I think for most of us in rather developed nations, the city doesn't really end. There's your various districts in which it simply shifts its general purpose and form. From your dense commercial zones to the industrial, down to the more outskirts areas where things tend to grow a bit more residential. This isn't so much the case in Armenia or here in Georgia. Tbilisi is a long stretched-out city with a few districts to the side. To which then the city just ends. I looked on the map recently and wanted to go to one of these places, to see the city from its edge. The very end of the city to which it's nothing but nature beyond. It's an incredibly odd sight to behold; standing on a hill and looking out into endless high rise buildings, then to turn around and see trees, endless green and the mountains that go on for miles and miles, perhaps leading to the odd village of a few homes, or abandoned locations to which the nation's history really shows, almost kept hidden from view within those deep mountains. I haven't seen anything like this before, I'm so used to cities slowly fading out from large apartment high rises and commercial buildings, into residential space of copy and pasted housing, before gradually leading to farmland. Here? It's almost as if the world just stops. As if nobody has stepped foot beyond this point, almost as if they're afraid to look beyond the mountains.
I wanted to fly the drone beyond, to get a better view of what's beyond from above. My curiosity was strong. Though the wind was picking up, and I was already standing on part of the mountain in some dense shrub. I wasn't enjoying the idea of what could've been around me. All the weird noises in the area. The stray dogs I had seen all over. The snakes, and I have no idea what else lurks in the nature here of Georgia. I even saw an eagle and captured it in one of my drone videos, to much surprise.
It was an incredibly hot day. This area is so new that the construction of these buildings is still taking place. I walked uphill from a bus stop a bit further down, as no other transport would bring you to the very edge of Tbilisi like this. Much of the area was loud, some aspects of attempts to bring in some idea of modern living were present in the form of recreational zones, to which only the builders would occupy. Parks and benches, a tennis court and a basketball court next to each other. I found it odd that here there were no drinking fountains. In Armenia, there'd absolutely be tons of them, especially in such areas where people are expected to work out. For some reason these areas of new developments contain outdoor gyms, which makes things even weirder. Especially given nobody actually uses them. Who has these ideas of how to design a modern living space? Whoever they area, they're quite clueless. Which made even the recreational area for sports seem odd to me. Right at the edge of the city, requiring a bit of a walk uphill. I was the only person in this space that wasn't there working, aside from one woman walking her dog downhill from a trail. A bit more down from this area are some older buildings where people live, and even that feels like a different world in comparison.
I flew around this area for a while, capturing the sights. Photographing parts of the nature and the modern buildings. My intent was to capture videos showcasing the city view from above, the edge of the city and how it suddenly is birthed into this huge thing. I wanted to go higher up into the mountain, but aside from the nature stopping me, I realised the bigger thing to worry about would be the sun. Unyielding heat, and no water near me. Thanks again, urban planners!
I hadn't paid for my phone bill this month. Partially in protest regarding the high cost of it, but also in response to wanting to be more frugal and build up some savings again. Things have been expensive lately and I wanted to cut some costs down. GPS tends to get me to and from most places, and I had noticed that in much of the city -- even here in this area -- there is free WiFi for people to connect to. Though I wasn't getting signal at this point. In such moments where I don't feel all that welcome in a space, I tend to just fly on one battery. That's one flight with the drone to capture what I want and then packing things up and leaving, even if the drone's battery isn't entirely exhausted. I do this to avoid gaining unwanted attention with the drone when I fly in areas that could anger people: construction sites being a great one where it's easy to end up distracting workers that need their focus. I fly high and far from them as a result. But even so, I remain incredibly cautious, ensuring I don't linger on too much before leaving the area. I looked around and thought of the beauty in these areas when summer comes to an end and the autumn colours start appearing in the mountains. Some of what I'm doing now is simply scouting; getting footage for my portfolio while also keeping an eye on locations for future returns.
This whole city still feels really new to me. I've barely travelled through the areas outside of Old Tbilisi. I'm often surprised at how large of a city it actually is given how small it feels at times. There's definitely a lot to see and a lot to capture, especially when walking between these tall buildings that hide so much at the ground level. So many different stories throughout the decades.
It's odd to look back at the city like this. It puts a lot into perspective. An odd experience to really look deep at what we've all created. And it puts an even more strange feeling and set of thoughts into you as you enter it again, walking through the streets with a very different mindset.