Photos: um... just a trip
Sunday, 26 August 2012 20:08![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aletheiafelineaProbably you know places where photos take virtually on their own, and you hardly need to do anything? Being a lazy creature, I decided to visit such a place. So now you’re about to be treated with a standard set of someone’s holiday photos… Hey, where are you running! Uhhh… OK, then for those few who have stayed...
Pieniny, does it ring some bell, anyone? If no, take a guide on Poland, open it on the chapter “Mountains”, look at the included map, try to ignore the wildly flashing “Come to Tatras!!!” and move your finger up and right. Reached the frame? You need a bigger guide. :) Try to find one with more than two pages in “Mountains”. And maybe provide yourself with a magnifying glass…
Pieniny National Park is some 66 times smaller than London (yeah, we still call it a national park, though lynxes admittedly have some problems with fitting both their tails and noses within the area), and the second oldest in Poland. But the first international one in Europe.
Szczawnica is a tiny town on the verge of the Park.
Uzdrowisko = health-resort.
All highland towns and villages seem to have something in common, even Überwald, according to Terry Pratchett’s words… or should I say rather Sybil Ramkin's? “'It's a bit like the inside of a cuckoo clock, isn't it?” I wanna be a cuckoo! :}
One of the tourist industry workers.
A chirpy lady. Most probably it’s Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros), most probably female.
A Slovakian tourist noticed that I was trying to ‘catch’ a duck, and throw her a piece of his lunch. Others followed him, and soon the water was churning from a flock of excited ducks chasing bread crumbs, quacking angrily at each other, and snatching the prey from under others’ beaks. There came also two large, pink-finned trouts, interested what’s going on.
Near to Szczawnica there’s a small pavilion with an exhibition on the Park: dioramas with stuffed animals, a mockup of forest structure, historical and actual pictures of places… This is a little fragment of a big plaster relief map. Szczawnica in the upper right corner.
And this is a cool thing! This fir sprouted in 1848, and every tiny label marks a moment in time, dated in its rings. The ‘1’ (at the center) is the opening of the telegraph line between England and France, the ‘3’ is the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the ‘5’ is the opening of the Suez Canal, the ‘9’ is the Lumières’ first screening, the ‘10’ is the Wrights’ first flight…
Some say this is the most photographed tree in Poland. No, really, it’s on the cover of every guide on Pieniny, not to mention postcards… So the world absolutely wouldn’t do without the 68409446327856327th, mine, would it? That’s logical.
The pine juts from Sokolica (hm, Falcony?), a 747 meters high mountain, at the end of one of the most popular marked tracks in Poland. Most popular meaning most crowded… How commonly widespread is the custom of greeting in passing others on the path, is it customary in your parts too? Natural and friendly in a godforsaken wilderness with 0.37 person daily, it becomes somewhat peculiar, when there’s ‘Hello’ at every bend of the path, and you reply at every second breath, on the track climbing with the incline of a staircase for some two km. But you can have your revenge on the way back, being very polite for everyone crawling up. :> Some hundred meters before the end the ‘peculiar’ turns into ‘surreal’, when you see a fellow from the Park staff with a cash register, perched on a wooden bench under the price list, and handing you tickets, in the middle of forest… And when you’ve reached the peak, here’s the Short Manual for Taking Photos on Sokolica’s Top.
1. Aim at a promising vantage point and wriggle through the crowd to the goal. Considering that the rocks are polished to the point allowing them on necks and jeweller windows, mind your steps. No one cares for your teeth, but you need a whole camera.
2. Once you’re at the guard rail, wrap yourself around it as tight as you can. In case you happen to lack a prehensile tail, your chin can serve for the equivalent, though poor.
3. With your third hand take your bag, open it with your fourth hand, and take the camera out. Move the bag somewhere out of the way. No, beyond the rail isn’t a good idea. Now you know why you have a bag with a single belt. If you’re wondering why not a backpack, you need to re-read #2.
4. Notice that you’ve got one free hand now, the third one. Use it to take the lens cover off.
5. Turn the camera on, then use your third hand to stabilize the camera’s weight.
6. If you’re the man who in a review of this camera’s model complained that the control panel is too narrow for a male hand, turn the camera off, and go to the #12b. If you’re a woman, spare a moment for an evil smirk, and go to the #7.
7. With your fourth hand adjust the exposition settings without releasing the same hand’s hold on the camera’s body.
8. Lean out as far as you can for: a. getting the clear side view; b. avoiding the foreground’s domination. And stop whining about the rail against your belly, once you’re back home, you’ll can breathe to your heart’s content, now shut up and grab the rail. Why, with your ribs.
9. Try to ignore all “Mum, can I go beyond the rail? / No, you can’t. I said you canno… COME BACK HERE NOW!” and that moron who climbed all the way up to sit and smoke a cigarette just on your windward.
10. Take a reasonable amount of photos. 150 should be OK.
11. Do the #8, #5, #4, #3, and #2, the order and actions in reverse.
12. Now you can: a. start again from #1; b. wriggle away from the peak and go back off the mountain.
The upper photo is stitched of 71 single takes. The one below – 93. The river’s name is Dunajec, it’s a bit over 300 meters down. The tiny pale dots are rafts on the white-water rafting trip through the river’s gorge.
If you want details, it will be useful to have these two at hand, in new windows:
1. Bystrzyk Mt., with somewhat hiccuping stitch in this fragment, sorry for that… ^^’
2. The rock called Sama Jedna in Polish, and Osobita in Slovak. Both mean the same, that is ‘alone’ in the female form. Rafters call her Stara Panna (Pol. old maid, spinster).
3. Slovakian village Lesnica.
4. Przechodni Wierch (Pol. Transitive Peak, for whatever reasons, cause you can get through it nowhere…)
5. Holica, 833 meters makes it the second highest peak in Slovak Pieniny. Reportedly, the name (Slov. ‘naked’) comes from a great fire some two centuries ago, when the mountain’s all forest burnt down.
6. Łysina (Pol. bald spot) called also Facimiech, no one seems to know what does it mean or rather meant long ago… No marked tracks leading there, for stands of some plants and insects species on the verge of extinction. 150 years old firs form the forest on the southern slope (hidden here). Maybe the labeled trunk comes from there?
7. Trzy Korony (Three Crowns), the most known mountain of Pieniny, which you’ll see looking on photos like this in 99 cases of 100. It’s like Matterhorn, you know, it has only one side… *g*
8. Zamkowa Góra (Castle Mt.). There are medieval ruins indeed.
The #1, #4, #6, #7, and #8 are in Poland, the #2, #3, and #5 in Slovakia. Walking the Park, you step over the border on a daily basis, hardly noticing that.
And this is how it looks down there. Sokolica is in the background, the peak is not visible from this side.
Rafters aren’t oarsmen. The river does all the work, yet the rafter has not a lazy minute, with a long rod steering the raft clear of rocks and shallows. You can’t just come some day, throw a boat on water, and wait for tourists, come to me, lower prices here, wheee!!! A sure way to kill your customers and yourself. And most probably to have a talk with a group of rafters in a very serious mood, sleeves rolled up and tools of the trade in hand. ;) A rafter has to know the river by heart. To be allowed to work in the business, one needs at least six years of practice ended with the exam, not quite unlike midshipmen’s, ;) but with the practical part as the most important one. Imagine a young candidate sweating on the bow, heart in throat, and two twarths of old ‘captains’ behind. One needs to pass in: Proper Looking in the Folklore Garb, Having the Same Number of Tourists on the Starting and Ending Marina, and Giving a Good Spiel. No legends on that rock over there? There’s no such possibility, of course there’s a legend, and it had better be a good one, and now. On the other hand, when a story is too good, this can mean troubles… This is Hukowa Skała (Boomy Rock).
The author of one of the first guides on Pieniny wrote that a pistol shot echoes nine times here. Of course, on such statement every tourist in XIX age had been trying to test it. Remember the fir trunk? One of the labels marks the year when one of the pioneers of environmental protection appealed for silence.
And speaking of protection, though it wasn’t His Majesty Apollo, iconic for the Park, but only Small Tortoiseshell, it looked like feeling protected too, judging on how it flapped around.
Farewell chirp! :)
Disclaimer: any resemblance to real humans, other animals, plants, places, and events is not coincidental. OK, I managed it with two hands, the girl obeyed when she wasn’t allowed beyond the rail, and the most of rafters tells rather ‘real’ legends, though reportedly they recall with laughing admiration at least one artist of instant spiel, years ago. But all the rest is true. :)
Pieniny, does it ring some bell, anyone? If no, take a guide on Poland, open it on the chapter “Mountains”, look at the included map, try to ignore the wildly flashing “Come to Tatras!!!” and move your finger up and right. Reached the frame? You need a bigger guide. :) Try to find one with more than two pages in “Mountains”. And maybe provide yourself with a magnifying glass…
Pieniny National Park is some 66 times smaller than London (yeah, we still call it a national park, though lynxes admittedly have some problems with fitting both their tails and noses within the area), and the second oldest in Poland. But the first international one in Europe.
Szczawnica is a tiny town on the verge of the Park.
Uzdrowisko = health-resort.
All highland towns and villages seem to have something in common, even Überwald, according to Terry Pratchett’s words… or should I say rather Sybil Ramkin's? “'It's a bit like the inside of a cuckoo clock, isn't it?” I wanna be a cuckoo! :}
One of the tourist industry workers.
A chirpy lady. Most probably it’s Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros), most probably female.
A Slovakian tourist noticed that I was trying to ‘catch’ a duck, and throw her a piece of his lunch. Others followed him, and soon the water was churning from a flock of excited ducks chasing bread crumbs, quacking angrily at each other, and snatching the prey from under others’ beaks. There came also two large, pink-finned trouts, interested what’s going on.
Near to Szczawnica there’s a small pavilion with an exhibition on the Park: dioramas with stuffed animals, a mockup of forest structure, historical and actual pictures of places… This is a little fragment of a big plaster relief map. Szczawnica in the upper right corner.
And this is a cool thing! This fir sprouted in 1848, and every tiny label marks a moment in time, dated in its rings. The ‘1’ (at the center) is the opening of the telegraph line between England and France, the ‘3’ is the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the ‘5’ is the opening of the Suez Canal, the ‘9’ is the Lumières’ first screening, the ‘10’ is the Wrights’ first flight…
Some say this is the most photographed tree in Poland. No, really, it’s on the cover of every guide on Pieniny, not to mention postcards… So the world absolutely wouldn’t do without the 68409446327856327th, mine, would it? That’s logical.
The pine juts from Sokolica (hm, Falcony?), a 747 meters high mountain, at the end of one of the most popular marked tracks in Poland. Most popular meaning most crowded… How commonly widespread is the custom of greeting in passing others on the path, is it customary in your parts too? Natural and friendly in a godforsaken wilderness with 0.37 person daily, it becomes somewhat peculiar, when there’s ‘Hello’ at every bend of the path, and you reply at every second breath, on the track climbing with the incline of a staircase for some two km. But you can have your revenge on the way back, being very polite for everyone crawling up. :> Some hundred meters before the end the ‘peculiar’ turns into ‘surreal’, when you see a fellow from the Park staff with a cash register, perched on a wooden bench under the price list, and handing you tickets, in the middle of forest… And when you’ve reached the peak, here’s the Short Manual for Taking Photos on Sokolica’s Top.
1. Aim at a promising vantage point and wriggle through the crowd to the goal. Considering that the rocks are polished to the point allowing them on necks and jeweller windows, mind your steps. No one cares for your teeth, but you need a whole camera.
2. Once you’re at the guard rail, wrap yourself around it as tight as you can. In case you happen to lack a prehensile tail, your chin can serve for the equivalent, though poor.
3. With your third hand take your bag, open it with your fourth hand, and take the camera out. Move the bag somewhere out of the way. No, beyond the rail isn’t a good idea. Now you know why you have a bag with a single belt. If you’re wondering why not a backpack, you need to re-read #2.
4. Notice that you’ve got one free hand now, the third one. Use it to take the lens cover off.
5. Turn the camera on, then use your third hand to stabilize the camera’s weight.
6. If you’re the man who in a review of this camera’s model complained that the control panel is too narrow for a male hand, turn the camera off, and go to the #12b. If you’re a woman, spare a moment for an evil smirk, and go to the #7.
7. With your fourth hand adjust the exposition settings without releasing the same hand’s hold on the camera’s body.
8. Lean out as far as you can for: a. getting the clear side view; b. avoiding the foreground’s domination. And stop whining about the rail against your belly, once you’re back home, you’ll can breathe to your heart’s content, now shut up and grab the rail. Why, with your ribs.
9. Try to ignore all “Mum, can I go beyond the rail? / No, you can’t. I said you canno… COME BACK HERE NOW!” and that moron who climbed all the way up to sit and smoke a cigarette just on your windward.
10. Take a reasonable amount of photos. 150 should be OK.
11. Do the #8, #5, #4, #3, and #2, the order and actions in reverse.
12. Now you can: a. start again from #1; b. wriggle away from the peak and go back off the mountain.
The upper photo is stitched of 71 single takes. The one below – 93. The river’s name is Dunajec, it’s a bit over 300 meters down. The tiny pale dots are rafts on the white-water rafting trip through the river’s gorge.
If you want details, it will be useful to have these two at hand, in new windows:
1. Bystrzyk Mt., with somewhat hiccuping stitch in this fragment, sorry for that… ^^’
2. The rock called Sama Jedna in Polish, and Osobita in Slovak. Both mean the same, that is ‘alone’ in the female form. Rafters call her Stara Panna (Pol. old maid, spinster).
3. Slovakian village Lesnica.
4. Przechodni Wierch (Pol. Transitive Peak, for whatever reasons, cause you can get through it nowhere…)
5. Holica, 833 meters makes it the second highest peak in Slovak Pieniny. Reportedly, the name (Slov. ‘naked’) comes from a great fire some two centuries ago, when the mountain’s all forest burnt down.
6. Łysina (Pol. bald spot) called also Facimiech, no one seems to know what does it mean or rather meant long ago… No marked tracks leading there, for stands of some plants and insects species on the verge of extinction. 150 years old firs form the forest on the southern slope (hidden here). Maybe the labeled trunk comes from there?
7. Trzy Korony (Three Crowns), the most known mountain of Pieniny, which you’ll see looking on photos like this in 99 cases of 100. It’s like Matterhorn, you know, it has only one side… *g*
8. Zamkowa Góra (Castle Mt.). There are medieval ruins indeed.
The #1, #4, #6, #7, and #8 are in Poland, the #2, #3, and #5 in Slovakia. Walking the Park, you step over the border on a daily basis, hardly noticing that.
And this is how it looks down there. Sokolica is in the background, the peak is not visible from this side.
Rafters aren’t oarsmen. The river does all the work, yet the rafter has not a lazy minute, with a long rod steering the raft clear of rocks and shallows. You can’t just come some day, throw a boat on water, and wait for tourists, come to me, lower prices here, wheee!!! A sure way to kill your customers and yourself. And most probably to have a talk with a group of rafters in a very serious mood, sleeves rolled up and tools of the trade in hand. ;) A rafter has to know the river by heart. To be allowed to work in the business, one needs at least six years of practice ended with the exam, not quite unlike midshipmen’s, ;) but with the practical part as the most important one. Imagine a young candidate sweating on the bow, heart in throat, and two twarths of old ‘captains’ behind. One needs to pass in: Proper Looking in the Folklore Garb, Having the Same Number of Tourists on the Starting and Ending Marina, and Giving a Good Spiel. No legends on that rock over there? There’s no such possibility, of course there’s a legend, and it had better be a good one, and now. On the other hand, when a story is too good, this can mean troubles… This is Hukowa Skała (Boomy Rock).
The author of one of the first guides on Pieniny wrote that a pistol shot echoes nine times here. Of course, on such statement every tourist in XIX age had been trying to test it. Remember the fir trunk? One of the labels marks the year when one of the pioneers of environmental protection appealed for silence.
And speaking of protection, though it wasn’t His Majesty Apollo, iconic for the Park, but only Small Tortoiseshell, it looked like feeling protected too, judging on how it flapped around.
Disclaimer: any resemblance to real humans, other animals, plants, places, and events is not coincidental. OK, I managed it with two hands, the girl obeyed when she wasn’t allowed beyond the rail, and the most of rafters tells rather ‘real’ legends, though reportedly they recall with laughing admiration at least one artist of instant spiel, years ago. But all the rest is true. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-26 21:37 (UTC)It's true, landscapes line up before you, bouncing and yelling 'Me! Me now, me!' ;D
it felt a bit too safe for my taste
Oh my, rafters would be crushed hearing that! :)))
And you should totally write a full official tourist guide ;D
If the publisher pays for 'research', I'm in! *g*
Thanks, I'm glad you had fun. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-08-26 21:14 (UTC)I only know the northern half of Poland. We liked it so much and we intended to do the southern half, and the mountains, but then we got sidetracked into Portugal... At the moment, we don't have any holidays other than on the way to and fro, and of course Poland is not exactly between Portugal and UK.*g* We saw the edge of the mountains once, from the Czech border.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-26 21:47 (UTC)And luck, let's don't forget the luck! ;)
Pity that you hadn't written more about it. Personal impressions are always most fascinating. Maybe someday you'll get an opportunity again. And Portugal impressions would be interesting too. ;)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-27 10:25 (UTC)We went to Poland before I had either a blog or a digital camera. And I post quite a bit about Portugal, including some 'impressions' - maybe quite a bit before we met and not so much recently because I wasn't there much this last year. You can click on the 'portugal' tag on my LJ if you're interested.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-27 16:37 (UTC)the 'portugal' tag
Silly me, I checked mostly the 'travel'!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-26 22:20 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-26 22:34 (UTC)No way!!! In RL and live, it would end on 'um...' :D
you've definitely made me want to save up for a visit someday!
*ticks off the success* *g*
Thanks a lot for coming, glad you liked it! :D
no subject
Date: 2012-08-27 08:47 (UTC)Your photography guide made me laugh but I agree with the others here, it takes a lot of skill to take such effortlessly beautiful photographs.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-27 16:50 (UTC)OK, I give up, they're skillfull and effortless and whatnot. :) I told it my camera. It was glad and asked for its salary rise... that is, a new battery and free weekends, once we're such professionalists...
no subject
Date: 2012-09-07 19:28 (UTC)Thank you!!
no subject
Date: 2012-09-11 19:39 (UTC)