people in prague

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted…

This is more or less a weekly blog, in that I more or less try to write something every week. For those few people who actually check this blog regularly, or for those who are subscribed to the feed, it might have seemed like something was wrong, as if I’d died or something, because it’s been four weeks since I’ve posted. I’m okay. I’ve just been traveling for the last week and a half. And before that… well, I’ve just been lazy.

So anyways I’m back, and I’ll be filling in some posts from the pasts few weeks, so for those who don’t check this blog consistently it would still look like I’ve been posting consistently. And for those few people who are consistently checking this blog, well, hopefully these will be somewhat worth the wait.

So yea, I’ve been traveling. When I’m traveling this blog reverts back to pen and paper. Which of course makes it hard to read for those who are not sitting in the same room as me…

One of the things that I like about traveling is that it puts you outside of your comfort zone. You’re in a new environment, filled with mystery and intrigue. Haha, well maybe that’s an exaggeration.

Recently I’ve been reading about street photography. It’s something that is a bit outside of my comfort zone, since it entails taking pictures of complete strangers. I figured since I was already going to be outside of my comfort zone, I would do the same photographically.

So anyways here are my first feeble attempts at street photography, all taken in the city of Prague in the Czech Republic.

In the main city square of Prague there’s a famous clock called the Prague Astronomical Clock. We had arrived there just before 11 o’clock, so there was a big crowd of people there waiting to see the clock in action. I was standing in the crowd and noticed this person standing alone. I thought she’d make an interesting subject. Why was she standing alone? And why was she holding a penguin on a stick? I thought she wouldn’t notice me shooting from between the people in the crowd. I was wrong.

Also in the square were some street food vendors, including this one that had these huge pieces of ham on a rotisserie. I had some later, it was quite disappointing. It was pretty expensive, and tasted like regular supermarket ham. It looks and smells good though, roasting over that fire…

One of the main tourist attractions in Prague is the Charles Bridge. Like many tourist attractions throughout the world it is filled with street vendors and artists.

And, like many touristy areas throughout the world, it has beggars. In Prague they all were on their knees with their hat in front of them. I felt bad because they were largely being ignored and it must’ve been really cold on the ground. The temperature was barely above freezing the entire time I was in Prague.

Another attraction in Prague is the Petrin Tower, which is an observation tower that is sorta modeled after the Eiffel Tower. From the top of the tower there are spectacular views of the old town and the castle. I took lots of shots of the view from the tower, but in the end this shot ended up being one of my favorites, I guess mostly because it stands out as being different from all the rest.

One of the major techniques in street photography seems to be to stop down to get everything in focus. You can’t really do that inside a dark bar. There’s not a lot of light, so you have to shoot with the aperture wide open, which makes you have to pick what you want in focus. So in this situation you have a choice. Do you focus on the bartender’s face or on the beer taps?

I chose the beer. Because well, we were in the Prague Beer Museum. If I could go back in time and do the shot over, maybe I’d pick the bartender. She had an interesting life. She was from New York, and it was her third day on the job and she was still learning the ropes from the more experienced Czech bartender. But then again, by the end of the night I had sampled a lot of those beers, so I don’t really remember a whole lot except for the beer. The rest of my memory is kinda fuzzy. So I guess shot like this, with the beer taps in focus, it’s more true to my memory.

Traveling with Jack means visiting a lot of coffeehouses. After a while I stopped drinking coffee (I can only handle about two or three a day), so I started drinking other stuff, like this vile green drink, which they called an Arctic Warmer. On paper it sounded okay, it’s basically a warm screwdriver with mint syrup added. It was terrible. Anyways, while at these coffee shops, while Jack enjoyed his coffee, I mostly people watched and snuck in some pictures too. (I guess this is another picture that breaks the rules a bit, in that the depth of field is really shallow.)

Anyways, this trip to Prague was a great experience. It’s a really amazing city, filled with humongous castles and amazing cathedrals and also with interesting people. I’ll be updating  with more posts about my time in Prague soon, so stay tuned.