Graffiti in an Archway Near Bookshop "Na Liteynom"

It is a wonderful winter day in this old courtyard in Saint-Petersburg, covered by fresh snow.

As the archway and the courtyard have been a favorite place for graffiti painters for a long time, as the bookshop "Na Liteynom" is the favourite place for book collectors, students and scientists. Here they can find rare and old books (to my surprise I've found reference to this shop in traveller's guide "St Petersburg" issued by "Lonely Planet" publishing house - 3rd edition, "Where to buy" section).

Behind the bookshop's entrance the second courtyard is thickly covered by graffiti. But be carefull and get ready to meet some strange person !

Some years ago (approximately 2001) booksellers caught one of graffiti painters and asked him to paint a new masterpiece in place of an old advertisment of a bookshop. The theme of new graffiti was inspired by the illustrations of Alexander Florenskiy for fable "Frol the First Bookprinter" written by Vladimir Shinkarev. Five illustrations were replicated on the wall of the archway.

The fable can be formulated briefly as "old books-money in cash-tasty supper". Two times in text of the fable Frol is compared with a dog (Hi, China - 2006 is the Year of the Dog). I regret that I cannot present English translation of the modern Russian fable, but you can enjoy other stories and drawings at homepage of art-group "Mitki".

Every time I visit the bookshop, I notice that well-known pictures in an archway have been covered with new graffiti, destroying them. That is why I suspect that if the WWP community approves an event theme "Changes" then I will come here again with tripod and camera.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! Have easy stitching and bright panoramas !

Europe / Russia-Urals West

Lat: 59° 55' 59" N
Long: 30° 20' 51" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

Hardware: Pentax *ist35 mm film camera, Fisheye MC Zenitar-K (Pentax) 16mm f/2.8 lens, shoted on Fuji Reala ISO 100 film at 1/8s f/2.8, scanned by CreoScitex Eversmart pro 2 scanner at 2540 dpi resolution (maximal optical resolution), Falcon Eyes tripod, self-made panoramic head.

Software: Adobe Photoshop (for removing of crops after film scanning), PTGui (30-day trial version) (for pano stitching), PanoTools by Helmut Dersch (for pano creating), Pano2QTVR version 0.9.0 by Thomas Rausher (for MOV-making).

Чудесный зимний день в старом петербургском дворе. Двор покрыт свежим снегом.

Насколько подворотня и двор являются излюбленным местом художников граффити, настолько книжный магазин "На Литейном" привлекает к себе собирателей книг, студентов и ученых, которые могут найти здесь редкие и старые книги (к своему удивлению, я обнаружил ссылку на этот магазин в путеводителе по Петербургу издательства Lonely Planet - 3-е издание, раздел "Where to buy"). Второй двор за входом в магазин густо покрыт граффити. Но будьте осторожны и готовы к встрече с какой-нибудь странной личностью !

Несколько лет назад (приблизительно в 2001 году) работники магазина поймали одного из художников стен и предложили нарисовать новый шедевр вместо старой рекламы магазина. Тема росписи была навеяна иллюстрациями Александра Флоренского к басне Владимира Шинкарева "Первопечатник Фрол". Пять рисунков были воспроизведены на стене подворотни.

Вкратце суть басни можно выразить формулой "старые книги-наличные деньги-вкусный ужин". Дважды в тексте басни Фрол сравнивается с собакой (привет Китаю - 2006-й год - год Собаки). К сожалению, невозможно привести английский перевод этой современной русской басни, а другими историями и рисунками можно насладиться на домашней странице "Митьков".

Каждый раз, посещая это магазинчик, я замечаю, что привычные рисунки в подворотне покрываются новыми граффити, разрушающими их. Поэтому, я подозреваю, что когда сообщество "Панорамы со всего света" утвердит темой акции "Перемены" (Changes), то я приду сюда снова со штативом и камерой.

Счастливого Рождества и веселого Нового года ! Желаю легкой обработки и ярких панорам !

It was snowfall on this day - December 18, 2005, that is why I decided to shot panorama under roof. I was planning to shot this place yet for "Marketplace" event, but I've shooted more noble place - Gostiny Dvor and Nevsky Prospekt. There was Sunday noon and there were no shoppers here.

I mounted tripod and adjusted it by spirit level and only then I noticed "low batteries" blinking on camera's screen. I unmounted tripod (because i'm still working without assistent) and went to buy batteries type CR2.

20 minutes later I made 4 series of shots from opposite ends ot the archway, 6 shots in horizontal row and 2 shots for zenith.

After scanning of film I begun to stitch photos by Realviz Stitcher, but it failed to stitch. Then I downloaded trial version of PTGui and pano was stitched automatically 20 minutes later ! Of course, next day I added shot of zenith and control points for it.

Next Sunday it was snowfall too, and I understood that time for pano shooting was chosen successfully. It was my first experience in winter outdoor photoshoting with SLR camera.

I started in March 2005 by cylindrical panorama consisting of one row and finished the year 2005 by speherical panorama. I would like to say THANK YOU for all members of WWP community for their ideas and e-letters, and (of course) their different and wonderfull panoramas !

Have new panoramas ! Have new panographers !