Brutalism in Almaty: concrete under a black sky
Soviet modernism and brutalism in Almaty, shot in black and white to look like infrared: rounded balconies, concrete lattices, a building like a face.
I am a big fan of architecture, and of Soviet modernism and brutalism above all, so in Almaty I arrived with buildings in mind: the Palace of the Republic, the Wedding Palace, the Arasan baths, the Green Bazaar, the cathedral in its park. But most of this album comes from the other half of the method: getting lost on purpose, walking the streets without a plan and looking for whatever would be beautiful, with a restaurant or a shop on the way.
Between the mountains and the concrete
Almaty sits at the foot of mountains so high and so white, and still so far away. Everything is big: the mountains, the steppe around, and the buildings too. Soviet-era blocks stand next to modern and traditional buildings, and the concrete takes every shape: rounded balconies stacked into towers, patterned screens over office windows, diamond lattices, stone-clad facades cut by deep windows.
Why the sky is black
The style tries to reproduce what a +720nm infrared filter would show me. A blue or light sky renders as a dark grey, almost black, the shadows go heavy, and the building keeps a strong contrast between its highlights and its shadows. The concrete becomes the only light thing in the frame.
A flail and a face
Two titles need an explanation. Kazakh flail is a round modernist building with curved concrete fins all around it, catching the sun. Round, concrete, with spikes: a flail.
A face is a stone-clad facade seen close, with deep windows and one sharp concrete blade casting its shadow. Up close, the angles and the shadows turn the building into a face. Without the face, it is still a nice repetition.
Looking up at the towers
For the housing blocks I used the 25mm and looked up. Two towers joined by a bridge, rounded balconies on each side and only a narrow slice of sky between them. Balconies bulging from a facade, lit by the sun against the black sky. A brutalist tower seen from its foot, rising to its rounded wings. And between two concrete pillars of a gate, white arches against the grey.
Close on the details
The 56mm went to the details. Patterned concrete screens framing office windows. A diamond lattice with ornamental iron grilles behind the glass. A building wrapped in a diamond metal shell, antennas on its roof and the last light on its upper floors. One metal facade still catching the light above dark trees as night fell on the street. Stepped corners and stone cladding cut by a hard diagonal shadow.
Photographer's notes
Everything here was shot on the X-T5. The details were taken with the 56mm f/1.8, between f/5 and f/8 at 1/3200s and ISO 400. The towers were taken with the 25mm f/1.7, between f/3.2 and f/9 at 1/1000s and ISO 125.
AlbumBrutalism in Almaty
Practical tips
- Mix landmarks and wandering: the Palace of the Republic, the Wedding Palace, the Arasan baths and the Green Bazaar are the landmarks, but much of this album comes from getting lost between them.
- A clear blue sky gives the darkest skies in this black-and-white style.
- Bring two focal lengths: a short one to look up at the towers, a longer one to isolate a pattern or a face.
