Going west, a photo from Kermanshah, West

Photographer's Note

(This is a scan of an old photo of a not very good film, taken with a very simple camera. It will not look better when opened in a new tab).

After spending a couple of days in Esfahan in July 1970 my friend and I set out for Iraq. A modern bus bound for the Persian Gulf brought us to a small town where we had to change to a ramshackle old taxi to take us to Kermanshah, one of the centers of the Kurdish region of Iran. In my diary I described it as a very colourful, noisy, crowded and "exotic" city, completely different from anything we had seen before.

Obviously my friend and I must have been just as exotic to the locals. Most of them had never seen anyone like us before, judging from the crowds of staring people and the comments shouted at us.

The next day we found a crowded shared taxi that brought us to a small town about 20 km before the border. The driver was friendly and seemed amused to have two funny Europeans among his passengers. He kept laughing and joking and at one place he stopped and insisted I should get off and take photos of the nice scenery.

So I did, and here is one of those photos from somewhere in western Iran. (The others are even worse, totally unfit for TE.)

To reach the Iranian border checkpoint we found another shared taxi. Having received our Iranian exit stamps we had to walk for another km through the hot desert to reach the Iraqi border.

pajaran, Fis2, Royaldevon, pierrefonds, jhm, ikeharel, jean113, PaulVDV, aliabazari, mcmtanyel, COSTANTINO, adramad, ChrisJ ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

Silvio1953 (221659) 2022-01-22 0:41

Ciao Gert, fascinating mountain landscape, splendid light, excellent clarity and wonderful colors, very well done, my friend, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

pajaran (115941) 2022-01-22 0:47

Pozdrav.

Lep pogled, dobar tekst ...
Lep put u planine i priroda, dobro pokazano sa lepim bojama, kontrastom, perspektivom i uhvacenim trenutkom sa oblacima.
Dobar rad, lepa fotografija.
Lepo secanje.

Zelim vam lep dan, sve najbolje za vikend.
Paja

Fis2 (170807) 2022-01-22 0:52

Witaj Gert my neighbour today :)!
Another interesting photo from your extensive archive.
Nice landscape.
Good framing and colors.
A very interesting note.
Nice presentation.
Well done.
Have a nice weekend.
Krzysztof

lousat (139298) 2022-01-22 2:36

Hi Gert,your feelings that you tell are wonderful, a lost world, since now tourists have gone everywhere and it is impossible to find virgin sites where people are surprised to see foreigners as it has happened here. The stop that the driver recommended was very useful, the view is wild and reminds me a little of the valleys of southern Morocco. Have a nice weekend and thanks,Luciano

emka (158198) 2022-01-22 3:02

he Gert, The quality is not so bad. Better than some new pictures here. Nice mountainous landscape.
I have got an offer of the journey to Iraq, to see all the interesting places, like Baghdad, Mosul, Babylon and many more. They say, now it is possible and safe. This journey is very expensive, but they give advice on how to travel. If not Covid, who knows??

Best regrads MAlgo

Royaldevon (85932) 2022-01-22 4:04

Hello Gert,

Your photograph shows just how rugged and isolating this part of the country is. The lack of greenery stands out, to me, who is used to seeing greenery all around. It looks unsuitable for even raising goats.
Having said that, there is a wild beauty.

You describe the poor quality of the photograph which, to me, is not bad at all and it shows your natural skill with composition.

Kind regards,
Bev :-)

pierrefonds (114494) 2022-01-22 5:26

Hi Gert,

The road is taking my eyes toward the mountain in the bacground which is giving depth to the composition. The point of view is showing the details of the mountains. There is a good contrast between the colors of the picture. Have a nice day.

Pierre

jhm (211736) 2022-01-22 6:06

Hello Gert,

So fantastic panorama view fifty two year old, almost not to believe
Also nice curving of the road this lead us to the infinity between the mountains.
Nice composition excellent presentation too.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice weekend,
John.

jean113 (27887) 2022-01-22 9:50

Hello Gert, very interesting notes to accompany this scene.
You were very adventurous and brave travelling as you did.
The driver probably did you a favour insisting that you get out of the vehicle to take some views; who knew that you would be sharing them with us in 2022?
A barren landscape.
Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards, Jean.

jmdias (115208) 2022-01-22 11:55

gert

looks like the iran occupied the hilly areas and iraq the plain ones.
a nice view of the almost desertic landscape with interesting arid slopes cut by the highway.

take care

jorge

PaulVDV (62944) 2022-01-22 14:10

Hello Gert,
I was never in Iranian Kurdistan. Just because you have to make choices, certainly not because I avoided that part of the country. I was in Turkish Kurdistan and in the 1980s there was also the situation where people could stare at you with their mouths open. Simply because they saw so few strangers there at the time.
An Iranian refugee living in Belgium told me in the 1990s that he thought the Kurdish part of his country was dangerous...
I have never experienced anything dangerous anywhere in Iran. However, other travellers had less good experiences in the border area with Pakistan (Zahedan).
Luckily you didn't have to go all the way to the Persian Gulf. I see you were travelling in the month of July. I have been to one place on the Persian Gulf, Bushehr, and that too in July. The climate there was to fall over from the heat and air humidity...
The landscape of your photo looks very nice to travel through and to enjoy it through the bus window.
It didn't seem very busy there at the time.
Best regards, Paul

ifege (48135) 2022-01-22 15:35

Hi Gert
Sounds like quite an adventurous trip getting to Iraq. Not a perfect photo but good enough to show us the landscape in that region.
cheers
Ian

aliabazari (22233) 2022-01-22 20:39

Hello Gert
You have a beautiful view of this road. Your memories show your motivation and love for photography and knowing the world, and you have put a lot of effort into it. I wish you health and longevity. Thanks for sharing

mcmtanyel (68569) 2022-01-22 21:22

Hello Gert,
I am glad the taxi driver insisted you take a photo. You might not think much of it, but I like the curving road disappearing into arid mountains.
Regards,
MT

COSTANTINO (116542) 2022-01-22 23:09

Hello dearGert
have a pleasant new week for tomorrow
a photo from you in order to travel
with you once more...
thanks for the sharing
regards
Costantino

jemaflor (147184) 2022-01-22 23:58

Hi Gert,
nice view of this landscape with these moutains and the curve of the road, like an invitation to continue the trip, tfs.

ikeharel (113385) 2022-01-23 3:29

Many thanks for your latest supportig critique, Gert.
Wonderful rural area in a country that most people would not travel there. Though, in 1970 it was more freely visited.
Excellent scanned photo.
Have a nice sunday afternoon,
Ike

GyurMaster (24838) 2022-01-23 3:42

Dear Gert,

The road starts from one square of the picture and curiously disappears at the roughly the vertical-horizontal third. I also like that this point is illuminated unlike the fg. Its a good photo and the note is interesting too!

Best Wishes,
Gy.

adramad (73004) 2022-01-23 11:36

Hi Gert.
Quite an adventure to make this trip in those years, only two people and without a guide, in these countries where there was always a risk.
A wild landscape divided by the narrow road, which conveys the lack of human life and a certain loneliness.
Good job. I like it.
Have a good week.
Very best regards.
Luis.

ChrisJ (171852) 2022-01-24 6:19

Hi Gert,

This looks similar to the road across the Atlas Mountains ranges in northern Morocco. The road here adds good lead in lines and perspective. Good sharpness and warm cold colour contrasts. Tfs!

saxo042 (38078) 2022-01-29 6:05

Hej Gert,
Vägen leder ögat in mot den tydliga diagonalen i bilden. Bilden är dessutom helt fri från något mänskligt inslag. Men det kanske räcker nu?
Hälsningar
Gunnar

foxy (3461) 2022-01-31 7:06

Hello Gert,
It's an old photo ... but it has a beautiful cinematic scene like a film 'storytelling'.
Your adventures ... to live and breath dangerously :-)
Ha!Ha! if the title said , Going North West ... this long and winding road through the dry barren hills will lead you eventually ... 'Back Home'.
I do like this picture with the rolling hills as b/g , it gives me a sense of heading to the no man's land ... a bit intimidating.
Thanks for the 'Screenwriting Shot' especially using a good old time machine :-)
Loong

kasianowak (17676) 2022-02-08 5:34

Still, it's nice to have a record of this journey on camera and, again, I don't think it's a bad photo. The landscape is quite amazing and I like the way the road shows a sense of perspective.
Your note reminds me of my own travels - modern buses from Shiraz to Yazd to Esfahan to Sanandaj and then public transport became scarce. Thanks to currency exchange anomaly that occurred in January 2019 I travelled to many places by private taxis (it wasn't worth waiting for a shared taxi to fill in to save e.g. 2 euros) but also by shared taxis and one bus that I can safely say was the slowest bus I'd ever been on.
Thanks for bringing those memories back!
Have a nice afternoon.
Kasia