Truthful AND deceiving

There are a lot of things I like about this image. I shot it from the Kremlin of Nizhny Novgorod, overlooking the frozen Volga.  The white expanse is actually the river, frozen and covered in snow. The little black dots on it are ice fishermen. They are a bit hard to see at this resolution, but you can see the picture much larger and in better quality at The World Photos. The other reason is that I feel the colours (or lack thereof) really convey the mood and atmosphere of a cold Russian winter afternoon.

In that sense it is a very truthful photo. But, it could easily be deceiving, as well. It might tell a story, which is not true and which is actually the one I erroneously imagined when I first saw this lamp-post. I was very surprised and intrigued, thinking that here the wind must blow pretty hard and in one precise direction, without changing for hours. Only that would justify, or so I reckoned, the snow sticking to only one side of the lamp-post. And I was feeling pretty lucky that I could take a good picture of the “snowy side” as it was facing a nice level road and not the steep, downward side of the hill.  I was thinking exactly that and trying to find a framing I liked for the lamp-post when I heard a vehicle approaching on that very road. I turned and I saw an enormous motorised snowblower much like this one shooting snow a few meters high in the air, to the side of the road and precisely ON the sides of all lamp posts…

Travel tip! Nizhny Novgorod is a delight during summer, when you can stop here during your river cruise from Moscow to the Caspian Sea, but it is also marvellous during winter when everything is snow capped. A very interesting experience is that of riding the Nizhny Novgorod-Bor Cableway. A ride costs less than two Euros/USDs and lasts for almost 15 minutes. “Flying” over the frozen river and banks you can see lots of fishermen in the middle of the white.

Would you like to discover the less known cities and towns in Russia and their less well known local attractions and activities? Do get in touch and we can organise the perfect trip for you!