Postcard from Ibb, a photo from Ibb, West

Photographer's Note

During my journey through Yemen in 1998 I spent a day in Ibb, the country's fifth city (population today probably close to 200 000), situated roughly 200 km south of Sanaa.

Like in most Yemeni cities lots of houses in Ibb are built like towers, home to an extended family and their cattle and designed to be easily protected. There are not a lot of great sights in Ibb but I had a nice day. As happened most of the time in Yemen I met a number of amazingly helpful and friendly people.

This picture, scanned from a Kodachrome slide, shows a very ordinary street towards the outskirts of the city.

dta, patdeph, SNOOP_Chan, Budapestman, mkamionka, Didi, adores, bukitgolfb301, macjake, ChrisJ, tyro, bayno, Kielia, vasilpro, Angshu, abmdsudi, kato, ourania has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

danyy (0) 2012-02-15 7:44

Bonjour Gert,
jolie carte postale mais l'avant plan ne mérite pas d'y figurer. J'aime le traitement des lumières en sous-exposition ce qui permet des contrastes forts et des couleurs plus franches.
Un village tout à fait typique.
Compliments.
Daniel.

dta (51334) 2012-02-15 9:28

Hello Gert ,
This is a country that I should like to discover one day . Unfortunatly , this is not the good moment , now .
This is a superb exemple of the outstanding yemenite architecture . The moutains in the BG look superb , rather green .
Thnaks for the share .

annjackman (13183) 2012-02-15 9:29

Hello Gert,
I find this picture fascinating. We do not see many pictures of daily life in Yemen so this is a great TE contribution. The towers are beautifully captured in this scan and the colours look realistic. TFS.
Best wishes, Ann

patdeph (35738) 2012-02-15 10:21

hello Gert
like everywhere in Yemen, the houses are splendid,and this village is in superb place, in the mountains.What a pity that it's impossible to go there now, as soon as it will be possible, I will go, this is a dream.
Regards
Pascale

dale54 (4920) 2012-02-15 11:48

gert hi,nice shot,i like it alot.great note to this pic.i sure does look old!great view too!have a great day! dr

saxo042 (31794) 2012-02-15 11:49

Hej Gert,
A fine contrast between the dark background hills and the lighter buildings in the foreground. An interesting and quite special architecture and an interesting TE contribution.
Hälsningar
Gunnar

Budapestman (82620) 2012-02-15 12:06

Hi Gert,
a very spectacular view with fantastic architectural details and I like the composition and the atmosphere of the photo, superb POV and lights, Tfs! Have a nice evening! Kellemes estét kívánok!
György

mkamionka (24477) 2012-02-15 12:32

Hi Gert,
thank you for sharing again a view from such a rarely seen couintry on TE. Amazing place, very interesting architecture, this seems like an insight into an unknown world.
Very well done,
M

Didi (48882) 2012-02-15 16:42

Hi Gert
Nice typical picture of this country; original houses
Interesting view but the foreground looks a little bit busy :)
Best regards

adores (28182) 2012-02-15 17:22

Hi Gert!
I really like you Yemen series:)! A good shot of this city! Probably it hasn't changed that much meanwhile. I like your pov and colours are really good!

bukitgolfb301 (30053) 2012-02-15 22:19

Hi my dear Gert

Great shot you catch indeed! So tasetful and significant one for the great regacy! Perfect framework and well considered composition! Thanks for your sharinig with finest work and have a good day!
Best regrads,

Takero from cold north area, preparaing for tomorrow shooting

emka (58078) 2012-02-15 23:49

Hi Gert, I haven't been to Yemen, must be fascinating cou ntry and with unique architecture. Amazing buildings. Interesting to see this country rarely visited by Trekkers. Warm regrads

Malgo

dkmurphys (36737) 2012-02-16 1:57

Hi Gert,
Lovely old photo. A big chaos there, I wonder how the place changed till today. Well seen, have a nice afternoon.

Daniel

macjake (39207) 2012-02-16 3:33

Hi Gert
wow, this one is amazing.
How many people would think of Yemen as a vacation spot! good on ya!
and again, this is exactly why i love TE so much, as this truly is a cultural photo.
so interesting and educational to view these homes.
I wonder how this exact spot looks today!
Cheers
Craig

Gerrit (43739) 2012-02-16 6:49

Hi Gert,
wonderful old houses in this mountainous part of the arab world.
I can't say it looks very appealing but it's a great shot.
regards, Gerrit

wolf38 (28146) 2012-02-16 7:52

Hello Gert. A typical village in the rocky Yemen. Many houses look like fortresses. And the Yemenis are really brave and valiant, if they are attacked. This small village also shows the backwardness of the region. Since 1998, there is not much changed. This documentary photo pleases me well. Rgds, Wolfgang.

ChrisJ (86818) 2012-02-16 8:01

Hello Gert

Looks like a fascinating country to visit. Good layering here with the blue sky, green hill then stone buildings, then the road in the fg. The people & cars animate the scene. Punchy light contrasts & superb sharpness & saturation. Tfs!

Graal (88820) 2012-02-16 23:13

Hi Gert,
good photo from Your archive. An interesting old walls of town in Yemen. Photo is well done and scan also.
Have a nice day.
Aleksander

everlasting (13803) 2012-02-17 2:41

I love your postcards from a forgotten era, Gert. Splendid details in your scan

tyro (13043) 2012-02-17 2:43

Hello Gert,

This, again, is a wonderful photograph considering that it has been scanned from a Kodachrome slide.

The first impression is that these buildings, when first constructed, must have been incredibly beautiful. The second impression, however, is to wonder as to whether they have refuse collectors here or if everyone just dumps all their rubbish over the nearest wall?

But this is an incredible snapshot of life in this city fourteen years ago with lovely colours, good composition and remarkable quality.

Fascinating!

Kind Regards,

John.

Nicou (97583) 2012-02-17 6:07

Hello

Fantastique compo e tiamge quels tons quelle couleur et iamge sueprbe vue avec la belle colline ce ciel sueprbe.

Bravo et amitié

Nicou

bayno (16149) 2012-02-18 7:30

Hi Gert,
fabulous view of this old village, interesting architecture, I know that Yemen has a long history, beautiful light and natural colors,
have a good WE, Valter

Kielia (20411) 2012-02-18 8:58

Dear Gert,
I appreciate a lot that you are again presenting us lesser known regions of this wonderful planet. You have composed a fascinating impression of this interesting architecture in this nice light! Excellent photo work, my compliments!
Warm regards
Harriet

vasilpro (40172) 2012-02-18 10:56

Hello Gert,
Wonderful composition from Yemen back to 1998, interesting architectural details, excellent POV, very nice framework, very good quality from a scanned slide, TfS!
Have a nice weekend, Vasilis.

aloyho (6705) 2012-02-18 18:38

Hi Gert,
I must first congratulate you for having preserved your earlier collections so well, the good scan and fantastic pp, that allowed me to fully appreciate and enjoy this shot. I love the three sections in this shot with each showing its own beauty. The buildings are very interesting and your shot portrayed their charm and characteristics very well while the colours are simply superb. Brilliant piece of work!!

Warmest regards,
Aloysius

siamesa (27449) 2012-02-19 15:50

Boa noite Gert

A country that I would like to know more about it.
Very interesting capture and an excellent point of view. TFS
Abraços
maria

Angshu (51174) 2012-02-25 6:04

Hello Gert
This fortress like houses nestling below the hill looks good. The group of houses are well illuminated against the shaded parts of the hill. The scan quality is simply excellent!
Best Regards
Angshu

eldancer1 (16984) 2012-02-28 9:01

And it is a beautiful postcard. Good pov and it has a good dof with good details. Great lighting and wonderful colors. Well done, tfs.

abmdsudi (26151) 2012-03-31 8:36

Hi Gert
Fascinating old town, much of it looks like falling into disrepair and the gritty surround of the beaten architecture. What I find special is the cylinderical tower houses in the near foreground which resembles Europe medieval town, surrounded traditional box houses. Excellent framing and optimally positioned at a stretegic location with good range of tones and blue and green background is great relief to the eyes. Its a really unique characterful old town village in rugged environment but it's a wonderful capture. Excellent record shot, Congrats
Best regards

kato (6745) 2012-04-27 19:00

Hello Gert,

You're capturing well this cityscape by a good composition and excellent tone/clarity, so it's interesting and impressive to see a lot of old houses with stone-made/low tower in the foot of a mountain. The smell of a life is felt although it cannot say that it is not much beautiful.
Have a nice day.

Kind regards,
mikio

ourania (12331) 2012-12-27 7:47

Hello Gert,
this is a lovely, peaceful and utterly fascinating view. The antique stone village looks inhabited and its amazing to think how many generations have lived there in almost the same conditions except a few modern additions by current tenants. The point of view is great as it includes the whole of the settlement, the mountain above it and the road below. Perspective and depth are superb, the strong light is very pleasing and has a wonderful effect on the colours too. Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a lovely evening,
Ourania

Miguel82 (7717) 2013-04-05 12:16

Wonderful shot of this rarely visited country,
Authentic architecture, a really good document
Excellent colors and nice landscape
Regards