Dust and devastation, a photo from Kabul, East

Photographer's Note

Kabul used to be a city of palaces and gardens, but after more than 20 years of war, all of that is gone. The Darulaman Palace (which is more popularly known as the King’s Palace because it was the residence of King Zahir Shah) is typical of the devastation that you see around Kabul. It is hard to imagine that this palace was once surrounded by trees and lush landscaped gardens. Surprisingly, the decade long war with the Soviets in the 1980s didn’t do too much damage to Kabul – it was the fighting between the rival mujaheddin factions that did most of the damage in the first half of 1990s.

There is no colour in the sky in this photograph because with so little vegetation around, Kabul is quite a dusty place these days, and as soon as some wind picks up, the blue sky is gone.

I took this shot late in the afternoon as the light was fading, so this was hand-held at 1/15th sec.

SavioCastro, SophieL, utpal_basu, HalloweenHJB, Guntram, touristdidi, quelquepart, Annabel, jbweasle, hajle, teacozie heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

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SavioCastro (601) 2005-08-08 9:32

Grande foto, muita bem ilustrada pela nota informativa, o enquadramento está perfeito, gostei muito do ponto de vista usado. Belo Trabalho.

betogrein (2232) 2005-08-08 9:34

Wonderful landscape. Great composition, POV and colors.
Beto Grein

SophieL (6042) 2005-08-08 9:40

This is a really sad view that illustrates the madness of men... The colors are also sad, you can feel the dust in the air. The note is interesting and thoughtful. Good job.

utpal_basu (47) 2005-08-08 9:51

A very sad but realistic summerisation of the
self-destructive propensities of humanity
that is ignited at the slightest provocation
in the guise of assumed or real threat to the
highly illogical and unscientific distinction
and division of humanity in the name of religion,ethnicity,skin-color,dress-code etc.

HalloweenHJB (152) 2005-08-08 11:50

Fine photo. The loss of color matches the sad subject. Thanks for sharing the image.

lukie (0) 2005-08-08 13:17

Hello David,

dramatic picture. Very good sight on what the war did here.

Luc

Rushabh (389) 2005-08-08 17:40

David:
Unfortunately it has to tell a sad tale, but then nothing last forever. You did convey the emotions and the truth via the photo.

touristdidi (8583) 2005-08-11 7:20 [Comment]

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Annabel (116) 2005-12-25 3:00

hi david,
from what i see in this picture and some of your other pictures, you show us the ugly side of our world when the rest of us are showing only the beautiful side. i felt a sense of tragedy looking at this picture, it portrays how stupid humans can be,waging wars and ruining lives. a powerful picture, this one. thank you so much for showing us.

jbweasle (9393) 2006-02-10 19:03

Hello David, great shot of this destroyed palace. I love the way it is framed in the gap of the ruined wall. We went up the driveway to the front of this place and immediately three armoured vehicles filled with soliders laden with weaponry pursued us. They were friendly enough when they worked out we were dumb tourists but it was a bit scary at the time.

hajle (1087) 2006-10-03 2:26

i love that shot, that atmosphere of emptiness, that colours, and that note;
thanks for sharing!
greetings
slawek

Andrzej_HHH (2480) 2006-10-09 17:45

Very interseting shot of modern Afghanistan, great note. About picture I like the point of view with devasted wall on the foreground. Very good work! Andrzej

pari_ali (433) 2007-03-08 11:53

How very sad, I love old buildings be they palaces or more humble abodes.The irony perhaps lies in its name Dar ul aman.
Well captured banyanman
TFS
Regards
Pari