Olomouc
Written by Max Jackson, CET Prague Photo Program Spring 2011, (Syracuse University)
Over the weekend I went to with Rozalie, one of our Czech buddies, to her home town of Olomouc, which is a historic city in Northern Moravia. The center of the town is a UNESCO world heritage site, Rozalie and I took the train from the Hlavní nádraží (main train station), braving the perils of the Czech train system. Olomouc is a gorgeous little city, like Prague but much quieter. We met with her some of her friends at a pub and walked around the center in the evening. The next day she showed me her family’s small cottage in Šternberk, which is fifteen minutes from the town and then we went to Svatý Kopeček (the holy little hill) which has a beautiful church called Church of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. We then went to a ball at her High School which was quite interesting to me because I did not attend my my high school prom. It was sort of like high school reunion meets prom where people visit their hometown and drink with old friends, it was definitely a unique cultural experience. Roza and I needed to dress up formally to join the fun. The next day we enjoyed the best beef tartar I’ve had in the Czech republic and then took a train by to Prague.
Prague. Being abroad
Our time in Prague is now more than halfway over. I am pretty sure that everyone in the CET program is overly distraught knowing that one day we are all going to have to leave the wonderful and eye-opening city we have inhabited for four months. With this on my mind, I thought I would write some things about being abroad…maybe this is advice, maybe it is just what I have observed…I’m not sure but one thing I know is take every opportunity that is presented to you. As long as it does not seem too dangerous, just do it. You end up experiencing some of the greatest parts of your studies abroad. Meeting new people is a golden experience, no matter how cheesy that may sound, there is nothing like being exposed to another culture. If you are curious, approach people. Being a photographer, it is beneficial to be able to make conversation with anything to get the shot you desire. Just going up to a stranger can result in a story you will want to write down later or a photo you will want to take immediately. Even if you are nervous, just do it. There is no point in wasting an opportunity you really want. Along with taking opportunities, get involved. If you hear about a protest, a film festival, a speech, etc, go to it. You can sleep later. You can drink later. Events are fleeting; there will always be time to go out with friends later. Plus, I’m sure drinking a beer is somehow a part of whatever event you are going to. Another very important aspect of being in a foreign place is that you get out and explore. Get on a tram, a metro, a bus, a bike, your own feet, and go somewhere. Get out of your comfort zone and head to the end of the line. Sit in a strange metro station and observe. Walk through a neighborhood you have never heard of. Keep the juices flowing. Don’t let yourself sit inside on sunny days.
Everything I have written may seem obvious. The thing is to make sure you are taking advantage of this miniscule chunk of our lives that is so influential and eye opening. Being abroad for one semester is nothing in the scheme of things.
Now here are some images from this semester of wandering. I have stumbled across some great and strange things.
The images: A bunch of us joined in a protest in February against education reforms in the Czech Republic. (the chocolate labs walking with the crowd) It was a blast to see everyone walking through the streets blocking the tram tracks of Prague with their whistles and balloons and enthusiasm.
While walking around by a metro station, I came across a man wearing some sort of large garment on his head at 10am on a Monday. I approached him and asked to take his portrait. He was hilarious, and definitely strange. The garment was a curtain he had stolen. He mentioned that this was “not a typical Monday.”
One night at a bar by the Vlatava, we met David Černý, the famous Czech sculptor/visual artist. We had some awesome conversations with him…not to mention insane ones as well! Check out my roommate holding his autograph…I only had a purple crayon on hand for his signature so that made the situation even better.
Moral of the story: being in a new place is full of opportunity; embrace it!
The Prague Zoo
Written by Max Jackson, CET Prague Photo Program Spring 2011, (Syracuse University)
Today I went to the Prague Zoo with Rozalie one of the “Czech Buddies” for a CET sponsored jaunt. It was Rozalie and I and later we were met by Brittany Dixon and Michael Freise. I was quite impressed with the sheer size of the Zoo itself as well as its variety of flora and fauna from all over the world. The Zoo is split into two sections one of which is situated on a fairly large hill. The lower and bottom parts are connected to each other by a lift which is run by the Prague Integrated Transit authority strangely enough. I can’t tell if tha’ts a glory posting or a punishment but it is interesting. Besides the variety of animals there is a variety of restaurants and scattered about and of course you can buy beer or hot mulled wine at every single one of them. I learned a handful of Czech words for animals which include: Lachtan (Seal), Tucnaci (Penguin), Plamenak (
Lighting Exercise in Beroun
This time, instead of in Beroun, our lighting workshop was in a legitimate studio apartment. Not a small living space- this was a combination apartment and lighting studio. Whoever rented this place to us for the day is extremely stylish and hip. Aside from having a full blown lighting studio in your pad, there was an upper loft with designer chairs, a surround sound stereo system with CDs encircled by rocks and twigs and wild decorations, there were decals on the doors, a cube espresso machine, and even a perfect view of David Cerny’s Meet Factory.
This lighting seminar was up to us; we (the photo kids) had to bring ideas, concepts, and lighting examples for Honza, our instructor, to guide us with. We had a model, a makeup artist, and a wardrobe. We brought photograph examples from David LaChapelle to Cecil Beaton. This was a full day of shooting, about 8 hours of learning and assisting with lights and cameras. If I have learned one thing about lighting, it would be that the only way to get better is to be constantly doing it. There is no way to learn it just from a lecture or textbook. Only hands on experience can help. This workshop was definitely an informative one. We did subtle portraits in front of the windows, (behind the scenes: in the pictures you can see our model looking down) we had our model sit on a rugged couch and then got silly with the shot- Bobi put her feet behind the couch so it looked eerie from the front (see dyptich photo). We even practiced lighting with smoke and a shoot with pizza.
Overall it was an extremely tiring day, but we all had fun and learned a lot.
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