Postcard from Bishkek

Back on 23rd March, 2005, Kyrgyzstan erupted into the news headlines from a position of obscurity …  and I felt that had to write a “round robin” email to family and friends, colleagues and client around the world to let them know that what they were seeing on the news was only a part of the story … and that I and was fine.

The next day saw the storming of the White House and the flight of the President, Askar Akaev, out the back gate and into exile.

After the mayhem of the day, I felt obliged to follow up with another message … giving an account of what happened to me, what I had seen and heard.

Little did I know that when my aunt saw it, she would send a copy to the local newspaper in my home town which ran a story, something along the lines of: “What a way to spend Good Friday!”  Actually, they contacted me before they ran the story, to check some details – good journalistic practice – and then asked if, by any chance, I had any photos.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I was just a little busy at the time and taking photographs wasn’t exactly a priority.” These days, of course, thanks to digital cameras, mobile phones, i-pads and the like … its so much easier to take a snap – or even a video – and then submit it to a news organization or specialist site like youtube … that we seem to be inundated with visual material … and, you know what they say … “a picture is worth” … and these days tit’s not just “a thousand words”.

Many of the news channels show clips either submitted to them by viewers, or taken from social media sites such as youtube, albeit with a “health warning” about not being able to verify the contents of what you can see on the screen.   During some reports you can see people standing on the sidelines holding up their mobile phones, as in the cartoon.

Although it appears to be a trait of modern life … fortunately, some people overcome the urge to reach for the phone in order to take a photograph/video … they may actually use it to summon assistance.  Just occasionally they may do something of practical use.  A few days ago, the Ministry of Emergency Situations held a special ceremony to give an award to a teenager who had jumped in to save a couple of his peers who had fallen into a river … what a good job he didn’t reach for his phone instead!

The urge to take photographs, however, is not just limited to dramatic – even historic – events.  It is now so easy that we may take hundreds and hundreds of “snaps” as momentos … to remind ourselves or to show to others as we regale them with tales of our exploits …

What used to be a pastime for dedicated amateurs who treasured each shot because it cost them in terms of money (the cost of the film and also the processing), and time, (for the processing).  Now the “instant response” leads to a different form of gratification and a different sort of amateur.

 

As it happens, there is a huge amount of photographic material available these days.  As well as special devoted sites like flickr, instagram, pinterest and tumblr … to name but a few … the social networking sites like facebook and twitter allow people to post and share photographs.

There are a huge number of pages on Facebook, for example, with fascinating photos of Kyrgyzstan … places I have never been to, but inspire me with a desire to try and find the time to make the effort and go.

 

Taking photographs has become a mania – turning everyone, (including me, I hasten to add), into archivists.

I say “including me” because I have had a difficult time finding photographs for our various websites and brochures.  Having been a teacher of IT, (and religious studies), I thought I was aware of the copyright issues and tried to be stringent in following the rules – either using our own photographs, seeking permission from amateurs to use their photographs, buying photographs from professions or searching for copyright free, (cc licensed material) … but I have found that it’s not always that simple.

The internet makes it easy to collect photographs from a variety of sources and I find that I have become an avid collector of photographs – storing them in a special directories marked “Don’t use” or “Can use” …

According to one commentator, “the quest to photograph has become a substitute for the experience itself,” leading the BBC to publish an article on it’s website asking: “Should you even take a camera on holiday?”

The ultimate argument against photographing most things on holiday”, the author says, “is that someone else has already done a better job.”

 

The author then goes on to ask “do you really want to be in a crowd of people – ignoring a security guard’s plaintive bleating – and slowly destroying a famous fresco with a thousand flashes?”

A good question …

 

An article in the British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, highlighted another aspect … people who seem to “who dedicate their lives on holiday to the pursuit of taking the ‘perfect photo’ to impress their friends … They spend so much time taking photos, posting them online and commenting on them that they never relax and sever the link with home so that they can truly switch off”. Quoting a psychologist from one of Britain’s University the article suggested that

… the technology is getting in the way not only of people experiencing where they are but also the other people they are with … It takes away from the unwinding and getting away from your ordinary life and being disconnected, which is what holidays are supposed to be about.”

Quoting the results of a survey it said that “one in three people admit staging holiday photographs for social networking websites …”  but perhaps more worrying was the fact that 97% of the respondents also admitted that they hadn’t printed out any of their photographs … so, I wondered, where is the archive … where is the material for the future historians to work with.

 Incidentally, in another survey it was reported that one in twelve people admitted taking photographs of people, complete strangers, that they found attractive.

 

It seems to me that in all of this discussion we have forgotten the purpose of taking photographs.

In answer, for example, to the criticism that other have taken the same photos – but better, I found myself asking if that really matters … one point of taking photograph is to act as a reminder … to capture the atmosphere and help you recall “I was there”, “it was like this”, “that’s me” … or “that’s so-and-so”.

Even if better photos exist … your own photographs are unique – they capture the moment … and anyway, in these days of “photoshop” even mediocre can be touched up, cropped and airbrushed to capture the emotion and feeling of the actual experience.

Some people, especially photographers that spend a lot time studying the topic and gaining experience might feel that this is a “cheat” and in a way they are right.  According to one report, the world’s most expensive photo, (supposedly a picture of the Rhine; one print was sold for 4.3 million dollars!), was “photoshopped”.

Personally, I am not sure that picture is worth that sort of money especially when the world’s most used photo – Bliss, the Hill that comes as a standard desktop screen image with Microsoft Windows – wasn’t photoshopped.

Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder and a work of art gains recognition come what may.

 

For someone like me, a tour operator, photos are a useful way of trying to create an impression of what to expect in adverts and promotional material – but, as I often say, they are no substitute for the real thing … even Victors spherical panoramas and video can’t convey the complete experience – the temperature, feel of the wind, the smell of the grass and the herbs, the sounds … and so on.

Still, they serve a useful purpose and I am grateful to all the posters who put photos up on the web for me to see.

• The photos of Malvern remind me of the places of my youth.
• Photos of places like South America remind me of plans that I once fostered of traveling there,
• Whilst photos of Kyrgyzstan inspire me to travel further afield and gain a wider experience of my adopted home.
• They all give me ideas … and inspiration

Fortunately, here in Kyrgyzstan we are lucky in having a vast array of photogenic opportunities … and here are just a few “picture postcards” which I have been posting on Facebook to give you an idea:

 

 

Remember, however, they can only give an impression … nothing can replace the experience of being there … unless, of course, you are too busy taking photos when you are there to take it all in.

 

 

Tags: Photos, Tourism