more from gdansk

Of course I did take some more photos while in Gdansk, so I post them today. I chose only the best and representative ones :-P First wider view to river front (with crane in far end):

And here the main pedestrian street - Dlugi Targ - which literally translates to "the long market", the historical main street market in the city. The tall tower with clock is the town hall building.

Both photos: Nikon FM2 + Tamron Adaptall-2 28mm f/2.8, Fuji Color Superia 200

trip to poland: wooden crane in gdansk

One of the more recognizable cities of Poland is Gdansk (among Krakow and Warsaw of course). Gdansk's history is mixed a lot with Germany as it was changing sides several times, including long period of being a 'free city' of its own (profiting from taxes from both Poland and Germany :-D).

The main trade mark of the city was always the port. In middle age times it was one of the biggest in Europe. And a game changer was the crane! Capable of loading/unloading cargo ships up to uncommon at that time tonage, made a lot of trade routes to pass from Gdansk rather than any other nearby port. Today the crane is probably the most recognizable spots in the city and of course a must see for any tourist. As I am one, I did visit the place :-D

Photo: Nikon FM2 + Tamron Adaptall-2 28mm f/2.8, Fuji Superia Color 200

Achaea Klauss

I was planning to go to Omplos hill for sunset photos for some time now and I finally made it. It was actually quite early when I found correct spot and I took quite a number of shots while waiting for the sun to set, so I still got soft day light and not yet typical red/orange. I was shooting mostly with some wide angle lenses but I took with me my very old Tamron's 200mm tele as well, that allowed me for some nice zooms into the city. Among many shots, I liked the ones with Achaea Klauss vinery:

I won't be writting much about the vinery itself as it's pretty easy to google it for sufficient info. As for the photos, I liked two frames: first one with tighter close up from the 200mm tele and second one with wider view including bypass of Patras and even some of the Rio-Antirio bridge.

At the end of the day, I was not pleased at all with the real sunset photos taken with film :-/ and only kept the ones from earlier shooting.

Photo1: Nikon FM2 w/ Tamron Adaptall 200mm, Fuji Superia 200

Photo2: Nikon FM2 w/ Tamron Adaptall 28mm, Fuji Superia 200

classic Nafplio

One more from Nafplio, probably the most classic frame from there. Every Greek (and many others) will recognize it in one second.

I have visited Nafplio before, in 2011. I remided myself that back then I took some experimental photos with home made camara obscura, built from match box and aluminium can. Here is exactly same spot 3y earlier (You can easily notice that my matchbox camera offered much wider angle :-P, something close to 12-14mm of 35mm film)

Photo1:Nikon FM2 w/ Tamron Adaptall 28mm f/2.8, Kodak Proffesional BW400CN

Photo2: Camara Obscura (home made, matchbox), dont remember the film.

night and day

Taking advantage of long weekend in March (Independence Day on March 25th, Tuesday), we visited very beautiful town of Nafplio. It is very well known tourist destination in Greece, both for Greek and foreigners. One of the reasons is the fortress of Boutzi, located on tiny island at the entrance to the port, historically very important deffensive location.

We had a goergious view from the balcony of our hotel room overlooking the whole bay and of course Bourtzi. Both photos were taken from same spot, first one in early morning hours and second one at night. If You will look close enough, You might also notice the castle of Argos in far background (top right corner of the photos), nicely illuminated at night as well.

Photos: FM2 w/Tamron Adaptall2 70-150mm, Kodak Proffesional BW400CN

not baby-friendly

There are lots of things we never notice in everyday life around us... Until we experience them! I have started to see some of them when I became a very happy father. I.e. I was shocked how difficult it is to walk around Patras with pushchair! In the center center, it is still not so bad with some streets being pedestrain only and others having fairly wide and smooth pavements. But situation changes drastically when You get any further.

On my way home from the center, from about Papaflessa str until Skaliopouleio it is simply impossible to walk with a puchchair on most of the pavements. Either they dont exist at all, or too narrow, or blocked by parked cars or so devastated that passing through is not possible. My route home is very carefully chosen with more comfortable streets and simply by walking part of the distance by the road.

Photo: Nikon FM2 w/Tamron Adaptall2 70-150 f/3.5, Kodak Tmax 400