I have been living in the Czech Republic for the past three years. I was also here between 2003 and 2006, which makes the total period spent in Prague 6 long years. All this time mostly working and enjoying free time with my kids and wife. When I recently browsed through my archive, I realized that I had very few images of Czech landscapes that I am happy with. It's perhaps because I actually did expose just a few rolls of Velvia in here. The very most of my photography happens on the trips out of the country, be it photo expeditions to the north of Europe that I started to travel to couple of years back, or journeys home to Slovakia where I do not need to work and can leave my family behind with their family and go shooting. :-) But that's not the end of the shame, I have to admit that I have not tried to photograph anywhere else than in the Bohemian Switzerland, which I urge myself to change no later than within the next 2-3 months when testing my new Linhof Techno kit. The learning curve seems to be steep enough to look for any opportunity to get out of home not just wait for the next trip.
Name: Trees & Mists, Camera: Hasselblad H1, Lens: 210mm, Film: Fuji Velvia 50, Aperture: f/11, Exposure: 1/4s, Filters: Singh-Ray Warming Polariser
I shot this image in the Ceske Svycarsko National Park in the autumn 2009. Within our virtual camera club, lightharmony, we sometimes do the outings to photograph together. Usually in Slovakia but this time, we wanted to make it easier for our Czech members hence picked the Bohemian Switzerland as the place to go. It is definitely one of the most beautiful places in the Czech Republic when it comes to landscape. Lying on Elbe river canyon that is full of amazing sandstone rocks to climb on, it provides numerous picturesque views down to the nearby valleys. Small and cozy villages and deep green forests just add to the feeling of the real beauty of the nature here. When it dresses into its autumnal colors, it's definitely the best time for admiring and shooting the place. Usually, a photographing session starts early in the morning with a hike onto one of the view points always with high hopes for a fantastic light (happens very rarely) and mists (happen rarely). The very first light was disappointing again but soon after the sunrise, brief mists started to expand and lie and fly over woods below us. One could then hear nothing but multiple clattering of triggers of our 5 cameras. It was few minutes of absolute photographic nirvana that I used mostly for trying to find rather abstract and detailed views with my longest lens.