When the winter was at its full strength, with temperatures reaching -25, we decided to go for a sunrise-boarding at Wysoki Wierch (Slovakian name: Šlachtovsky vrch) in Male Pieniny, Poland.

It’s not very far from Cracow, we started our trip at 2 am. We got at parking around 4 and started our trekking at 4:30. We were on the top around 6:15 am. Snow was deep frozen, so walking in snow-shoes was really easy. We were at the top just after it started to get bright, so I couldn’t play with the stars, but the view… It was magnificent! The sky was coloured with blue and violet, it was extremely quiet and without any wind.

I was afraid whether my camera can make -25 Centi-degrees, but the more I expose it to cold temperature, the more convinced I am that I got “Extreme” version. It was running smoothly!!!

Panorama from the top (you can see my other panoramas here):

I played with a different glasses – 17-40, 24-70 and 70-200. All of them with Hitech ND grads.

Kozi Wierch (słow. Kozí vrch, 2291 m n.p.m.) – szczyt w Tatrach Wysokich. Jest najwyższą górą znajdującą się w całości na terenie Polski. Kozi Wierch wznosi się w bocznej grani pomiędzy Doliną Gąsienicową a Doliną Pięciu Stawów Polskich, a dokładniej między dwiema dolinkami wiszącymi: Kozią Dolinką i Pustą Dolinką. Wzdłuż grani tej poprowadzono szlak turystyczny zwany Orlą Percią.

Masyw Koziego Wierchu znajduje się pomiędzy Zamarłą Turnią (2179 m) i Czarnymi Ścianami (2242 m). Od Zamarłej Turni oddziela go Kozia Przełęcz (2137 m), a od Czarnych Ścian Przełączka nad Dolinką Buczynową (2225 m n.p.m.). Długa, północno-wschodnia grań Koziego Wierchu zwana jest Kozim Murem. Ostatnia wznosząca się w nim turnia to Buczynowa Strażnica (2242 m), górująca nad Buczynową Dolinką. Z grani tej opada na stronę Koziej Dolinki Rysa Zaruskiego. Na północny zachód od najwyższego wierzchołka wznoszą się trzy skaliste kulminacje Kozich Czub (kolejno od południowego wschodu: 2263 m, 2256 m i 2239 m), oddzielone od głównego szczytu Kozią Przełęczą Wyżnią (2240 m).

Po stronie północnej masyw opada stromo ścianami o wysokości sięgającej 210 m do Koziej Dolinki (górne piętro Doliny Gąsienicowej). Urwiska te są ograniczone z lewej (wschodniej) strony Żlebem Kulczyńskiego, a z prawej (zachodniej) strony – północno-wschodnim żlebem Koziej Przełęczy. Pomiędzy żlebami znajduje się Filar Leporowskiego, na którym zginął w 1929 Jerzy Leporowski. Wysokie, 250-metrowe południowo-zachodnie ściany Koziego Wierchu i Kozich Czub opadają też do Pustej Dolinki. Na wszystkich tych ścianach wytyczono wieledróg wspinaczkowych o różnym stopniu trudności.

za: Wikipedia

Panorama taken from Kozi Wierch an hour after a full sunrise (clik to enlarge to 5k px version):

If you would like to see my other panoramas, including Tatras ones – go to Panoramas portfolio section.

And a gallery of photos taken during a sunrise:

Enjoy the ride. Follow your passion. Find happiness in what you love.

Shot during my winter holidays in Livigno, Italy in 2011. Great place to be, great people, great slopes, magnificent views, LOTS of snow. Hell yeah!

Thanks to all talented gals and guys who performed these tricks.

When last week I saw weather predictions I knew I really want to go for another sunrise. We had only one full day, plus an evening day before, so choice was obvious – Valley of Five Lakes in Polish Tatras. It’s close to Cracow, only 120 km.

When we walked there, we got struck by a snow storm. A short final approach to the shelter took us around 60 minutes (while usually it would take 10 minutes). We were crowling in a snow 1,5m high.

But the sunrise and the whole next day really made it worth. Just have a look.

Panorama taken this during this sunrise:

 And the whole gallery:

Our first snow this year, we spent a day on a light trekking around Gasienicowa Valley in Polish Tatras. Full gallery is at the bottom of the page.

Zielony Staw (Green Pond) and Koscielec peak (2155m) seen from Liliowe pass.

Świnica peak (2301m) seen from Czerwone Stawki (Red Ponds).

Żółta Turnia (2087m), Żółta Przełęcz (2028m), Granaty (series of peaks: 2225m, 2234m and 2240m) and a part of Kozi Wierch (2291m) seen from Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy (1624m).

Click on a thumbnail for a full-screen picture:

Some frames from our trip to London, a bit of street photography from around Thames river, Borough Market and other stuff. Weather wasn’t pleasant, therefore I didn’t capture as many frames as I counted for. Anyway, some of shots I really liked.

Camden Town, one of my favourite parts of London, was on our map as a must-visit-again-and-again place. It gives a hugely positive kick, makes you feel a lot of positive vibrations and let you melt into a colourful crowd of people who not always take everything seriously.

There was Chinese and Japanese food, pints for the Queen, Jamaican speaking Polish, jumping on the streets, Gaddafi sons, pink Mini Morris, Cyberdog party and more more.

And remember – Whatever you do, take Pride.

During my visit in London I made a street photography project – orthodox Jews during their days off. Monday was a bank holiday and there were many families in different London’s parks and squares. I spent some time around South Tottenham and Stamford Hill.

Big thanks to our friends in London, Jagoda & Wojciech, for helping me with this project!

Click on a thumbnail to get a full screen picture:

Photographs taken last Sunday in the Valley of Five Lakes in Tatra Mountains, Poland. I had a photo-trekking trip with my friend. It was planned to be a very picturesque sunrise but unfortunately we had bad luck this time.

Valley itself is an amazing place, covered with mountain pine and a number of unique alpine plants. It’s also a shelter for wild animals like bears, chamois, marmots and lynx.

I was using Canon 24-70 f2.8 and Canon 17-40 f4.0 with Cokin-Z holder with one of Hitech grads (0.6, 0.9 or 1.2 – 2, 3 or 4 stops), depending on a shot. To take photographs of the blurred stream I’ve added one 0.6 ND filter (2 stops). All of the photographs were taken with the exposure for 2-6 seconds to get ideally blurred water.

It was raining for most of the time so we finished shooting after two hours. However, it paid to get soaked.

This photo session was designed after paying a visit to the  Młoda Moda Concept Studio in Kazimierz District, Kraków. They have a really nice collection of young designers clothes – from dresses and gowns, t-shirts and blouses, pants and skirts to all kinds of handmade jewellery.

I was really keen to try some of their creations as I really liked what we found – a brilliant dress, perfect for a fashion session. After analysing the whole set I decided to give a try in some abandoned plant, which will be a perfect contrast to a innocence, gentleness and finesse of it. I shot another one as well – a white seamless one in studio (but I plan another blog entry for it).

Due to the lack of time to travel to some other locations I chose the abandoned “Prefabet” cement plant in Kraków. It was a rainy Sunday and the site was full of other crews – at the busiest moment there were four simultaneous photo sessions, including a wedding session. For me – it’s a perfect site with endless possibilities for fashion, glamour or even nude sessions but a wedding one? Well…

Perfect for the session was a long hall, with really deep canals. They reminded of a catwalk – so we decided to shoot there. I used two strobe lights with 120cm octa-boxes, Canon 100mm f2.8L and Canon 24-70 f2.8L lenses.

Strobist info (diagram – Strobox.com):

• Quantuum 600Ws at 1/16 through 120cm octa as main light 1.5m to the left in front of the model.
• Quantuum 300Ws at 1/16 through 120cm octa 1.5-2m to the right in front of the model.