Tuesday 29 November 2011

Kędzierzyn - Koźle, town's summer festival

Those unpronounceable two words at the beginning of the title - Kędzierzyn - Koźle, is my hometown, a heavily industrialised agglomeration of few burgs, that's often, by the town's council, referred to as the Polish capital of chemistry.

Well, apart from chemistry, Kentucky, as some teenagers call the town, has not too much to do with the splendour of the capitals. Since the fall of communism, in 1989, ruling officials have failed to bring the town onto the path of growth, although it's prime location in the south-west Poland, in particular in the Upper Silesia, the most industrialised area of the country.

It's a pity, that a town with such a potential, has been sentenced for an extinction, thus every June a wake takes place. The main street, 'Aleja Jana Pawła II' (John Paul II Avenue), transforms into the show grounds, a four lane wide beer garden with a funfair and a stage, under which the citizens dance pogo on the the town's corpse.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Although, I had a great time, and it was a very interesting social experience. Suddenly I found myself among a different society, a different place to that that I left over five years ago, and at the same time so constant in terms of street life.

I was very unhappy about lighting conditions, hence I shipped my photo gear back to parents house, then a story has started. A plot good for a decent film, a storyline that brought so many great memories from those good old days, when the town's festival was a big deal for us, and maybe still is for many, just the times have changed, we've got older, but it was great to be a teenager for a few hours again. Only why the camera was away?

Stage and the four lane beer garden

A funfair located on the main street
Funfair worker, miles away, while the ride is on
One of the funfair's spectators, holding a Polish lager
Tired food hall worker, sausage or a chuck stake?
No way through, OK?

Sunday 27 November 2011

Even though

Last week was a difficult one. Suppose it's easier to by a bully then to be bullied, but I'll stop here, and won't continue to drill into this matter, as it makes no sense at all. I need to stop giving a sugar about all of that! At the end of the day it has no value. Well, a paycheck carries a material one, with some fancy architecture printed on, but that's all, and nothing else is beyond that!

Well, I've nothing more to say. Or, maybe?

Saturday 19 November 2011

In search for war remains

Last summer holidays I went over to Croatia. During one of the hot days, decided to do a little bit of sightseeing. Bagged my Nikon and drove over to Skradin, a small town in Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia. This small town, as according to the travel guide, has suffered a lot during the Balkan War in 1991-1995. I wasn't expecting much really, as it serves as a transport hub directing traffic to the nearby National Park Krka, but to my amusement, as we arrived, we were welcomed by a young man without one leg. Although the travel guide mentioned that it is highly possible to meet people who suffer from various war injuries, I stayed sceptical, until the arrival.

After the visit to the National Park Krka I went on strolling around the narrow streets of Skradin, looking for a chance to take some good photographs. To be honest, despite the sad view of that young man at the beginning of the day, the whole town seemed to be aimed at tourists. Well, that should've been obvious to me, but anyway Skradin is a very magical place, and I've managed to find some of that magic on one of the side streets.





Tuesday 15 November 2011

When reinforcements arrived

I thought that I've lost not only a battle, but the whole war, a conflict with myself, that nearly made me fail. Luckily some reinforcements have just arrived!


First of all, I've acquired a brand new tank! It's not Abrams nor T-34, it even doesn't have a cannon, but on the college work battlefield it will cause havoc. Take cover! Hopefully none of the film rolls will get wounded.


Thanks to my mate, some mercenaries have also arrived. He lent me a manual M42 mount Sigma 80-200 f/3.5 zoom lens. Straight away it's been equipped with an adapter to fit my Nikon, unfortunately this method wouldn't allow to focus in infinity. However, I was still tempted to get the new mercenary howitzer into action.


Well, sport again, this time football, U14's to be precise. The best way to test a new lens is to make it sweat, while others are sweating on the pitch. So, I went to a Dublin and District Schoolboys League game, that was held at Mill Lane Pitch, the home "stadium" for Palmerstown Rangers FC, a schoolboys club that my cousin plays for.


Haven't got any plan for the shoot really, maybe because my head was so empty after a very difficult week, so I just walked around the pitch and took few random pictures, trying to depict those boys effort towards the win.


Well, haven't noticed much effort though. Sorry to say that guys. I've seen my cousin, on the photograph above, trying really hard, sweating and panting. Look at the picture above again, while the game is on, the rest seems to be interested in something else, definitely not the game itself. My insights are probably biased a lot, but coach, have a look at that.


I'm a bit harsh on the boys performance evaluation today, sorry about that, it's a building critique I hope. Actually I can't be so subjective. Others also tried, but if only would have invested a few more drops of sweat into the game, the result wouldn't be 2:2. 


Can't blame Rangers goalie too, their opponents, Confey FC spent some amount of time in front of the net keeping him busy. First, I went in behind of the Confey's post, but after spending about 10 minutes in there, waiting for Rangers to try to shoot a goal, I surrendered my idea and got back to the side of the pitch.


Knew this is going to happen. As I got back to the side line Rangers assaulted opponents net. Typical. The game ended 2:2, leaving it without a winner.

It wasn't an easy assignment. First of all, long lens equals heavy load not only on the hand, but especially on the camera's body mount, what means I had to hold the lens instead of the Nikon what made focusing slightly more difficult. Secondly, it's a zoom lens, controlling both focus and zoom, holding the lens, all in a very fast pacing setting, a football game, was a bit challenging, but not impossible.

Check out the full gallery here!

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Tomasz Tomaszewski

It's been a good while since I've posted for the last time. The amount of work, that has to be done in a very near weeks, makes me feel like Christ carrying the cross up the Golgotha. Please! Don't! I'm unworthy to be crucified! 

Via College'rosa. It's station three, I've just fallen for the first time, but that fall has to make me stronger, more motivated and much more able to reach the goal that I set.

One of the recent posts was about my guru of guru's - Garry Winogrand. Today, I'm inviting you to meet a photographer that is in the most responsible for my drag towards documentary photography. A National Geographic photographer for past 20 years and the Pulitzer Prize winner - Tomasz Tomaszewski. 

About 10 years ago I came across his superb work for the first time. It was during a school trip to a World Press Photo exhibition; his photographs; his approach and his way of telling a story did cast a spell on me.

Today, I was researching his work up to date. What I found and what did appeal the most to me, was his photoreportage on the mine workers in my home region of Poland - Silesia. Although, in the clip Tomasz Tomaszewski talks about it in Polish, it is well worth watching. English subtitles provided. Enjoy!


And finally, his gallery that also includes his work in Silesian mines, don't miss it: Tomasz Tomaszewski Gallery.

Thank you Tomek! Thanks for leading me to the place where I am now! I owe you everything! Dziękuję!

Monday 31 October 2011

Halloween, workload & stress

That annoying feeling, when you have to do one thing, but you want to do some other one, can make one totally useless and distracted. It's called stress! That has happened to me today. It wouldn't be a big deal, but having college work and Halloween out there made me feel stressed out. Nope, you're wrong, didn't want to go partying instead of getting the assignments done, wanted to go out on the streets to shoot some Halloween. It's only once per year! And here in Ireland it is a big deal.

So I'm sitting here in the room, nice smell fills it up, can't focus, can't choose which big deal is bigger. Trying to run away, through making myself busy on youtube, I'm stuck, that's not a right solution to the problem. Have to move on! Decide! Fireworks outside, and I'm still inside. Rap is playing in the background, 'Kurwa zrób to poprostu' (Just effin' do it!) the artist rhymes. 
 
It's late already, dark outside, means no light. I'm setting the camera to the highest ISO available. An ultra wide lens, Tokina 12-24mm, is mounted on my Nikon. Holding it strong I'm walking down the street hoping to capture some trick'n'treat'ers, no luck, not at all. 


Plan for the evening, let's walk towards Lucan village as far as the church and Cunninghams Funeral Home, it's Halloween, right? I wasn't afraid, so far, and equipped with an ultra wide lens you wouldn't even recognise the fear, no camera shake.


The only thing that I was afraid of, was grain. Loads of grain! But that's not a scary Halloween stuff, like wasn't the funeral home really. It's guarded by Mary, right?


Streets were dead. No traffic, no people, no trick'n'treat'ers. I was about to turn around and go back home, but something wanted me to go just a few more metres ahead. 


Wearing a scarf was a good idea, a late October walk, not cold, not hot, but somewhere around perfect, thanks to that green olive thing around my neck. Something was pulling me forward. A couple of metres from the funeral home, I found steps, all covered in twilight, a very Halloween setting. Haven't got a clue where they're leading to. Decided to go for a "scary walk" down the steps.




As I was walking down the steps, I saw some light, would it be a bonfire, I asked myself. Bingo! I've found a small one, parents and children gathered around it. I've approached the scene slowly, thinking how to tackle it, knew that as soon as I'll press the shutter release button and the mirror will make its noise, the heads will turn. Turn to look at me. Well, could have maintained a status quo and not shoot, or do a welcoming mirror clap. What a pity that I don't have an ultra silent Leica like Garry Winogrand. Shutter released, heads turned, time to do something. Smile! And say what you doing, that worked, and even got some smile back. After just a few minutes the crowd went away and I was left alone with the burning symbol of Halloween, it was time to go home too.




Garry Winogrand

It's Halloween! Shivers, goose pumps and scary stuff. That all happened to me last Thursday, when Sinead, during the lecture, has showed us some of Garry Winogrand's work. Whooaaa! Goose pumps! Shivers!

Well, I knew his work, but didn't know who was the man behind the camera, wasn't aware of his ways of working either, that actually I'm mimicking over years unaware of. Scary stuff! More goose pumps! 

Haven't had a favourite photographer really, until Thursday, when "I've met Garry". Nice to meet you man! You're my master Yoda now, the Big Guru! I could start paraphrasing some work on his person, finding more things that we've in common... but I had enough goose pumps today, thank you!

Scary scary stuff! Happy Halloween!

 



If you've liked the documentary about Garry Winogrand, I'd also recommend a very good article about him by Frank Van Riper for Washington Post:
 

© 1984 The Estate of Garry Winogrand

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Venice... in Lucan

Got up in the morning and had a great start. First of all, milk was off, so no cereals or coffee for me. Was forced to treat the stomach with some tasteless cottage cheese, great! Then I've packed my college gear and got down to the car, here all starts. The only road that I can drive out from the area got badly flooded overnight. Venice... I thought to myself. As my car is quite much lowered, or in other words decked to the ground, attempting to drive through the puddle would end with water inside the cabin.


So I got out of the car, hazards on, Nikon FE in my hands. Decided to finish the roll of black and white film on some aquaplanning. The puddle was about 120 meters long and in the deepest point some 20 cm deep. 


After finishing the roll of the B+W film I've went back home, changed and took my digital back over to the puddle. Thought that I will take an advantage over what the fate has given to me. It was a right choice, despite that I got soaked a lot by the rain itself and the bypassing cars, I didn't regret standing there, waiting for good shots. At least this, if can't get over to the college, why not to do some unguided practicals?


Equipped with a Tokina 12-24mm lens, that I personally find a very useful photojournalist lens, had to get really close to the action getting my Air Force One's flooded a number of times. Meanwhile, I saw a flash lamp. Looked to the other side of the road and have noticed a mystery photographer snapping away with some long lens.


Crossed the "river" to have a chat with her. Found out that she's working for Liffey Champion, and that this is the only puddle in Lucan. Lucky me again! Before I approached her, a Renault Megane without a front number plate was about to "swim" through the water. I remembered that I was taking a picture of a number plate earlier on the film. Compared the numbers with what was there on the ground with what was sitting on the Megane. Bingo! I've waved the reg plates at the Megane, the man stopped and got his plate back. While, this was happening, the Liffey Champion photographer was doing her job. She told me later that those images are probably one of the best from the whole shoot. Happy days! It's nice to help a fellow photographer, well it's actually nice to be... nice.


Some drivers would drive slow, some rush through, some like me would just do a U-turn. A few creative ones, decided to use the sidewalk as an aid in crossing the puddle. As many people, that many approaches to the wet situation.


Well, the best approach to the whole problem had Mr. Postman. Take it easy, and enjoy the day anyway. Fair play to him for that, doing such a difficult job in so unfriendly conditions and at the same time still smiling.

Maybe I've lost a day of lectures, that I wasn't happy about. But now I see how much more I've learned from this unplanned and unguided practical session. Thanks for that, fate!

Monday 24 October 2011

Ice Hockey in Belfast

Being busy it's ain't easy, days off are a luxury and some spare time is only a wish. But I had to be off for the last weekend. It was my best mates birthday, moreover, we do our bithday together since we were 17. Hence I've packed my gear and set off to Coleraine, Northern Ireland. The plan was aimed at a lot of a good craic! At some stage during the fun times on Friday night, Szymon came up with an idea to go for Belfast Giants game. As we played ice hockey ourselves, some time ago in Poland, we thought that this could be a great birthday present for both of us. I was excited! Haven't been on any game since they've closed the Dundalk's Ice Dome in 2009, where I've played for Dundalk Bulls. Yeah... blame the economy!


Ice hockey means a lot for me. It's a family thing, a big love. My father and uncle are players until today's day, for us this sport is something more then just a bunch of bad smelling fellas trying to catch a tiny rubber thing. Last time I went to watch a game, it was back in Poland, probably over 10 years ago. I've got very excited. I've missed that pre-game state of mind. 


Awesome! Here I am again, on an ice hockey match with a simple mission - to demonstrate that a manual focus lens can be used in such a difficult setting like sport, morever, it's ice hockey, one of the fastest team sports in the world. Won't be trying to teach you all the rules of the game, but few informations might come essential to understand the topic. On the above picture, players gathered, in some certain way, around faceoff circle where referee starts the game. Where the hell is the puck? Difficult to find it, but it's exactly at  the referee's (the guy in black and white striped jersey) "strategic point level". You can't see it, as it is black as ref's trousers are. Why am I talking about it when one can't even see it? Well, puck haven't fallen on the ice yet (as it was earlier released by the referee) and the player number 19 is already sprinting towards the victory, this is how quick this game is!


It's not only a quick game, but also a quite rough way of spending time. Fights, like this one on the picture above, are an often view and may involve even the whole team, including players on the bench as well as their bus driver in some occassions. While it is a big fun and an attraction for all of the spectators, for players it's not a game or a play. This is what I like about hockey, and at the same time miss in other sports. Have a problem with one of the players, number 67 got you annoyed? Sort it out instantly. I've done it myself a couple of times, what a relief it is!


It's also quite rough in the center ice as well as on the boards (no, they're not soft). Few seconds later Belfast Giants player (white jersey) was down on the ice, and one of the Coventry Blaze's players went on a penalty bench for two minutes. Minor penalty for tripping.


An ice hockey match is divided into three by 20 minutes periods, between these an ice re-surfacer cleans the ice for the ease of skating and passing the puck. The model above, produced by Zamboni is the most known and the most popular machine of that type, a Mercedes of re-surfacers.


For the second period I've went on the other side of the rink, where I found an unoccupied seat just in front of the boards. For a good while I was regreting that I took only my Nikkor 85mm with me, shouldn't have left the ultra wide angle lens in the bag. Well, it was pointless to cry over that, so I carried on shooting with what I had, while the puck and players kept on hitting the boards half an inch in front of me. 


The rink was pretty much full, where the most of the spectators were whole families, kids and teenagers. Back in Poland, matches were a bit different in terms of spectators. I'd say more masculine and muscle if you know what I mean.


There in Belfast, the atmosphere wasn't tight. Pretty much relaxed I'd say. It's an evening out for the whole families. One might say, why would you be bringing an innocent little girl to a game like that? Because it's not only about hockey! It's the atmosphere, great fun and possibly a tradition.


What about that great fun? When I was younger, between the periods not much was going on. Over in Belfast I've got shocked. Their marketing and PR works at top speed. Every single second something was happening. Cookies, subs, pizzas and some other stuff was being thrown into crowd. It's not only the game, but it is much more! It's a great entertainment, especially for the kids and teenegers, who seems to be the clubs market target.


It's not a rocket science that if you make these kids like it, their parents are going to come over too. While the girl, a cheerleader from the picture, was throwing some stuff into the crowd, she made not only the kids happy but their fathers also... Yes! Marketing is everywhere!


Must say, that I've enjoyed the game a lot. Ice hockey is the coolest game on the earth! Hope that I'll get a chance to see Belfast winning on some other occasion, as that time, they've lost 3:0 on their own ground...


No wonder why the kids started to wash off their painted on the face club's colours. I'd get annoyed too if my team would loose in their home town, at their own rink and being a league leader. Had a great time at the game, pity it has ended so quick and we had to go back to Coleraine.


But I'm so glad that we've seen the game and that I took my camera with me. A totally new experience for me. In the last minutes of third period a security guard has approached me and pulled me away. He asked me what I'm doing here, who am I working for etc. I've got shocked! Showed him my Irish Ice Hockey Association card and minutes later I was speaking to the manager. After explaining her everything I was good to carry on taking pictures. Thanks a lot for that!

Rest of the gallery can be found on my facebook by clicking this link: Click!

And also a quiz! Question is, what shutter speed was the picture below taken at? Give your answer in comments. (Tip, have a look at the very end of the stick)


Sunday 16 October 2011

Some housekeeping stuff

It's been a very busy week. Last week I've went to Poland to shoot a car event - Wolfsgruppe's BBQ, where I've shot my first black and white film in some 8 years. Later during the week, we've developed the roll in the college. I was so excited, it's been like a trip back to the past. I couldn't wait until the developed film will be good to go for making some prints, so the very next day I've done my first contact sheet and a few prints. I felt a bit like Michael J. Fox, travelling back in time in the darkroom time machine. Memories, it's so great to be collecting them. Isn't photography about it? For me it is.

Back to the topic of this post. Before I will start working on the content of the whole blog I'd like to introduce two of my best mates to you. My favourite lenses.

Photo taken with Nikkor 85mm f/2 AIS @ f/2 + 1/100th

Please meet Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E-Series lens. This example is the very first lens that I've purchased, apart from the kit (yes, useless) lens. Got it off ebay for some 50 sterling, a price that would get you 2 sets of cinema tickets for you and your partner. Watch the film online, and buy this universal lens for the money saved. It's a great lens optically and it's also very fast. The focal lenght of 50mm makes it be pretty much multi-purpose piece of a glass. As my DSLR (a Nikon D90) isn't a full frame, this lens serves as a 75mm (why?  Will explain this on some other occasion. Also, will have a closer look at it's superb capabillities in one of the future posts.

Photo taken with Nikon 50mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8 + 1/20th
Say hello to another little friend. This one, as well as the 50mm is a quite old glass, what doesn't actually mean poor in terms of quality. Again, found on ebay for a handy price of 150 euros. Believe me or not, but you can't go wrong for that price. This lens is a top-class, fast and very sharp memories collector. While on a Nikon D90 it's real focal lenght equals 127,5mm, which is handy enough for photo-journalism as well as portrait.

But what am I going to write here about? I will try to show, that stunning results can be achieved at a budget price, also will introduce work of a few of my favourite photographers like Don McCullin for example. Believe that the content of this blog and its direction will develop over the time. Meanwhile, feel welcome to visit my other blog that I'm working on: www.stancesyndicate.com, that is a record of my automotive passion. Would you agree that car modifying can also be an art?

Also have a look at some pictures from the earlier mentioned Wolfsgruppe's BBQ, or actually the night before the grilled sausage day.


And finally, the very last thing I wanted to mention is, that I will keep the standard design of the blog, as I like  it when things are nice, clean, simple and neat. As my old manager would say: "Make it sexy!".


Wednesday 12 October 2011

Good Morning Vietnam!

Under heavy fire of the colleges' artillery, in the difficult times of Operation Semester One, orders from the CP came. Set up a blog. And here I am, on a mission to write, post and fight for the manual lens victory.

One could ask: "But who's the enemy?" Auto-focus lenses? No! The laziness in photography, the auto mode, average light meter reading and "the take a 1000 snapshots in order to get one awesome image" philosophy.. Join the army, say no to that practice! Become a photographer - be one of us!

Pvt. Matt K. from the GCD's Photographic Media Company