few printing tips with those who are curious and inspired. Of course the learning conduit always goes both ways, and I'm looking forward to tapping into the hearts and minds of these people and find out what photography means to them.  Finally we'll set some of these people a 'boot camp' project to be getting on with and a get together sometime around September 9th to have a look through the work they have done.

Naturally I'll have a few cameras with me - well at least 2 if my iPhone 4 is considered a camera - and try to limit the weight by leaving heavy lenses out and work with the 'less is more' philosophy to see what can be done with 1 lens per camera with the assumpton that it is easier to change camera's on the move, than changing lenses so lets see what happens. My favorite travelling camera is the Sony R1 - a little ancient by now but light as a feather with a remarkable Zeiss T* lens on it that my Canon L series don't come close to.

So lets leave it there for the moment. I'm looking forward to getting these last travel arrangements completed and start the packing list. Oh, yeah - great little App called Packing which I've been using for a couple of years now that makes the whole thing a piece of cake. Just add to the list as you remember what you want to take with you and when you come to pack check them off one at a time until you have no more items visible in the window. Very useful for photographers when there are batteries, card readers, laptops and power supplies involved.

See you at the airport....