“Zdrój” fountain is constructed of glass and granite. It was created in 1996 by Alojzy Gryt and was extremely controversial at the time, its design seen as too modern in comparison to Wrocław’s Town Square. It was supposed to have been removed in 1998, but it remains standing.
Shot with Canon 10D + EF 16-35 mm f/2.8L: 17mm, f/8, 2s, ISO 100.
Constructed between 1911 and 1913, while Wrocław was part of the German Empire, Centennial Hall was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.
Shot with Canon 10D + EF 16-35 mm f/2.8L: 35mm, f/8, 1/125s, ISO 100.
See a photo of the Centannial Hall itself →
This is one of my favourite shots of my home town, taken in 2004 from the top of St Elizabeth’s Basilica. If you’ve never been to Wrocław, it really is a must-see.
Shot with Canon 10D + EF 16-35 mm f/2.8L: 25mm, f/8, 1/90s, ISO 100.
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.
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→
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.
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.
The day was freezing cold, windy, and I felt terrible, but I managed to get my favourite shot of Wrocław’s Town Square. It was taken from the observation tower in St Elizabeth’s Basilica — it’s a rough climb up some very narrow steps, but completely worth it.
Shot with Sony A7R II + FE 85 mm f/1.4 GM: f/16, 13 s, ISO 100.
I took these two photos a few days ago. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible — Wrocław experienced intense smog and barely and wind.