Georgia – Echoes of a Timeless Land

Georgia, a country at the verge of Europe bordering Asia located on the South of the infamous Caucasus mountains. Travelling through the country of Georgia I felt warm hospitality, tasted great food, met warm hearted people and was stunned by the diverse landscapes.

During this trip I used my new analogue camera (Canon-AE 1) for the first time with a Kodak UltraMax 400 film. I have been doing photography with digital cameras around the world for many years, but not with film. I think Georgia was a great start for that. It’s remote places end the endless feeling that some places give you were ideal to be captured on the film. I chose two places to depict this, Stepantsminda and the mostly abandoned city of Tskaltubo.

My first stop, Stepantsminda, was a remote village up high in the Caucasus mountains it’s located at 1800 (5905 feet) metres. Due to itbeing off-season everything was dead, all the wooden cabins and the guesthouses abandoned for the winter period. The only people, some local kids playing on the street and one of them even driving a motorcycle (aged 11). The most impressive part of the place is it’s location. It’s a small village located on a valley between of two huge mountain peaks, Kazbeki (5,054m/ 16,581 ft) and Mount Shinn (4.600m/ 15,292 ft). Walking through the village you see abandoned houses, vehicles, farms. It’s a really photogenic place. A timeless picture. It feels as if you were at the end of the world. Very magical! You’re stunned by the mountains and charmed by the silence of the place.

My next stop was Kutaisi, from where I did a very nice one-day trip to the unique city of Tskaltubo, a short-lived gem of the Stalin era, with a quick downfall. During soviet union, due to his Georgian origins, Stalin invested a lot in his country. One of those investments, was to build more than 20 sanatoria and hotels around a small town called Tskaltubo. Why? Due to the ideal climate and healing springs that they have there. The place must have been a developing heaven back then. Huge and fancy hotels for everyone, sanatoria providing help for the sick, a big park for several events

Today, this looks like a lost soviet dream. The feeling you get when you enter this city is cold. The forest that has wildly overgrown most of the buildings you can see. Trees even grow inside the building magically. On the top of the highest sanatoria I saw endless forest with just touches of concrete jumping out now and then. This view is intriguing and makes you wanna explore the interior of these buildings. It’s stunning how there are still furniture and personal belongings left behind giving you a spooky and interesting vibe.

Overall Georgia impressed me a lot. It’s a small gem with a lot of unexpected surprises making it a beautiful place to depict on film. It has this soviet vintage and brutal aspect to it that I love seeing on film. Moreover I find abandoned buildings such an exciting and endless subject for photography, especially on black and white. This trip has definitely got me into the analogue world with the best way. I can’t wait to take my analogue camera around the world.

Thanks for reading through! Appreciate it. You can check out more stuff I do, at my Instagram photography page:

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