Dude, Where's My Taxi?

The snow still remains but there's a thick layer of smog that has devoured the city again. You can see this layer floating under the artificial light in the evenings. It's not as bad as it was in the past, but that thick layer is mixed with cold temperatures, creating a very dense fog everywhere. These photographs were taken while waiting for a taxi after a visit to the nearest mall, which happens to be the largest in Yerevan. It was an odd experience given how most malls are relatively new and quite small, often lacking. Whereas this one felt like it was truly within a different country, not something that you'd typically find here in Yerevan. From go karting indoors, to laser tag and a cinema. Though with the cold weather and the density of the fog, getting public transport back home just wasn't particularly appealing, so the taxi was the best decision.

While I did take a photograph inside the mall, something I was soon told of from security when not taking any images at all was that photography with cameras was not allowed, for some reason. It made me think: how many people are indoors photographing the whole time there with their friends through their phones? Videos and all for social media. What's the difference if the camera is just a bit bigger than a phone? Anyway, upon standing outside I figured to pass the time and take a few shots of the surroundings. And thus, this little series was titled: Dude, Where's My Taxi? And yes, a major reference to the film and its pop culture impact. Again to complain about the mall rules: many shops even have QR codes for scanning various things! There were even professional photography stalls inside the mall for people to rent! I'll never understand that mentality when everything is recorded on phones.

I'm surprised the density of the fog isn't all that visible in the images, but I also chose to make them black and white with the harsher tones that were present from all of the artificial light from the mall hitting the street below. I was looking at the images and they just felt a bit soulless in colour compared to that slight edit. Sometimes, black and white just adds focus on the composition by removing that more distracting colour. For example I really wanted to snap a picture of the people smoking by the light, the smoke being lit in a really interesting way, but that didn't quite work out because I was trying to be fast and a bit sneaky with it. Plus that 37mm focal length which had me a bit distant from the subject. Of course, these shot on my new favourite lens, the Mir 1v, a piece of Soviet vintage glass. A slightly wider Helios 44-2, essentially.

And of course it wouldn't be a photography post featuring something Soviet without it also featuring a Lada. So here's a Lada speeding through the frame at a crossing. In some areas of Armenia these cars are still used as the main taxi car. Whereas in Yerevan it's now quite common for electric cars to be the norm. BYD or Teslas. I think I prefer the rustic old Lada, though.