17/365: At the flea market

17/365: At the flea market, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 17th

My German friend asked me to come to the flea market with him to help him haggle (though I am not very good at it, knowing the language is a huge advantage). I brought my camera, but this was the only shot I took. It was so awfully cold that even the sellers packed up after a couple of hours and went home. A good ten hours later I still feel a chill in my bones.

The flea market is actually a used car market, but business follows buyers. Clever salesmen figured out that driving out every Sunday to where the people gather is probably more profitable than paying for the overhead of a salon no one has time to visit. So they set up right next to the pack rats and drunks- you can buy someone's old wicker chair or broken lamp for pennies, or order a brand new kitchen remodel straight from a company truck.

Last time we went there, my flatmate bought something very strange indeed.

I generally try to get a shot right straight out of the camera but this one was underexposed, so I brightened it a bit in Bridge. I'm trying to overcome my dislike for cleaning up shots in the computer without giving up the desire to learn how to get a good picture right in the field. Shooting in RAW is the first step. I'm happy that even with freezing fingers I got the composition exactly how I wanted it, even if the exposure wasn't good.

16/365: Marie Skłodowska-Curie

16/365: Marie Skłodowska-Curie, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 16th

A scientist's street. Since Marie Curie's maiden name was Skłodowska we actually put it before her married name, I suspect the rest of the world omits it because they are ashamed of not being able to pronounce it. :P

The plaque (an old plaque, I wonder how it missed getting replaced) says:

STREET [of]

Marie Skłodowska-Curie

1867-1934, Scientist

It caught my eye because we don't really use the word 'uczona' to describe a (female) scientist anymore- nowadays it's the genderless 'naukowiec' which has precise connotations to the scientific method. The archaic form 'uczona' which literally means 'a woman who has been taught' is a broader term for someone who is a renowned scholar. It suggests reverence and respect are in order.

Instead of a wiki link (because, really, you should know who Marie Curie was), here is a gratuitous link to a wonderful and relevant little comic.

On a side note, I am just not happy with my photos recently. They're fine for reference, I'd even say they would do well in a newspaper, but they're not special. There's no art in the frame, and I don't know how to catch it again. Maybe I never had it?

Also I've been having a lot of trouble managing light and sharpness recently. I know it's winter and that the daylight is bland, and that humid and cold air doesn't help with focusing, but I still feel like I'm doing extremely poorly for my capabilities.

I think I will buy a few rolls of film and try going back to one of my analog cameras. Maybe all I need to deal with this weather is a more artistic kind of grain and blur. Only film is so much more expensive than digital. :(

Anyway, here's a map of the pictures of Łódź I've taken so far this year.

Maybe I'm just cranky because I can't figure out what I'm allergic to. Right now thanks to some detective work and the elimination process it's down to meat, chocolate, and cigarette smoke (I refuse to place Guinness in this horrid calculation).

15/365:Carousel

15/365:Carousel, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 15th

Not a very good photo, I'm afraid, but the most interesting one I came up with today. This is the local amusement park, shut down for the winter of course.

I love the snow but I hate the weather right now, the sky is nothing but white all day long, with no sunshine or good clouds to make the light interesting. >:(

14/365: I changed my mind

14/365: I changed my mind, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 14th

This is part of a crafty thing I was going to make, but I changed my mind. I'm going to make something else.

13/365: Holy place

13/365: Holy place, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 13th

A picture of the Virgin Mary hanging on a tree in what used to be forest and is now city park. These rogue chapels are usually marks for places where something significant happened- perhaps a death, a deportation, a revolt, a war crime. Sometimes they are put up as thanks or apology. Sometimes they just mark old trees, hoping to save them from being cut down. There are many of them all over the country, but there are no plaques or official signs- by and by the original meanings are forgotten and the adorned trees become simple places of worship.

Here are some more tree chapels I've found over the last few years:

12/365: The old Karolew train station

12/365: The old Karolew train station, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 12th

There are lots of abandoned buildings in Lodz. This house in the middle of the railroad tracks is the old Karolew train station. It was built in 1902. It had two platforms, both now gone as most of the tracks around it are disused. There were people living in it not too long ago (in fact I found a photograph I took in 2007 that shows it), but now it's abandoned. It can't be demolished because it is on the list of monuments to be preserved- unfortunately no one is coming up with the actual money to preserve it. So it just stands there, decaying, like many other places in Łódź. I wish I had the kind of money it would take to rent and refurbish this house, it would be a swell place to live.

Here's a photo of the station in 2007:

The windows aren't broken and there's a bike in the yard. I think what happened was the railroad wanted to demolish it, so they got rid of the tenants, and then they found out they couldn't get permission to destroy the house. Laaame.

As my flatmate said when I told him this little story:

11/365: Saving space

11/365: Saving space, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 11th

To offset yesterday's very exciting photograph, here is something more mundane but which brings me great joy: my new kitchen arrangement. After years of promises IKEA finally opened a store in Lodz. My Christmas giftcard (thank you, mom) bought me what is hopefully a cure for our messy kitchen. Amazing what you can do with those railing systems they have- and they're cheap, too!

And bonus, only one snafu during installation! When I tried drilling into the bathroom wall, half of it fell off and I had to patch it with cement. This building is oooold.

Here's another mini-makeover on my window:

10/365:Light willow

10/365:Light willow, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 10th

Every year for the last eighteen years, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity has made miracles happen. This is the day when everyone opens their purse, be it only for a penny.

This year the Orchestra played for children with oncological diseases. As I type this, their website shows that they have collected 30 130 125 zł. That is over ten million dollars in a single day, and they haven't counted everything yet.

The 'Light to the Sky' is a tradition with the Charity- at eight pm all over the country fireworks go off as a thank you to everyone who took part in the event. This year instead of standing in the crowd under the concert stage I went to the nearby park where the fireworks were being shot. It was roped off, but I stood under the trees on a hunch. And I'm glad I did.

Last year:

and the year before:

9/365: You can't eat here

9/365: You can't eat here, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 9th

An abandoned oriental bar down the street. It's the most colourful building on that block, despite being boarded up and condemned.

8/365: A day at home

8/365: A day at home, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 8th

A rather bad day which ended up somewhat better around 11 pm. My cat found an old ball he had lost behind a couch and chased it around the room before finally collapsing by the wall. I didn't have energy for a better shot.