Carpetblogger

Istanbul Works

Istanbul is a very industrious city. Walk around the neighborhoods and on every block there are small workshops and stands where all manner of things are sold, made or fixed.

Some jobs aren't that hard

Some guys get to play with carpets on the roof of the Grand Bazaar all day!

Some guys get to play easter bunny

Some guys breathe in metal fibers all day in a shop that makes lamp fixtures. This is one of about half a dozen metal workshops on one street near the Galata Tower that is full of lamp stores. He is strapped to his machine, btw. This workplace could not withstand the American tort system.

Some guys haul torsos uphill all day.

Some guys leave their shop door wide open when they go to lunch so I can't ask them what they heck they're making in there. It looks like wooden watermelons.

Some guys work in conditions of unlimited demand and unlimited competition

When you've been producing sawdust all day, it's more comfortable to just take off your shoes

When things rip, like nets, they get fixed, not thrown away

Someone has to clean out the bongwater

Everyone knows you'll never make it in the big city unless you can multitask

PS If anyone can tell me why portrait photos I insert always look crappy I would appreciate it.

Interesting Neighborhood Shop Windows

Wish I'd lived near this shop back when I had to be the rat master.

Aspirin. You can have this poster for a Lira.

We have all kinds of doner here -- mysterious dark meat and mysterious light meat!

I could be wrong, but I believe these can be bought by the pill

Infinite baklava

Simits want to be free

This is a famous local pickle shop. If you want to try watermelon pickled in 1963, this is the place to come. The window says "Excellent pickles and health juice (pickle juice is considered very healthy). Sold by the glass." That part really says "turnip juice." Easy mistake. Anyone could make it.

 

Thanks Astronuts!

So they DO do other things besides wear diapers. It turns out that they take cool pictures from space too! Yay astronuts!

                                             

This, according to its wikipedia entry, is photo of the Bosporus from the north (Black Sea) to the south (Sea of Marmara) taken from the International Space Station on April 16, 2004, with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera equipped with an 200-mm lens. The Islands in the lower right are the Princes Islands, where I went last weekend (yawn). You can see Ataturk airport in the lower left. The snake of water going up to the left in the center is the Golden Horn.

You can get in a big debate that you won't resolve about which way the silt/pollution/light blue stuff is moving. The Bosporus has currents that run both ways, apparently.

 

You can't see the carpetdogs because this was taken three years ago and they didn't live here yet, duh.

Dog's House and Cats' Jail

The Russian Empire in Technocolor

I really dig the photos on English Russia, whose motto is "because something cool happens daily on 1/6th of the earth's surface." I especially dig it now that I get to enjoy all those cool things from a safe distance, rather than living them.

Today's post is exceptional. Russian photographer Sergei Produkin-Gorskii traveled throughout the empire at the beginning of the 20th century shooting a series of monochrome shots through different colored filters, then painstakingly combined the color prints into one shot. He created what is, in effect, the first color photography. The process was flawed because the subjects had to be immobile during several shots and, of course, the light changed. But now, the prints can combined digitally and the results are spectacular. The Library of Congress has an online exhibition, but start here.

He took thousands of photos across the whole Russian empire. Sometimes its so hard to imagine what the people and places in old black and white photographs really looked like. Now you get to see, and the subjects are so incredibly compelling!  I go pretty much mental when I see something like this.

Melon sellers in Azerbaijan and Central Asia today look exactly like this guy, back in 1910. Amazing stuff.

Kick-Ass Central Asia Photos

I've posted about photog Chris Herwig here before and the damn fine time we had travelling with him through Turkmenistan. He's got two new photobooks of his work in Central Asia, and as always, they kick ass. Go look and buy.

Orange Devolution

Everyone knows I don't care about politics, and other folks are writing about Ukraine's chaos so read about it there. Look at the pretty pictures here.

I believe that says "Moroz Betrayed Maydan." Sigh.  I always though he was a pretty straightfoward guy, but he lived up to his reputation for being very wily.

I'm sure this little dude isn't intentionally omitting anything orange from his wardrobe.

Spring has come and gone. Summer is short and fiery. Winter is not far off.

This was on Thursday morning, I think. There were more tents there yesterday, even after Friday morning's biblical deluge. Hard to know what those kids are protesting this time though. Cravenness? Not getting their way? The Russian winter on the horizon?

Prediction

I think this football/soccer phenomenon is really here to stay! Apparently, it's not just for suburban 8 year-olds. They totally dig this game here!

Much to everyone's surprise and elation, first-time World Cuppers Ukraine topped Switzerland in a duel to make it into the Top 8. This, I've been told, is very, very good. In response, thousands streamed onto Maidan last night at 1 am to writhe about, wave flags, throw beer bottles and remove their shirts.

BOOBIES WENT BYE BYE
 

It wouldn't be Ukraine if some girl wasn't taking off her clothes in public

Since I live about 50 steps from the Maidan and was out "watching" the game anyway, I joined the crowd, but I kept my shirt on.

Interestingly, it seemed a majority of the cars on the road were Oligarch-mobiles -- high end Bimmers, Hummers, Mercedes etc. Perhaps its because the working class had other things to do at 2am on a Monday.

Ah well. Crazy kids. More photos to follow.

Kyiv Wedding Party

couple, originally uploaded by Carpetblogger.

It's traditional for wedding parties to visit the monument to the unknown soldier in Kyiv to lay flowers and take photos.

Photos of Dushanbe

If you're never likely to travel the road to Dushanbe, you should check out some super photos of the Tajik capital -- even though Carpetblog isn't cool enough for her to link to anymore. Damn doo-gooders trying to help people and shit. Whatevs.

Have I ever mentioned how I believe Spies Like Us, featuring Dan Akroyd as Emmett Fitzhume and Chevy Chase as Austin Millbarge, is a modern re-enactment of the Great Game? It totally is! Doctor, Doctor. Doctor, Doctor.