Belorussky Vokzal (Белорусский
The Belorussian is my favorite train station in all of Moscow. I am fortunate to be staying at an apartment with a great location, a fifteen-minute walk from Belorussky Vokzal, which doubles as a metro station on the circle line (the edge of downtown). It's also a brisk fourty-five minute walk from Red Square. Train stations in Russia are named for the main direction that they travel, either towards a large city or region. Belorusski to Belarus, Kievski to Kiev, etc. The anchor stations on the Moscow-St. Petersburg run, however, have a tinge of political intrigue. The trains from St. Petersburg leave from Moscow Station, whereas the trains from Moscow leave from Leningrad station - they purposely decided not to change the name of the station. The stations are the exact same design, a large open central hall, with only one minor distinction. In Moskovski station (St. Petersburg), there is a large bust of Tsar Peter I. In the Leningradski station, however, there is a large bust of Lenin.
On Sunday I bought a new camera, three guesses why. I'll write up the explanation later, it deserves its own post. It's basically the same camera as before, but the newest version, the Panasonic DMC-FX07. I really loved the last version (5megapixel), it gave me some fantastic photos, and I hope that this one is at least as good, if not better. For starters, it has more built-in options. I am not camera literate - at all. I really ought to take some sort of photo class that explains what all the settings are for, and when to use them. Matters are made worse because I don't have an english-language manual. It came with Russian and Ukrainian. Virtually any Ukrainian buying this camera, especially in Russia, is going to understand the Russian version, so please give us non-Slavic foreigners an English manual!! I did a quick look on the panasonic site, and couldn't come up with a downloadable version.
On Monday I was waiting at the metro for a friend, and decided to play with some of the options, particularly the color settings. It has five choices: off, cool, warm, black and white, and seppia. "Off" and "B&W" and understandable even by me. I had no idea what "seppia" was, but it's the brown, late-1800s option. "Warm" was very useful. It was a rather bleak day, and this option really brought out the colors, making the pictures much more vibrant. I'm not sure what "cool" is supposed to do, but it gave everything a bluish tint. It seems that "warm" serves a purpose, making the pictures more lifelike under more diffused light. Does "cool" do the opposite, say, take the edge off of Saharan jeep tours? And what is the camera doing in these modes, specifically "warm" and "cool?" How does it enhance the colors? Is it some sensitivity/aperature trick that I don't know?
Here's a sampling of the pictures so far:
Entrance to the ticketing area. This is a standard aspect ratio (3x4) with the color option "off," to give some sort of baseline. Yes, in general, everyone over here wears black coats and jackets. You can always tell in LA when the Moscow flight gets in. People start pouring out into 35C weather, and everyone has on black leather jackets.
Entire facade, panoramic (16x9 aspect ratio), "off"
Entire facade, pan, "warm"
Entire facade, pan, "cool"
Metro entrance, pan, "warm"
Metro entrance, standard, "seppia"
Metro exit, pan, "b&w"
Metro exit, stan, "off"
Metro exit, pan, "warm" - Here we have a girl buying flowers, and the warm setting makes a huge difference on both the color of clothing and the flowers, the building, and even the flyers on the wall.
Street-crossing, stan, "b&w"
Tracks leading from station, pan, "b&w"
On Sunday I bought a new camera, three guesses why. I'll write up the explanation later, it deserves its own post. It's basically the same camera as before, but the newest version, the Panasonic DMC-FX07. I really loved the last version (5megapixel), it gave me some fantastic photos, and I hope that this one is at least as good, if not better. For starters, it has more built-in options. I am not camera literate - at all. I really ought to take some sort of photo class that explains what all the settings are for, and when to use them. Matters are made worse because I don't have an english-language manual. It came with Russian and Ukrainian. Virtually any Ukrainian buying this camera, especially in Russia, is going to understand the Russian version, so please give us non-Slavic foreigners an English manual!! I did a quick look on the panasonic site, and couldn't come up with a downloadable version.
On Monday I was waiting at the metro for a friend, and decided to play with some of the options, particularly the color settings. It has five choices: off, cool, warm, black and white, and seppia. "Off" and "B&W" and understandable even by me. I had no idea what "seppia" was, but it's the brown, late-1800s option. "Warm" was very useful. It was a rather bleak day, and this option really brought out the colors, making the pictures much more vibrant. I'm not sure what "cool" is supposed to do, but it gave everything a bluish tint. It seems that "warm" serves a purpose, making the pictures more lifelike under more diffused light. Does "cool" do the opposite, say, take the edge off of Saharan jeep tours? And what is the camera doing in these modes, specifically "warm" and "cool?" How does it enhance the colors? Is it some sensitivity/aperature trick that I don't know?
Here's a sampling of the pictures so far:
Entrance to the ticketing area. This is a standard aspect ratio (3x4) with the color option "off," to give some sort of baseline. Yes, in general, everyone over here wears black coats and jackets. You can always tell in LA when the Moscow flight gets in. People start pouring out into 35C weather, and everyone has on black leather jackets.
Entire facade, panoramic (16x9 aspect ratio), "off"
Entire facade, pan, "warm"
Entire facade, pan, "cool"
Metro entrance, pan, "warm"
Metro entrance, standard, "seppia"
Metro exit, pan, "b&w"
Metro exit, stan, "off"
Metro exit, pan, "warm" - Here we have a girl buying flowers, and the warm setting makes a huge difference on both the color of clothing and the flowers, the building, and even the flyers on the wall.
Street-crossing, stan, "b&w"
Tracks leading from station, pan, "b&w"