Podgorze Photo Walk

I was supposed to be in Ostrowiec for the weekend, but things didn't quite work out, so I was "stuck" in Kraków for the weekend.

Of course there are worse places to be stuck (for example between a rock and a hard place) and I had a couple of events to go to.

The first event was taking place as part of the Worldwide Photo walk. This particular one was around Podgorze (the so-called Jewish Ghetto), i.e. the area between Kładka footbridge, Schindler's Factory and Krakus Mound. The meeting place was on Plac Nowy, I was first to arrive. We had a fairly well defined meeting point (at the old water pump) which is handy when you're meeting up with some new photographers. Pretty much everyone and his dog has a camera on them in the tourist hotspots of Kraków. Luckily there were a few familiar (English-speaking) faces there too. It was a small group, seven of us in total I think.

After waiting a short time for late arrivals (of which there were none) we headed over the river to begin taking photos. I had some new equipment to try out. Well, actually it wasn't really equipment, but a wrist-strap. I was, alas, lacking inspiration. I gained a certain enthusiasm boost when the only girl in our group did some modelling for us. The group photos were fun too. We joked about how great the bright red fire hydrant and the coloured steps would look in black and white. We didn't quite make it to the final destination (Krakus Mound) when someone remember that the Three Mounds run was taking place and there would probably be thousands of people (well dozens at least).

So, it was off to the pub. Drukarnia to be precise. First drink some mulled wine. Which warmed me up nicely. A fairly lively discussion, mostly revolving around photography, ensued. My next drink, or rather drinks, was a "Sampling Tray" of three different types of beer from the same brewery went down rather well.

After the drinks we all left the pub and said our farewells. All that walking, drinking and talking had made me hungry, so upon one of the photographic group member's recommendation I heading off for a bit of dinner at Augusta.

The final event of the evening was to catch the end of XParty. Specially some of the bands. I arrived in time to hear The Silver Owls, who describe themselves as producing cowboy music. Alas the Owls were only allowed to play for half an hour. They had to make way for the Liam McMhurri Band. They were a competent enough rock band. The lead singer, however, has ideas about his station. His voice (loud as it was) did nothing for me. He looks like Iggy Pop. Fortunately he kept his shirt on. He had obviously difficulty walking. I didn't ask, but I suspect it was because he got really wasted one night and fell asleep lying across the train tracks and now has prosthetic feet.

After the concert one more beer. It wasn't a bad end to the evening and I arrived home rather weary (but not drunk) at 1am.