A boy plays in a pile of corn husks on Sept. 16 during the first corn harvest of the season in Supsa, Georgia. Corn is a staple in western Georgia, where it is used to feed farm animals and prepare "mchadi," or corn bread, which is eaten at lunch and dinner.
Molly Corso is a freelance journalist who also works as editor of Investor.ge, a monthly publication by the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia.
The face of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic, is seen in the process of being tattooed on a man's leg at Istanbul's first tattoo convention, which was held September 15-16. The owner of the tattoo stepped outside for a cigarette in the middle of getting the inking on his upper leg.
Images of Ataturk and his signature are popular tattoos for Turks, who want to express their belief in his secular ideals. Often, tattoo artists will give Ataturk tattoos for free on November 10, the anniversary of his death.
Many tattoo artists say the permanent ink image of Ataturk has become more popular recently as Turkey's ruling Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) gives fresh importance to religion in Turkish society.
Justin Vela is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
Tamar Kiknadze, dubbed "Mother Madonna," sits in a half-built house in the center of Tbilisi that serves as a shelter for herself, four dogs, and more than 10 cats. Kiknadze, homeless herself, says she started sheltering abandoned pets three years ago, when she picked up a stray dog and started taking care of him. Kiknadze, very protective of her charges, receives money from private donations to make sure the pets are vaccinated, well fed, and healthy.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Roland Girgvliani, 68, spreads oat on the road in Upper Svaneti as the passing cars run over it, thus threshing it. Girgvliani says that this method was started during Soviet times, substituting the traditional ox driven threshers. The unorthodox practice became useless with the deterioration of the road following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Girgvliani says that since then, many people chose to grow vegetables instead of crops that required threshing. With the recent development of tourism in Svaneti, the road was renovated, and farmers such as Girgvliani recovered the decades-old method of 'car threshing.'
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Photojournalist Anahit Hayrapetyan covered the recent election for the de-facto president of Nagorno Karabakh. Anahit, who is originally from the breakaway region in the South Caucasus, traveled to several villages and the capital Stepanakert to catch up on how the region is faring during the unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan.
Anahit Hayrapetyan is a freelance photojournalist based in Yerevan.
Nika Gugeshashvili, a local guide, looks at a stalagmite in a cave around Oni, a major town in the mountain region of Racha, Georgia. An adjacent region to the intensively promoted Svaneti, Racha remains mostly unknown to foreign tourists.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
A girl cools off in Bishkek’s central Ala-Too Square on Saturday. Getting drenched in the city’s fountains is a favorite summer pastime for kids in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, though this one seems to have gotten wetter than she’d bargained for.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
Several thousand Georgians attended the Didgoroba festival in the region of Kvemo Kartli near the capital Tbilisi on August 12. The annual gathering on the field of Didgori celebrates a 12th Century victory of Georgian troops against Seljuk Turks.
Playing around an armored military vehicle, many of the people attending wore caps and T-shirts with inscriptions "I ♥ Georgia" and "5", a pre-election campaign slogan and the ballot paper number respectively for the United National Movement, Georgia's ruling party.
This year's gathering appeared to have a more political slant, as police controlling access to the field only allowed "those on the list" to enter, with no mention of what the list was. At one point police stopped, about five kilometers from the Didgori field, several minibuses with young activists from government opposition party Georgian Dream. Several folk art groups refused to perform at the festival as a protest against strong political support of Georgia President Mikheal Saakashvili, who made a speech at the gathering.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Young Tbilisians explore the historic mountain village of Shatili during the annual Shatiloba folk festival on August 4. Based in Georgia’s highlands region of Khevsureti near Chechnya, the festival features horse races by locals, traditional music, and folk dancers.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
Newlyweds in post-Soviet Central Asia hold some traditions especially dear. Before gathering with friends and family for the big feast, a wedding party will likely hit their city’s hot spots, stopping at scenic parks and important monuments (often including a WWII memorial) for a toast, a photo session, and maybe a quick dance. Their procession of cars, festooned with ribbons and often led by a hired limo, will race around town, usually getting no more than a wink from the sympathetic traffic police.
Saturdays are popular wedding days in Osh, with several parties descending on the same park, enjoying music piped in from a nearby café. Here, a few Saturdays ago, a bride celebrates in a park named for Alimbek Datka, a local 19th-century feudal lord.
David Trilling is EurasiaNet's Central Asia editor.
