One Last Photo Shoot in Kraków (Sad Face)

It's been an amazing 2 years living here in Poland, but on August 31, we move back to Sterling, MA USA. Living in Europe has led to many great photo adventures and also many great friends made along the way. Yesterday, my photographer friend Jacek and I woke up to catch the sunrise over the Old Town Market Square here in Kraków. We tried to get some cool drone footage over the square, but the batteries were not cooperating and it crashed a couple times. After those mishaps and a bloody finger, we switched to our traditional cameras and tripods.

Especially in the summer the main square, the largest medieval square in Europe, fills up with tourists pretty quick, so it was nice to get there early and make some photos without the crowds. It was really sad being in this beautiful place for the last time, but at least we will have some great memories.

See you in Sterling!

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Wedding Portraits - Tomek and Marzena

This was a fun portrait shoot that took us all over the city. Tomek and Marzena wanted some shots that were a little different than the traditional, posed wedding photos. Of course, we made some traditional shots too, but we focused more on some fun poses and situations throughout Kraków.

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Kraków Wedding Photos

Congratulations Rafał and Natalia! This was another first for us, a wedding shoot in Europe! What a great place Kraków is for wedding photos. Nothing like what we have back home in New England. I really like the custom here in Poland where the formal wedding photos are made a week, or in our case, a couple months, after the actual wedding day. This is nice because everyone is much more relaxed and there is plenty of time to make some nice shots at multiple locations without keeping the hungry wedding guests waiting. In Kraków, it's very common to see a bride and groom along with their photographer posing throughout the Market Square and other parts of the city on any day of the week.

For tourists and visitors from other countries, especially the US, this is something special to see. When Martina and I were photographing Rafał and Natalia, I turned around to see a group of 5 or 6 people taking their own photos of us!

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Twilight - Performed by Paweł Sawicki

I have never filmed a music video before, so I offered to practice on my super talented guitarist friend, Paweł Sawicki. We shot several scenes throughout Kraków of him playing Twilight, by Kotaro Oshio. I used a camera mounted external microphone to pick up the audio and in post production, synced the clips with Paweł's studio recording. Enjoy!

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Up on Wawel Hill

This is the view as you travel up one of the paths that lead to Wawel Castle. The sun was low, the balloon was high. My wife says it reminds her of a scene from a Bond movie.

Kraków at Night

Last night I headed out to make some long exposures. They ranged from 6 - 15 seconds. Here are a few of my favorites from the night.

Real Football, Krakow Style - VIDEO

Besides learn Polish, the only thing I really wanted to do during my time here in Krakow was to see a football match. That wish came true last Saturday night. There are 2 rival teams here in Krakow. Cracovia and Wisła. I didn't know much about either team. I mostly follow the English, Spanish, and German leagues. Wisła finished on top of the Ekstraklasa last year and a lot of our friends here support them so that led my decision on which team was to get a new fan. As most European countries, Poland takes their football pretty seriously and so do the stadiums. At least at Wisła's stadium here in Krakow, you can not even purchase a ticket unless you first obtain a club card which has your photo and ID number on it. Even the tickets come printed with your name and the stadium turnstile will not let you in unless you scan a valid club card. I'm not sure if this is a safety precaution or what. The hooligans are pretty tough too. No alcohol is served at the stadium, police in full riot gear are all over the place, and the home and away fans are kept apart by fences and separate entrances and exits.

Interestingly, as serious fans they are, you never see anyone in the city wearing their teams colors. In fact, even on game night, it wasn't until we got close to the stadium that people started to put on their Wisła jerseys and scarves. Right after the game everyone quickly changed back. It's pretty sad that you can't even wear your teams jersey in public without the fear of getting beat up or knifed by supporters of the "other" team. It happens!

Anyways, we avoided injury and watched a great game. Rafał stood in line to get us our tickets and the 4 of us met him, Bartek, Beata, and Milena at the stadium, only a short walk from our apartment. The game ended 1-0 in Wisła's favor due to a penalty kick. The caliber of play was excellent, especially compared to the MLS games we have in the States and the fans were great! Click on the photo below to play a video I made of  the action.

Wednesday night Wisła plays for a spot in the Champions League, a first for them in a very long time. We wish them well, Go Wisła!

Danboard Rocks Out With Morrissey

This little cardboard box is pretty excited tonight! What, you don't know who Morrissey is?! Take a listen here. Who would have thought he would be able to see Morrissey live in Poland? Best part is, the venue is a small, standing room only club. Danboard hates those giant arena shows. Hopefully he will remember his camera!

More photos of Danboard

Uwaga!

I thought this sign was kind of funny. I guess I wouldn't be laughing if I was the one colliding with the tram though. I probably don't have to worry about it actually. I haven't been behind the wheel for 2 months now! It's really nice to be able to walk everywhere and take the occasional public transportation which is very good here in Krakow.

Krakow Street Performers - Video

Got a new video for you today! There are so many street performers here in Krakow. Here is just a sampling of some of the interesting ones. Click on the picture below to watch the video.

Published!

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm just pretty excited! One of my photos was just published in the July issue of the Krakow Post. Here is the original photo. They pick one or two photos each month to be published and then then an overall winner is selected at the end of the year. While I am excited to see it in print, I also wouldn't be surprised if only 2 people submitted photos. It's kind of interesting that it took moving to Poland for a few months to get something published. Maybe they have lower standards here!