Bats, Furnaces and Flashlights
It’s always nice to start the New Year with taking some photos. More so, if it involves creating a photo I had in mind for quite some time. I had a chance to spend a few days with my friends in Osrblie, Slovakia. This village, located in central Slovakia, is known for its beautiful nature and FIS Biathlon events. Over the years, we’ve explored the area around the village and found many interesting locations, that also hold some photographic potential. The long abandoned, iron-melting furnace is certainly one of them.
Over the years I kept going back to it in my mind, but the surroundings don’t provide any “grand” photo opportunities. Many years later, during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises I remembered our first visit to the furnace. I looked up through its opening and took a photo of the afternoon blue sky with my friend’s compact camera. Bruce Wayne’s escape from Bane’s prison brought back those memories. I realised I could do it again, now than I have my own camera (and actually know what all those buttons do) and immediately visualised several photos I could take during our next visit. The top idea was to shoot it at night, so the sky would be filled with stars (or star trails) and the walls would be illuminated with light painting.
The first evening of 2013 provided some nice conditions. The moon wasn’t in the sky yet and the sky was filled by stars. With the help of my friends I believe the first effort was successful.
I also took a photo of the entrance. It had to be light-painted as well since it was totally dark. Sadly, the earlier visitors left a considerable amount of tracks in the snow, so the photo isn’t as neat as I hoped for.
I opted not to do star trails this time. The nort star wasn’t located in the opening of the furnace this time. Hopefully its position will be better in another season and I’ll have the opportunity to create another night-time photo.
My Top 10 photos of 2012
As the year 2012 draws to a close, it’s time to look back and evaluate. It was a difficult year. Sometimes I wasn’t able to shoot as much as I wanted. Other times I was facing with “creative block”, feeling I’ve exhausted the potential of places close to my home. And lots of times the weather just didn’t want to co-operate. Nevertheless, there were some successful moments. I won my first award at a photo exhibition, did some upgrading to my photo gear and managed to take these photos, which I can honestly label as my favorite photos of the year.
Stream, High Tatras
Glowing Peak
Hovering
Southern Sky
Jagged Peaks
A Colorful Explosion
First Stars
Evening on the Meadow
Celestial Meeting
Blooming Tree, Stormy Evening
My personal goals for 2013 is to shoot more, be bolder, acomplish the ideas I’ve had in my mind for a while and to improve this “top 10” list a year from now. I wish everyone Happy Holidays and lots of fantastic photos in 2013.
Tennis Classic 2012 – Novak Djokovic vs. Martin Klizan and a bit of insanity
Yesterday I had a chance to attend the 5th annual Tennis Classic exhibition in Bratislava, Slovakia. The line-up for the main singles match was very promissing – the current No. 1 and the winner of the London Masters Novak Djokovic agains the “Newcomer of the Year on ATP Tour” Martin Klizan. Both players are well known comedians. “Nole” Djokovic makes all sorts of pranks on fellow tennis players (both male and female) all the time. Martin Klizan is a player, who doesn’t hesitate to put on a colorful wig (after the successful Davis Cup tie) or large, colorful glasses and a hat (after winning a tournament). Naturally I expected a great show from both of them. Unfortunately, Martin probably left his sense of humor in the locker room yesterday. It seemed he was trying too hard to play regular tennis match (and beat the World No. 1), instead of entertaining the audience. On the other hand, Novak had a lot of funny lines, moments and impersonated several top male and female players (including Serena Williams). In the end, Novak Djokovic not only won sympathies of the sold-out arena, but also claimed the match in two sets 7:5, 6:3.
In the doubles match, Novak Djokovic teamed up with his long-time coach and former tennis player Marian Vajda and Martin Klizan was helped-out by the Slovak Davis Cup hero Dominik Hrbaty. Again, it seemed Marian and Novak enjoyed being on court so much more than Martin and Dominik. The “fun” potential of this exhibition match was enormous, however the evening wasn’t as great as I hoped.
Unfortunately, photographying the event was a nightmare. Apparently, the stars and the moderator weren’t instructed (or simply forgot) there was a booth full of photographers and camera men, who’d love to capture all the official ceremonies. We spent the evening looking at their backs instead. I sincerely hope this won’t happen next time.
The insane moments (I’d dare to call it a momentary lapse of reason) came during the intermission, when the traditional auction of tennis memorabilia took place. The audience bids for tennis rackets and apparel, that was autographed by the stars of the exhibition night. The proceedings usually go to support charity foundations that support underpriviledged kids’ sporting activities and the bids usually end up being several thousand Euros high. Yesterday, the battle for Novak Djokovic’s gear ended at mind-numbing 40 000 Euros. I’m all for supporting a worthy cause, but I honestly cannot wrap my mind around the fact somebody paid so much for a racket, two shirts and a seat in Novak Djokovic’s box on 1 tournament of choice. On the other hand, maybe we’ll see many new tennis stars in the future beause of this generous donation and something tells me the elderly gentleman, who won the auction, will recover rather quickly…
You can find more than 50 photos from Tennis Classic 2012 on my blog: http://hutera.blog.sme.sk/c/313322/Tennis-Classic-2012.html and a selection of my favorite photographs below.
