Thursday 25 February 2010

Gilgit






I've been sorting through old slides and came across these photos from Gilgit in northern Pakistan, which I took in the early 90s.
At this time it was pretty safe to travel throughout Pakistan and our first trip was from Lahore to the Afgan border town of Peshwar. It was about as exotic a place as I'd ever been, with gun markets and women completely covered in indigo cotton; their faces hidden behind cloth grills.
Gilgit was exotic in a different way. It's seclusion and calm at the time was a welcome break from the crowds and intensity of the cities
. Up here you're in the very beginnings of the foothills of the Himalayas. These purples and blues of early evening remind me so much of beauty of this place, so very diferent from the intense mountain light of the New Zealand alps.


7 comments:

  1. those mountains are magic!
    wow, I would love to go to India one day.

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  2. amazing colors! and i love that chair on the balcony!
    i had family living in pakistan and when i hear their stories i made me really wanna get to that part of the world. now is obviously not the time to explore those lands, but one day.

    and yes, very different to new zealand's vibrant colors!

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  3. I would be truly honored if you gave your poetic advice on my blog of poetry and follow it.

    http://thehumanicana.blogspot.com/

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  4. That first photo is lovely - like layers of hand-made paper.

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  5. Beautiful! Did you read "The Places in Between?" His descriptions (writing about the effects of light on those hills, making purples you don't normally see) of that countryside definitely complement your photographs.

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  6. oops--the question mark should go with my question and not with the title of the book!

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  7. anna - no i haven't read it. thanks for the suggestion.

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