Foto's

This is part of the northern flanks of the Zailiysky Alatau mountain range which forms an impressive backdrop to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital city. The TV tower on the left is on a hill called Kok Tobe (which means ‘green peak’) which can be reached via a cable car which starts in the city next to the Palace of the Republic. There is a good view over the city from the top cable car station, a spot that is very popular with locals on summer evenings when the beer stands do a roaring trade.

The reason I have posted this in B&W is that I took this shot through a very dirty hotel window (like in many modern hotels, it was sealed shut – the bane of travel photographers) which gave the photograph a dirty brown tinge, and made it look noisy too.

I discovered that when I desaturated it, the ‘noise’ was less obvious, and after sharpening, the TV tower looked like it had been drawn onto a black and white photograph with pen and ink.

To me it looked like one of those ‘artist’s impressions’ and it started me wondering whether this scene looked better without the TV tower, or with the tower as it is today. It is certainly an impressive tower, and is very much a landmark of the city of Almaty, but some might say it has spoilt the beautiful southern vista from Almaty.