This page was translated by AI. Please be forgiving of any mistakes.
‹ Photo Notes · 16 října, 2014
You may have noticed in recent days the flood of Polish around me on Facebook. At the invitation of the Polish Fujiklub and Fujifilm I spent a weekend in beautiful Wrocław (Breslau).
Three workshops awaited me at the Fuji Plener, one on Saturday and two on Sunday, the last of them ending an hour before the bus to Prague. About 45 photographers took part in the plener, divided into three groups. Each group gradually went through three different workshops. One of them, called the Fuji laboratory, took place in the unmissable Sky Tower skyscraper. Two more took place at CRZ Krzywy Komin – the fashion photography workshop was led on the ground floor by Warsaw photographer Wojtek Wojtczak, and on the first floor was my corner for nude photography.
Wojtek and I complemented each other excellently, overlapped and showed two absolutely different views of photographing women.
I was accommodated in the pleasant Puro hotel.
I had a lucky hand in choosing the model when I picked the charismatic Ewa from Poznań, because of the models on offer she corresponded to my style most, not only visually but in her approach. On Saturday at the workshop we were still feeling each other out a bit, but on Sunday nobody would have known we had been working together for only a few hours.
Thanks to the packed programme we unfortunately had no time to shoot together alone; we literally stole those few photos, but we both enjoyed it and our collaboration doesn’t end there.
With the justification that „our languages resemble each other„, for two whole days including the workshops I spoke Czech and they spoke Polish. Occasionally the so-called Slavic mix helped us, and only really exceptionally did a few English words come into play. I estimate the intelligibility at about 70 % and the rest was understandable from context, or I asked for an explanation (and vice versa).
That Wrocław is a beautiful city I knew from stories and photographs, yet it managed to surprise me. In size it corresponds to about half of Prague and it is the largest and most important city of south-western Poland. The peripheral parts didn’t impress me, but the centre is wonderful. It partly recalls our Old Town Square, but as for example in Warsaw, here too most are replicas of original buildings destroyed during the war. Around the squares there are lots of different little streets and passages.
In various places you’ll meet dwarfs. They are an artistic reminder of a witty and humorous way of anti-communist resistance. In Polish they are called Krasnale, there are already about a hundred of them, each has a name, and they have their own website and map – Krasnale.pl.
I like cities that live, and in Wrocław the biggest surprise for me was the nightlife. Saying that in the centre one restaurant stands next to another doesn’t capture their density sufficiently. Huge and small gardens full of locals; when I entered some building, there were further large halls full of visitors in the basements and upper floors. Several times I saw an opening time written up to … (three o’clock in the morning), for example on the door of an inconspicuous place called Bułka z masłem. In October we enjoyed lovely record temperatures, so the streets were alive long after midnight.
I mentioned that restaurants and streets were full of locals. Wrocław is not a tourist city like, say, Kraków. Incidentally, though, it is an academic city, so besides locals it is full of students. And female students. On heels, with perfect makeup and hair, they stroll or sit about somewhere; at every step you feel as if at a fashion show.
On top of that, that evening Poland beat Germany 2:0 at football. They themselves couldn’t believe it, and you can imagine what it did to the atmosphere of the city.
Wrocław is about 270 kilometres from Prague, roughly like Kroměříž, and you can get there quite comfortably, for example by Eurolines or Polskibus coaches. This time I was there on business and apart from one night had no time at all to enjoy the city, but I’m adding Wrocław to my list of tips for weekend trips. It was fajne.
To Ewa, the organizers, namely Krzysztof and Gosia, and everybody else, thank you for the invitation, the professional and kind support and a lovely weekend – Dziękuję bardzo!
And a few more photographs from participating photographers. Thanks.
Oh, and do you know how to say secretary in Polish? Asistentka dotykowa.
What do such workshops look like? Follow EVENTS and come and see.