Poland

My Photography (99) — Meerkat Squirrel, Warsaw, Poland, 2007

July 29, 2020 · 12:18

This shot is not only has terrible composition, but it’s also very soft and underexposed (thank you RAW!), however this squirrel is much too adorable to not post it. I did have only a second or so to take the photo, so there’s that, but I have to admit, the quality difference in DSLR sensors has come a long way in recent years.

Shot with Canon 10D + EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS: 185mm, f/2.8, 1/250s, ISO 400.

My Photography (98) — Missed Focus, Warsaw, Poland, 2007

July 28, 2020 · 09:14

The shot above (as well as the one below) were both shot on the same day as “Looking On” from yesterday, but these are an example of two failures on my part. The squirrels in Warsaw’s Royal Łazienki Park often take on the funniest of poses, but they only hold them for a second or less. This means that there’s barely any time to focus, let alone manually correct. I managed to take these two shots and they were separated by only 0.04 seconds (not a typo; 4 hundredths of a second; the shot above was taken at 14:03:44 and the one below at 14:03:48, which you can check in the EXIF). This is a prime example of why the Canon 10D never cut it for fast-paced shots — it’s AF just couldn’t keep up, back-focusing on the first shot and front-focusing on the second.

Shot with Canon 10D + EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS: 200mm, f/2.8, 1/320s, ISO 400.

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My Photography (88) — Auschwitz-Birkenau, Memorial and Museum, Oświęcim, Poland, 2005

July 3, 2020 · 11:12

This was probably the saddest and most tragic place that I have ever been in — it changed my perspective on so many things. I can still remember exactly what I felt back then, even though 15 years have passed.

This is a place everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime, especially as current political events unfold worldwide.

Shot with Canon 10D + EF 24-70 mm f/2.8L: 46mm, f/8, 1/500s, ISO 100.

My Photography (83) — Eye, Wrocław, Poland, 2004

June 8, 2020 · 13:26

I don’t recall why I entered this particular building in the older part of Wrocław’s city centre, but I’m glad I did, because this old staircase was truly stunning. It was pretty dark inside and I barely saw that the underside of the stairs was painted, and only after exposing the shot for a few seconds, I realised what my naked eye had missed.

Shot with Canon 10D + EF 16-35 mm f/2.8L: 29mm, f/8, 4s, ISO 100.

My Photography (81) — A Pigeon Visiting The Zoo’s Bengal Tiger, Wrocław, Poland, 2003

May 21, 2020 · 09:02

Wrocław’s zoo is one of the most beautiful ones in Europe, assuming you don’t mind seeing animals in captivity. Going there in late Autumn wasn’t a good idea, but I did want to test my new telephoto lens, so naturally, my best shot was of a pigeon, which was there looking for food.

Shot with Canon 300D + EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS: 130mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 400.

Wrocław’s zoo also has Bengal tigers→

My Photography (78) — Paneláks, Wałbrzych, Poland, 2003

April 2, 2020 · 13:04

Now that I’m looking through all of my older DSLR photos, I can see how much work I put into experimenting with long exposures at various times of day — something which I avoided doing on film (I was too impatient to wait for the film to be developed and it wasn’t exactly cheap back then either, to just throw away 24 or 36 shots on a simple cityscape).

This shot above was taken in Wałbrzych, in southwestern Poland, presenting the wonderful architecture of paneláks1 (a word which I just learned today) and that white monstrosity, called a church by some.

Shot with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6: 18mm, f/3.5, 5s, ISO 100.

  1. In Poland, they are called “bloki” (blocks) or “wielka płyta” (the great panel). ↩

My Photography (77) — University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland, 2003

April 1, 2020 · 14:24

This was one of my first proper long exposure shots ever. A DSLR made this so much easier, especially since small exposure corrections were so easy to do, at practically no cost — all I needed was some more space on my CF card. I was so proud of this photo at the time, that I actually went to a lab and had it transferred onto a slide. I later presented it to our local photography group and they couldn’t believe it was a digital photo. And it has only 6 MP at that, from a JPG (I hadn’t yet switch to RAW at this time)!

Shot with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6: 21mm, f/8, 5s, ISO 100.

My Photography (76) — Leo, Wrocław, Poland, 2003

March 31, 2020 · 11:23

I bought my first DSLR in 2003 — the Canon 300D with its EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens — and was amazed at the quality of the shots it took. This was one of the first reasonably priced (or so I tell myself) DSLRs and it had a huge 6 MP sensor (3072×2048 px). Despite all of this, the photos themselves hold up surprisingly well today — the shot above is a JPG straight from the camera, slightly sharpened due to it being resized and compressed for the web.

The model was Leo, my beloved Chow-Chow, who passed at the age of 16, many years ago now. I still miss him.

Shot with Canon 300D + EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6: 42mm, f/5, 1/50 s, ISO 100.

Poland Is Europe’s Smog Capital →

December 9, 2018 · 12:06

Josh Gabbatiss, for The Independent:

Poland is Europe’s smog capital, home to 33 of Europe’s 50 most polluted cities. As delegates gathered in Katowice last week, data collected by the European Environment Agency revealed it was the second most polluted city on the continent. Its levels of particulate matter were twice as high as those deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.

Considering the toxic air, the mounting pressure to drop coal altogether and the dire climate warnings, it seems remarkable that Polish politicians are gripping on to fossil fuel with such tenacity.

What’s even more frightening is that normal people — not politicians — want us to use coal, because that’s what they heard our beloved government say is good for us (insert facepalm emoji here). I have personally seen and heard their arguments. Unbelievable.

My Photography (54) — Peacock Backside, Royal Łazienki Park, Warsaw, 2018

September 30, 2018 · 21:58

I went out shooting with the iPhone XS today and was not only surprised by this here peacock sneaking up on me, but also at the result of Portrait Mode and its bokeh. It has a much more natural, analogue look to it, reminiscent of what SLR lenses are capable of producing. It’s not there yet but I like what I see.

Shot with iPhone X @ 52 mm: f/2.4 (simulated f/1.4 by Portrait Mode), 1/122 s, ISO 32.