The Beauty of Afghanistan Remembered

October 22, 2005 1:59 PM

The Beauty of Afghanistan Rememberedis a wonderful photo essay by Joanne Warfield, who went to Afghanistan in 1977 before the Russian invasion. Her photos portray a land and people that probably don't even exist anymore.
posted by Edward King (11 comments total)

hippies in afghanistan remembered.
posted by 3.2.3 at 2:27 PM on October 22, 2005

-sigh-

and to think the regional leader who oversaw the buddhas getting blown up under the taliban was elected to parlament.
posted by Busithoth at 2:56 PM on October 22, 2005

Wow. This photo just floors me when I think about Kabul less than twenty years later.
posted by Guy Smiley at 3:00 PM on October 22, 2005

Beautiful photos. Great post.
posted by kosher_jenny at 3:00 PM on October 22, 2005

Fantastic...I've been reading Sewing Circles of Herat which covers pre- and post-Soviet and Taliban Afghanistan and I've been searching for photos like this. Thank you!
posted by airgirl at 3:07 PM on October 22, 2005

wow... unbelievable...

especially your contribution 3.2.3

thanks.
posted by cusack at 3:11 PM on October 22, 2005

fantastic post. thank you.
posted by nevercalm at 5:07 PM on October 22, 2005

(can't believe so few people got into this post!)
posted by cusack at 10:27 PM on October 22, 2005

Guy Smiley: > I lived with a French woman in Kabul who was married to an Afghan business man, Mr. Sharaffi. She introduced me to the tailor ... when the large gates to the compound opened there were five absolutely beautiful women there to greet us, dressed in their most exquisite clothes. I was dazzled. They were the tailor's family.... Since we were special guests, they were dressed in their finest. The tailor was showing his skill and wealth by dressing the women and children in their (his) most elaborately-decorated and colorful garments. I asked permission to take photographs, which was kindly granted. I knew at the time that this was a unique and special opportunity, since one did not see women dressed this way in the street. It was not acceptable to take photographs of traditional women in public, which I respected and honored. Little did I know at the time what a rare event this was.

Some has changed, and some has not.
posted by dhartung at 1:00 AM on October 23, 2005

Thank you Edward King and thank you 3.2.3
posted by adamvasco at 6:59 AM on October 23, 2005

I wrote to Ms. Warfield and asked about the great difference in quality between some of the photographs. She writes that "...the better ones were taken with Kodachrome (positive slide) film, and they are just as good today as they were in 1977. The faded images were taken with Ektachrome negative film which really deteriorated over time, but I hope to rescan them and try to bring back some of the quality. Because Kodachrome film processing is so toxic, only two labs in the US are licensed to handle it, and it will soon be phased out, -- if it hasn't been already."
posted by Edward King at 7:52 PM on October 23, 2005