This isn't the sort of image I usually post, not because I don't think it has merit – I do – but because it isn't really a stand-alone image: it just looks like a quick shot of an old Lada parked outside a Lidl's supermarket. And that's exactly what it is: taken with my iPhone while shopping, then five minutes processing in Photoshop, then blogged.
Despite its apparent lack of merit I've posted it is because it's an exemplar of one of the types of images I feel I should be shooting, but refrain from doing so on the basis that they're "not bloggable" – they won't generate many comments or start any interesting discussions – simply because they don't work on their own so won't tempt too many of you to open the comments window to read what I have to say.
What's missing is the backstory: the context within which this image, or images like it would make sense. In this case the story is a simple one. As most of you know, we've been living in Bulgaria (on and off) for the last three years, in a small rural village about 20km away from Veliko Tarnovo, the former capital of the Second Bularian Empire.
One of the things I find most fascinating about the country is the split between the old and the new. For example, some of the larger towns are quite close to their western European counterparts in terms of the availability of goods, things to do, contemporary culture, and so on, while in many villages it's still quite common to transport things around using a horse and cart, fetch water from the well, and grow most of your own food.
And it's that split that makes this image interesting for me. Admittedly, it's not a shot of a horse and cart parked outside Lidl's (a supermarket chain that only arrived in Bulgaria during the last twelve months), nor a shot of a Trabant – probably the most dated East-European car we still see driving around the towns and villages – but it is a shot of a car that represents the "old", parked outside a supermarket that represents the "new".
Whether that's sufficient justification to blog this shot is debatable, so let me know if you'd like to see more of this type of image. And don't worry, I won't be offended if you say no. Do let me know though.
