Obsession with Castles, Palaces and... Ruins

Last weekend I traveled to “Pieskowa skala” (Pieskowa Rock) which is a

renaissance castle located 27 km north of Krakow, Poland, within the boundaries of the Ojc

ów National Park. The castle is built by King Casimir III The Great in the 1st half of the 14th century. As always I took my camera with me in search for the perfect shot...

On my way back to Warsaw I stopped by Ogrodzieniec a small town in the province of Silesia in southern Poland. The castles is from approximately the 14th century. This castle made a huge impression on me. A major problem I have experienced was that I did not take my tripod with me. Since I arrived there late (when the sun was setting) the light was getting worse by every minute. I realized one major shortcoming...I did not know how to take good shots at night. My hands were shaking and the pictures were getting blurred... I am definitively going to educate myself on this topic...I have a lot of castles still to visit...hopefully next shots will be better...

PS. Recently I have so many ideas of pictures that I barely can sleep at night... I wish I had an access to professional photographic studio....

People who Crossed my Path

I have a large collection of photos of people who crossed my path. I am posting some of them...

Angels of Necropolis

All Saints’ is a national holiday in Poland celebrated on November 1st. People go to a cemetery to visit graves of family members, friends and people they knew. They light candles, leave flowers and pray for their souls. Necropolises are full of candle light and reminiscing people in this special day. People believe that candles burning for many hours help souls find their way through the darkness. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds of these candles and at night they are seen glowing from long distances.
I used to did not like this holiday because I considered it very sad and depressing. I preferred the American counterpart of this holiday such as Halloween. Halloween was associated with good times, costumes and “trick or treat”, where All Saints’ was a time of reflection, remembering and prayer. I still love Halloween but I also learned to respect All Saints’.
This year I wandered between graves in an old cemetery “ Powązki” in Warsaw. There were many beautiful old graves with sculptures attached to it. I started looking at them closely and realized that some of these sculptures are very well made and beautiful... Sculptures of angels made the biggest impression on me. I found them nostalgic and romantic in some way...so I decided to take a few shots.

Very sad day for people of Poland!

Today there was a memorial service held for plane crash victims in Warsaw. Exactly one week ago 96 top officials, including the president and firs lady, died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.

I was walking in the center of Warsaw observing how approximately 100,000 of Poles and other nationalities gathered in the city center to attend the memorial. I saw candles, tears and sadness all over. I have never seen people deepened in such sorrow. Young and old, rich and poor, big city dwellers and folks from the country, side by side, united in grief and above any divisions. One nation, indivisible...

I walked in the quiet crowd and observed history in the making. I took couple of shots...but I have to admit it wasn’t easy. The crowd was insane and I felt very uneasy pointing my camera at praying and saddened people...Take a look and say a preyer.