35mm

In the camp

My photographer friends and I from the “Photokarton” community have been camping by the Tvertsa River for two seasons in a row. More specifically, we’ve been camping on a small clearing between the river and a forest in the Spirov District of the Tver region. We set up camp under the shade of pine trees near a bend in a fast-flowing river and set up everything we needed, like a shower, a makeshift water tank, and a table for a shared lunch. All this became possible thanks to the father of one of our comrades – Ilya, and, of course, Ilya himself. A Ilya’s father brought us drinking water from the spring each time and picked us up and drove us to the campsite. The campsite is not very accessible for people without a car, and the nearest train station is located in the village of Spirovo. Spirovo is the center of the district of the same name (now a municipal district) and is located about 10 kilometers from our camp.

Our camp in the first year – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

Ilya is chopping – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

The Tvertsa River is a tributary of the Volga. In this area, the river takes on an unusual brown or even “tea” color. This hue is a natural phenomenon caused by the river’s flow through forests and marshes. The water gets its color from the high content of humic acids and peat compounds washed out of the soil by tributary streams and rivers. This effect is completely safe for the local ecosystem, and the river’s water is considered quite clean and is home to many species of fish.

In fact, the water is perfectly clean, and many people swim in the river without any problems.

To the village of Babye

Not far from the campsite is the village of Babye. The ruins of an old, beautiful church remain in this village. The village is located on both sides of the Tvertsa River and is connected by a solid reinforced concrete bridge, which, incidentally, leads nowhere except to houses on the other side of the river. The history of the village and its old church goes back centuries.

In Babye – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

The first mention of the church, and consequently the village, dates back to 1583. According to legend, after the Time of Troubles, when Livonian bands invaded the village and slaughtered its entire male population, only women remained – and the village became known as Babye – “Women’s village” / “place of women” – if you translate the toponym literally. The legend is not supported by historical records but such names of villages are often found in Russia and Ukraine and may well indirectly confirm at least the theory of an entirely female population – wars often passed through these lands in ancient times. Babye was previously a large village on the old road from Vydropuzhsk to Spirovo, not far from the Moscow-St. Petersburg road (highway now). The adornment of the old settlement is the partially preserved buildings and a remarkable example of classical architecture of the classical era – the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1812-1823).

The surviving part of the church brick fence – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

Part of the church has been stabilized to prevent further deterioration, but repairs are not ongoing. The bell tower and most of the structure are in ruins, but it is possible to climb the old brick staircase to the second floor of the former bell tower. Like many churches I’ve encountered in ancient Russian sites, it is located on a hill, offering a beautiful view of the river and the village beyond. Near the church, part of the old stone fence and several tombstones remain.

A bird flew into the preserved part of the church through a dome window and became trapped.

Almost every morning I went for a walk to the village of Babye to watch the morning fog gradually dissipate and the sun illuminate everything around. The locals keep horses, which they sometimes let out to graze freely. One day, the horses showed curiosity towards me: one white horse came up and let me pet its massive head.

Sun glare – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

The morning mist is one of my favorite sights. The mist quickly burns off in the morning sun, and I only had about 30 minutes to enjoy it. Now, as far as I know, the village is almost entirely occupied by summer residents, and it’s probably quite deserted in winter. In the morning I heard only one rooster and met only a couple of goats.

The bottom photos are for comparison on film – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

and also on film:

The absence of people, the mist, and the dew-covered grass created the most magical feeling of this place. It felt as if everything around was ghostly, and that at dawn the village would disappear and reappear only after sunset.

Early misty morning – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

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Kasimov is a town with an interesting history, without exaggeration: founded as Gorodets Meshchersky, later turned into a guard fortress and then given to the Tatar princes Kasim and Yakub in gratitude for their help to Tsar Vasily the Dark. This is how the Kasimov Khanate emerged – the largest Tatar Muslim center in Russia at that time. In the late 17th century, after the end of the Time of Troubles and during the reign of the last ruler – Regent Dowager Fatima Sultan, the Kasimov Khanate finally became part of Russia. Today Kasimov is a small town (administrative center) in the Ryazan region on the banks of the Oka River, where two cultures have intertwined, preserving their characteristics through the centuries – like a sanctuary land.

View of Kasimov from the opposite bank of the Oka River

My journey from Moscow was not very long and flew by almost unnoticed. Kasimov greeted me with a completely peaceful and calm provincial atmosphere, even calmer than the polar city of Vorkuta, which I visited relatively recently.

Typical Kasimov houses outside the main street

This photo expedition was supposed to last only three and a half days, and I knew that they would be very eventful. From early morning until sunset. Luckily, I went to bed early, and therefore always got enough sleep.

The entire expedition can be divided into four parts. The first day turned out to be relatively warm and sunny. Early in the morning I went to the historical center of Kasimov. The central Cathedral Square is an ensemble of 19th century buildings, and it seems to me that the town as a whole has retained its appearance from the century before last. But little remains of the distant khan’s past. Just as the Russians adopted a lot from the Tatars, so the Tatars adopted European-Russian architecture. After this, the Tatars began to build mansions in the architectural style more familiar to Europeans (sometimes with the addition of something oriental).

Houses and city estates

The first thing that catches your eye on the square is the shopping arcade or «linen hall» from the 19th century. Linen hall is a common thing for any old town in central Russia, and they have been preserved in many cities. But in Kasimov I saw much more majestic buildings, with ancient preserved doors and gates and generally similar to the ancient Roman forum (the commercial and economic center (square) of the ancient Roman / Greek town).

The brick columns, arches and half-ruined vaulted passages into the basements, as well as the closed old gates – all this made a sad, but also majestic impression on me. My imagination immediately completed the image of how people traded and worked here in the past, how it all looked in those days. I have never been to Rome, but I have seen ancient ruins of the Greco-Roman town of Chersonesos in Crimea, and I realized that in front of me was a more modern version of Empire and Classicism.

The architect of the presented shopping arcades was Ivan Sergeevich Gagin, a hereditary merchant and self-taught architect. He also designed the Empire style porches for the church on photographs below.

In this square, a little away from the crumbling “forum”, there are modern one – temporary tents that are dismantled every night and reassembled as soon as the sun appears. Even one of the restored “forum” buildings is not in use and stands closed.

Closed gates of empty part of the restored “forum”

Modern trade on film – Kodak Ektachrome E100D

Near one of the authentic residential buildings, I met some guys who were unsuccessfully trying to start an old Soviet motorcycle. One of the guys told his friend that he didn’t want a Chinese motorcycle, but wanted to restore this one. He thought it was more reliable and more beautiful – “it’s less plastic”.

“Х”I want to restore it! It already starts and only a couple of parts need to be replaced”

The town is mainly populated by private houses, there are just few apartments, and fortunately they are not very high.

Top and bottom Kodak Ektachrome E100D

Following the roads along the Oka River, I reached the Khan’s Mosque. Next to it is the mausoleum of noble people and khans of Kasimov – takya (left photo below). There are 2 of them in the town. As I understand it, originaly, this is something similar to the cells of Christian monks or the dwellings of religious hermits.

Nearby on the square there is a monument to those who died in the Great Patriotic War and the Eternal Flame. For reference: The Eternal Flame in Russia has no religious connotations and symbolizes the people’s eternal memory of fallen heroes, fighters for the freedom of the Motherland.

After the lunch break, I headed to the next “Roman ruins” – the Barkovs’ house, built in the early 19th century. The house was wooden with a brick Corinthian portico and a stone ground floor (often called an “earth” floor) – that was the accepted way to build here, and besides, it was cheaper.

Kodak Ektachrome E100D

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the house burned down in 2020, and after that only the colonnade and that very ground floor remained. Wooden houses in many old Russian cities burned down more often than they were rebuilt. Those that survived the Soviet era received no funding for restoration, and their fate seemed predetermined. Restoring a wooden house is more expensive than building a new one, especially if significant restoration or foundation replacement is required.

I climbed these ruins and took a photo of the view of the Oka River. These ruins look as if they are “romantic”, i.e. artificially created for aesthetics. My expedition mate shared his opinion that it would be better to preserve something like this as ruins rather than restore it. Personally, I am not a fan of this, but in a weak economy, this may be a solution, and perhaps future generations will be able to restore such buildings.

In the evening, the organizers of our expedition staged a photo shoot with artificial light.

Unusual houses on the way to an evening photo session-training

I really don’t like taking staged photos, and mostly, I took pictures of things unrelated to the main task.

In the second half of photo shooting, we moved to a nearby abandoned site, where there was a small wooden house, more like a summer house than a permanent house.