Baghdad long ago Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is another picture from my first journey to the Middle East, in 1970. It is not a great photo, just a snapshot of people and cars in the centre of Baghdad. But by showing a Baghdad that hardly exists any more, it has a certain historic value, I believe.
This is a corner of what was Baghdad's main street in those days, Rashid Street. The sun is setting and the temperature has probably fallen to below 40° Celsius. It's mid-July and exactly two years earlier Saddam Hussein took power, although for the time being as a discreet vice-president.
According to what I have learnt through internet the growth of Baghdad, demographic changes and years of conflict have made Rashid Street a kind of "no go-area", with not much left of the shops, restaurants, cafés and cinemas that attracted large crowds in 1970.
This picture was taken with a very simple camera and is scanned from an Agfa Color slide. I have tried my best to clean it from noise, but careful viewers will no doubt find technical shortcomings. Be my guest.

macondo, noborders, mamcg, fanni trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

skippy007 (7243) 2008-06-28 3:49

Hello Gert, A very interesting historical image & one worth looking at, I wonder what it looks like to day & it's a shame that people may no longer be walking the streets like they are in this scene & enjoying the simple things in life, the cinemas, coffee shops & restaurants.
Thanks for the posting
Regards
Santo

saxo042 (16038) 2008-06-28 4:37

Hej Gert,
As you say, the documentary value of this picture may exceed the photographical. I can agree with that but as a documentation of this city from thirtyeight years ago, it is really worth a lot of smileys!
Hälsningar
Gunnar

macondo (13205) 2008-06-28 6:07

Hello Gert.
The technical shortcomings are irrelevant in this case. It is such an interesting and as you say, historic, photo. Interestingly, I recognise the car on the right, it is a 1950s Ford Consul, from England. One thought I have about this documentary photo is, how many of those people are alive today. I wonder if this was perhaps the best period of their lives, 1970, before Saddam and later the American invasion, changed Iraq. Thanks for this upload.
Regards,
Andrew

noborders (14201) 2008-06-30 7:37

I think that your scan is not bad at all here and I found your note interesting - you are right, it's not the most striking photo from Bagdad but given its age and the recent events, it is a great document : probably better times then, as you write that Saddam had been in power for just 2 years - hope that peace and prosperity for all will one day arrive in this country, it has enough oil to make this dream come true (just today, there have been deals signed I heard on the radio) !
TFS,
Best regards,
Cath.

fanni (8737) 2008-07-07 14:28

Hello Gert,
technical shortcomings of the scanned image are not so important, indeed. What's most valuable is that the moments of Time were captured and "frozen" forever in this picture.
TFS
Elena