Greetings from a foreigner in Dushanbe

[Erik Petersson]

Hello everyone and than you for this community. The forums are really useful.

I am living in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (just north of Afghanistan and west of
China) since a year. This is small and quiet capital, which have had some very rough years since the end of Soviet rule 15 years ago. Now, it is years since unrest ended and life here is quite safe.

Analouge photography in Dushanbe means either colour negatives, or you bring the films to Moscow or whereever to get them developed. If you dont develop at home, which I plan to try within soon.

Results of my photography can be found at dushanbepics.blogspot.com
I am a beginner in photography, and still have very much to learn, but I think that I might already have found the perfect gear, Nikon F3 and FE with some AI manual focus lenses.

If anyone is wondering, I am Swedish, and have a certain love for these former soviet countries.

best regards to you all
Erik

 

[Dave Miller]

Welcome Erik.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Welcome to APUG. I enjoyed the blog.

If you have trouble finding chemicals in Dushanbe, do a search for the threads on "parodinal" and the like, which is a film developer made from acetominophen that can be made almost anywhere there's Tylenol and drain cleaner.

 

[Ray Heath]

g'day Erik,
great images on your blog, post some here

 

[Andy K]

Welcome Erik. I enjoyed your blog. Tajikistan looks a beautiful country.

 

[Ole]

Velkommen, Erik.

Alle Skandinaver er ekstra velkomne!

David - Tylenol is no more easily available than metol in most of the world!

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

David - Tylenol is no more easily available than metol in most of the world!

While this is true, generic acetominophen tablets can be found in much of the former East Bloc, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see them in the capital of Tajikistan.

 

[roteague]

Welcome Erik from Hawaii. I'm sure you will enjoy this community.

 

[Erik Petersson]

Thanks for the nice words about my blog. Maybe I will try to post some of them here on the forum. Just need to become subscriber, right?

Yes, Tajikistan is indeed a breathtakingly beautiful country.

About the chemicals - I do think there is something to buy. They sell Lucky 100 film at one of the shops, but there is no lab for b&w. Ergo - developer is avaible.

 

[arigram]

Welcome Erik.
I really hope we can help you as you need to keep photographing! The photographs are great and it is a very interesting place you are at.
My brother a specialist of muslim and turkic cultures and I had dreamed of a voyage to Asia, from Turkey, to Armenia, to Afghanistan all the way to Mongolia, but as thing are at the moment, I find that a tiny bit difficult.
I do have a greek friend who lived two years in a yurt in Mongolia though and I have always been envious of him.

You didn't tell us, what wind of chance brought a Swede to Tajikistan?

 

[Dave Wooten]

Hello Erik, welcome and thanks for sharing, I also enjoyed Dimitry's street scenes..

 

[Erik Petersson]

Thanks again for your those words!

I work here since almost a year in a development project. We are helping to establish a modern land register (an important step on the way to market economy).

Dushanbe is not as backwards as some people think. It is easy to live here, especially as people are very nice and helpful.

Dear Aristotelis, if you travel through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan instead of Afghanistan there should be no serious security concerns. It is really worth going here for many reasons. A tiny bit of Russian or Turkish will of course be helpful as few speak English. Let me know if you are going here, and I will show you some sites worth photographing.

 

[arigram]

I guess I have to dust off my russian and ask my brother how is his spoken turkish now, but that would be a dream come true! I am sure there no shortages of photo opportunities as I like to photograph people...
I don't see us coming any time soon, but I will definately keep you in mind.
Keep up the good work Erik!

 

[Erik Petersson]

Aristotelis, you are welcome any time.

Maybe someone can help me. I tried to upload a picture, but it was somehow to wide. How wide can they be? What file format should i choose?

 

[arigram]

650 pixels in any dimension is the limit as for the file format, jpeg is fine.

 

[Erik Petersson]

Thanks, I will try that. I looked at your pictures by the way. They are very nice, especially the portraits.

 

[arigram]

Ta mate. Same here.