Georgia on film

It’s the last of the Georgia blogs today. At long last, I think I’ve written every word about Tbilisi and Tserovani and Mtskheta and Uplistsikhe and it’s time for something new. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing somewhere new and that you’ll consider Tbilisi if you want somewhere new and interesting to go, or if you’re after somewhere with extraordinary food. Today’s final post is the 35mm film photos. I could get the same effect with a filter but I like to take an old-fashioned film camera, take photos, put them in the post and wait to get them back. My camera, admittedly, is a brand new but very cheap and plasticky Kodak camera – my previous eBayed Olympus threw a wobbly in Iceland in February 2022 and is now very unreliable. In the meantime, I found my grandad’s fifty-year-old SLR in the loft which works reasonably well and I’d have liked to take that with me, but the thing weighs 1.3kg, which is a significant chunk of my weight allowance when I’m travelling on hand luggage and I know I’d leave it in the hotel every day because it’s too heavy to want to take out with me. So the lightweight plasticky camera it is.

The other problem with the film camera is that although I carried it every single day, I rarely remember it’s there. It’s in my bag, along with my spare jacket and my notebook and my drink and it’s so easy to forget. I did shove it in my pocket on the first day, at the Chronicle of Georgia, only to discover that there was no film in it, even though I was sure I’d put one in when I sent off my Camp Wildfire photos back in September. Nope. Apparently not. Good thing I took a few spare rolls. Inevitably, I didn’t get any further. I had to take 13 photos to use up the film when I got home. A roll of 24 photos! In spectacular Georgia!

But without any further ado, here are the 14 photos I did remember to take (you never quite know how many pictures you’re actually going to get, even when it says it on the side of the roll):

The view from my balcony, looking past the building opposite, across the rooftops to Mount Mtatsminda, half-hidden behind a tree.

The view from my balcony, looking towards the newer town and Mtatsminda mountain. I think this one came out ok. This film likes reds, blues and yellows and the red building opposite looks great, especially compared to the end of it that you can’t see, which looks exactly like a bombsite.

Europe Square from Metekhi Church, with the river on the left, the balloon in the centre and the modern architecture stretching out behind.

Europe Square from Metekhi Church, with a balloon prominent in the centre. This is a bit blue and a bit grainy but otherwise pretty good.

The view across the river, the Peace Bridge and Rike Park as seen from Narikala with the cable car wires going straight across.

The view from Narikala, looking down at the Peace Bridge, the river and the Old Town. It’s a bit blurry and a bit vignetty around the edges, a bit yellow, but pretty good.

The blue-tiled frontage of the Chreli Abano bathhouse. This one is a bit grey because the light is too low for the film.

The first failure of the batch. You can clearly see that this is Chreli Abano’s elaborate blue front but it’s far too dark for the film, so the picture is grey and grainy.

A hazy early evening view across Tbilisi from Mount Mtatsminda.

The hazy view from Mtatsminda in the early evening. It’s borderline too dark but it was hazy and slightly yellow and not a bad representation of what I was seeing.

Three oversized colourful benches or wooden "beds" at the edge of Mtatsminda, looking outt at Tbilisi. Again, it's too dark for the film so it's grey, dark and grainy.

Another failure. There were some colourful wooden benches/beds to sit and enjoy the view but it’s just too late and too dark by now and it’s really grey and grainy.

The view down by the river at Mtskheta, with mountains down the right hand side, fading from navy blue to powder blue as they go along.

The view down the river at Mtskheta. The riverbank on the right is lovely and golden and I like the way the mountains on the left turn one by one from navy to powder blue. This is ISO 400 at its best – or at least, the best it’s going to get in the hands of such a beginner.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta peeking over its walls.

Svetitskhoveli, golden in the late afternoon light, peeking over its wall. The goldens and blues look really good on film.

The side of Svetitskhoveli Cathedral with Jvari Monastery on the mountain behind peeking out in the distance.

A look down the side of Svetitskhoveli towards Jvari Monastery on the mountain opposite. The cathedral isn’t at its best because it’s on the shadowed side, so it’s a bit grey and grainy but the bits in the sun are ok.

The centre of Mtskheta, with wooden-fronted buildings along the side of a brick square.

The centre of Mtskheta looks pretty good on film, though. You can see how low the sun is, touching the square and the tops of the buildings down the right.

The view east from Uplistsikhe, with mountains stretching away and a river snaking along the bottom.I suddenly remembered at Uplistsikhe that I’d been carrying the camera but not taken it out all day. So this is looking east at a golden mountainside.

Looking up and across Uplistsikhe, a gently rounded mountainside with holes in it, caves carved out up to 5000 years ago.

Straight into the Uplistsikhe complex, with lots of lovely golden light – that’s thanks to the film, not the time of day.

The view west from Uplistsikhe, with plains and mountains dim and hazy in the distance and visibly carved structures in Uplistsikhe in the middle.

Looking west. Clearly the sun wasn’t pointing this way so it’s not as golden as the others and probably picks up more blue. I think Uplistsikhe looks pretty good on film too.

In the midst of the caves in Uplistsikhe. The one in front of me has probably lost its roof over the centuries.

Last picture, straight into one of the cave structures. We’ve got the golden light again with a bright blue sky. I like it.