I had sent my wife to Kakheti to visit her people, and we planned that she would return to Tbilisi soon. But fate had other plans: her beloved aunt of 84 suddenly took a turn for the worse. Lali took her to Lagodekhi hospital, and there she died the next day. So I made plans to join the family for the wake and funeral.
That was one whole thing, with all its raw emotion and ritual: visiting the family at home with the body in its coffin, expressing sorrow for several days, then the burial and funeral feast. There were places at a restaurant for about 150, and it was full. Hard days for my wife, but she came through.
At the same time, snowy weather was forecast. So after the funeral I took advantage of it to shoot Kakheti in an increasingly rarer look. Cloudy skies and not very inspired light notwithstanding, I worked with what I had, which is a useful thing for a photographer to try in virtually any situation, as long as any kind of camera is at hand.
What are the details? Snow will bring out entirely new looks to the landscape, hiding much and throwing the rest into sharp relief with its pure whiteness. I stuck with black and white in processing the images, because almost everything was pretty well monochrome anyway.
What kind of contact should you expect in cloudiness? Pretty low, with no sunlight to cast strong shadows or burn out highlights. But details will emerge in this soft light, and you can take advantage of them. It’s ideal for portraits, and I shot a few of an elderly lady-friend we visited, simply by window-light, which is pretty soft anyway. I had my wife hold a medium brown curtain behind her too, to make an improvised backdrop and focus attention on her beautifully lined face and hands. I find old age has its own loveliness: take that, Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines! Beauty is in my eyes, not your opinions.
Some medium-size amphorae in the yard, partly covered with snow, took on an entirely different appearance; I seldom see them like this. The same for Lali’s ancestral vineyards, in their winter sleep, now under light blankets of white. The vines are gorgeously twisted in their lines, their thin trunks nonetheless years old. Look, seek for things to shoot, and you’ll find them.
Yes, the mountains were quite hidden behind cloud. It didn’t matter. There was plenty to see right around me. I had some new winter boots, and my feet stayed both warm and dry in them, which is essential when trudging through mud and slush. It was just above freezing, so the snow wasn’t staying on everything for long, and I did all the shooting I could in the morning, when it was colder. There wasn’t really enough time for more than an hour or so each day, but it was enough to immerse myself.
I’m missing the deep snow of Svaneti (though hoping to get up there next month for Lamproba, the main mid-winter festival). So this light snow was, for me, most welcome in these lower, warmer lowlands. It likely won’t last long, but I was ready and had seen it coming. Whenever I travel I try to take my camera and lenses with me, because you just never know what will turn up and you should be ready. They’re no longer a burden because I’m entirely used to them in their little backpack, and don’t even notice it on my shoulder. Be ready, in any season and weather… and unless you’re shooting film, shoot a lot. That’s what this is about.
Blog by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti2
