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Photography

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Event Galleries

Travelling

Fish-eye Galleries

(Since March 21, 2018)

So-called fish-eye is a camera lens with extremely wide field of view without any optical correction of its spherical distortion producing photos looking like shot through a door viewfinder. It also comes pretty handy for almost 150 degrees wide one shot panoramas after correction of verticals or alternatively horizontals. Nowadays, I use it more frequently than a classic wide angle lens unnaturally deforming images mainly in their corners.

Infrared Galleries

(Since February 25, 2018)

Do you like a bit different view of the ordinary scenes around you? Seeing once some catching infrared photography, I thought to try it myself, too. The photographs published here were taken by an ordinary DSLR camera put on a tripod and having an infrared filter screwed on. The results coming from the camera are red like hell but after a black and white conversion, a contrast and lightness correction, and possible recolouring of the sky and water, the results are quite usable, aren't they. What do you think?

Live Gallery

(Since March 21, 2008)

The gallery contains a selection of photographs fitting into none of galleries from these pages although they have been published elsewhere or are exceptional by other way or I simply like them and want to share them with you.

Carnival Zilina 2020+

(February 14, 2020)

Already sixteenth traditional Zilina's carnival took place in the middle of February. The weather was quite bearable this time without any sunshine, true, but also without rain and the temperature was not that low. As expected, a lot of masks participated in the parade. We could see many old as well as new faces. Mask from Montenegro represented the outlands this season. The crowds were in a perfect mood again and that is what counts.

Old Town Days 2017+

(May 25‑27, 2017)

Already XXIII-st annual Old Town Celebrations took place this year. The main points on their list, as traditionally, were open air concerts of many interesting as well as notoriously known bands and orchestras together with a fair of not only traditional crafts, tasty food, and drinks. Thanks to a warm weather accompanied by quite clear skies the city was full of well enjoying people during all three days.

Skating GP Zilina 2015+

(March 21‑22, 2015)

Kraso klub Zilina prepared already 34th Grand Prix Zilina in Figure Skating, which was once again attended by many competitors of almost all age categories from figure skating clubs all over Slovakia. In the galleries, there you can find shots not only from this event but also from previous years of the Grand Prix.

Colombia

(2019/20)

Being invited to visit Colombia, we did not hesitate much, added a few more points of interest into our itinerary, and set off. Colombia is the only South American country with both the Atlantic and Pacific coast. As located in tropics, it has typical tropic areas like Cartagena and the Caribbean coast in general. Southwards in the Andes, however, there lies a totally different world. Thanks to high altitude, the climate is very pleasant in cities like Medellin The city of eternal spring (around 1500 metres) or Manizales (around 2100 metres). The highest peaks of the Andes, slightly above 5000 metres, even are covered by glaciers.

Croatia

(2019 ‑ 2005)

Croatia is a country spread along a big part of the Adriatic Sea's coast that being a border sea of the Mediterranean sea. As the Croatian sea is closest to our country it is a popular summer destination for our citizens despite the fact the weather is not that stable there. This time however, we visited Zagreb the capital for its famous Christmas markets and decorations. The weather was dull and misty though luckily without frost so with some help of mulled vine it was quite bearable.

Slovakia

(2019 ‑ 2003)

Without photographs introducing Slovak cities, towns, villages, castles, manor houses and beauties of nature these pages would not be complete. The latest group of galleries contains again castles like Beckov, Bojnice, Bratislava, Budatin, Cerveny Kamen, Lietava, Old, Strecno, Trencin, Vrsatec and Budmerice manor house. Beside these, ten galleries of different cities and towns have been added or updated. These are Bojnice, Bratislava, Cicmany, Piestany, Rajecka Lesna, Rajecke Teplice, Trencin, Vrsatske Podhradie, Zastranie and Zilina this time.

The United Kingdom

(2019 ‑ 2012)

Our trip around the Irish Island took us to the Northern Ireland, too. It is a part of United Kingdom. Here, the main attractions were not the greens of the nature, but splendid coastal sceneries (Carrick-a-Rede, Giant's Causeway), a visit of a whisky producing factory (Bushmills), a castle ruin (Dunluce) and cities with relatively recent bloody history (Derry, also known as Londonderry, and Belfast the capital of the Northern Ireland). Beside other, we found out we have a lot of invalid British coins. However, the weather was generous, what was more than fine.

Ireland

(August 17‑24, 2019)

We managed it visiting the island last possible summer while it was entire a part of the European Union yet. Republic of Ireland is spread over its south five sixths and our trip started and ended there, in Dublin the capital, leading us not only through human settlements but also through in places incredibly green countryside. The greens were sometimes that vivid the camera had problems to capture it properly. And yes, the weather was quite rainy a few days working on even greener greens for sure.

Greece

(2019 ‑ 2003)

Greece is a subtropical country with a rich history, nice nature, and stable summer weather, surely well worth the visit. This time we spend a pleasant hot summer time on the Kos Island near the Turkey coast. Additionally we also visited the volcanic Nisyros island for a walk in its main crater and through a lava stone beach. In the galleries, there you can find a selection of photos made not only in these but also in some more Greek coastal destinations we had the pleasure to visit this millennium.

Germany

(2019 ‑ 2008)

Easter holidays, beautiful weather with temperatures for short sleeves, who would not go for a trip. Travelling to Germany this time, to Bavaria its largest federal state, we visited cities of Bamberg, Nuremberg, and Regensburg, walked mainly through their historical centres, also sailed on a boat (in Regensburg). We tasted ice cream everywhere (the best was in Regensburg) and could not omit Bavarian beer, naturally.

Czechia

(2018 ‑ 2003)

The beginning of October led us into the neighbouring Czech Republic once again, this time to the famous South Moravian wine region of Lednice-Valtice. The town of Lednice has a beautiful castle with gardens, conservatory, huge castle pond, and even a minaret. The town of Valtice also has a castle. Beside this, the town is a famous wine centre, too. Because visiting during wine celebrations, we also tasted some wine and enjoyed a concert at the overcrowded town square.

Thailand

(July ‑ August, 2018)

Koh Samui is the second largest Thai island. It is located in the Gulf of Thailand not that far from the mainland. Although the main sunbathing season is during our winter and spring, also our summer is a pleasant time to spend on the island despite the risk of more frequent showers. Being in the tropics, the temperature is well over 20 degrees Celsius all the time anyway and one can at least avoid the heat of long sunny periods of the main season.

Italy

(2018 ‑ 2014)

The page dedicated to Italy, a South European country spread mainly but not only over the Apennine Peninsula, has been added with new galleries of Easter photographs from Tuscany area - Lucca, Pisa, Monteriggioni, Volterra, San Gimignano, Florence, and few photos from the countryside of the town of Barberino Val d'Elsa where we stayed. Tuscany has not only beautiful scenery but also many historical monuments even remembering the glory of the great Roman Empire.

Poland

(2018 ‑ 2009)

If you do not know, Zakopane the Poland town is spread at the foot of the High Tatras Mountain. Hard to believe if you manage to meet such weather there like we did. No mountains anywhere to be seen, neither High Tatras nor Gubalowka. To our honour, at least, some snow icing fell to make the photographs fresher with a piece of winter atmosphere. We just checked some shops and had a coffee this time. The mountains will possibly be next time.

Older Event Galleries

Rajecka Anca 2014+

(October 11‑12, 2014)

Rajecka Anca is a local name for a small motor train running on the Zilina - Rajec track. During this year's fifth annual nostalgic ride on this track, there run a small historical train consisting once again of the M131.1443 motor carriage called Hurvinek and the Blm 705425-09317-0 pulled carriage. Although the Sunday started in a misty mood, the weather turned perfect later so we enjoyed the ride much. Who did not join, can regret.

Aviation Day 2013+

(August 31, 2013)

This time we visited an air show held in the area of Sliac airport under the Slovak International Air Fest name. Many great pilots attended the fest and performed their incredible skills. However, the best of best was the Patrulla Aguila group from Spain. The weather was kind - a partly cloudy sky helped to survive the entire day unsheltered and luckily no rain started despite heavy clouds nearing dangerously.

Triathlon Zilina 2013+

(August 17, 2013)

Wonderful sunny weather, pleasant water, wind in hairs, the triathlon weekend in and by the Zilina water reservoir was like that. This photo-reportage is from Saturday's open Slovak Triathlon Championship of adults when both men and women categories started together.

Medieval Day 2013

(August 16, 2013)

Zilina city already sixth time returned into the Middle Ages, into times of cruel fights for the city, into times of executioners, whipping, and gallows to show present citizens and visitors its far back history. The Marianske square became a big stage for the all day cultural programme interlaced by medieval dishes and drinks. The end of the day belonged to fire shows and to a concert of the Arzen band. What a super day.

Beskyd Rallye 2013+

(July 27, 2013)

The event is not a real rally as we know it from a sport TV channel. This one is about excellent pieces of the car industry from the past times that are still fully working even today. The time matters also here, in this rally, but the longer the time is the better as we are in this case talking about cars' age. Welcome in the gallery and enjoy the photographs.

Bike Contest 2013

(July 13, 2013)

Near the Zilina city, just below the dam, the quite new skate park hosted a national competition of BMX and MTB bike riders. The dam's slope served as a stand. Despite the fact that long sitting on a quite steep slope is not that comfortable, the outlook was perfect and photographer friendly and that matters.

Zombie Walk 2012

(November 3, 2012)

A few days after Halloween, over sixty undead decided to walk together through the city from the main railway station to the Zilina-Zariecie station and to make a party there. An unnamed source confirmed presence of undead also from neighbour cities like Povazska Bystrica for instance. Although the crowd looked menacingly, no victims were recorded, only a controlled violence committed by order of the victims themselves. Quite a fun.

Budatin Fair 2012+

(October 20, 2012)

Budatin, a local part of the Zilina city, is situated on the right bank of the Vah River, at its confluence with the Kysuca River. On the grounds of the Budatin castle, there again was held the Budatin Fair with a demonstration of traditional crafts, good music, food, and drinks. Braver (and wealthier) of us could fly by a helicopter above the city. The weather could not be better, so the visitors sure greatly enjoyed this event.

Carnival on Ice 2012+

(April 15, 2012)

Kraso klub Zilina, the biggest figure skating club in our city, prepared the Carnival on Ice for children also in the end of this year's ice skating season. The children slightly competed, then just skated around the stadium, then were given sweets and other prices, and then just skated around again. It was a nice although pretty cold afternoon. Please visit the gallery if you wish to taste a bit of the atmosphere, too.

Battle for Atlantic 2011

(August 27, 2011)

Hot like in a stove (luckily partly cloudy), many curious visitors, models of ships, submarines, aeroplanes, one real helicopter tottering in the sky for a while (who finds it, has two points), a lot of pyrotechnic effects, this is how also the Battle for Atlantic looked like on the Zilina water reservoir at the end of August being directed by modellers from Slovakia and from abroad.

Greyhound Coursing 2011

(April 30, 2011)

The Racing Hounds Slovakia club from the nearby Rosina village organised Grand Prix 2011, an international greyhound CACIL/CACT coursing. It was a great opportunity to see such an exceptional event live. The racing course was located in a beautiful setting on a meadow full of blossoming dandelions. Pity that the weather was not better. The sky clouded over after the noon, even a light shower fell down.

3 Nationals 2011

(December 16‑18, 2010)

Hardly a week before the Christmas season, Kraso klub Zilina organised international championships of three countries - the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia - in figure skating. It was a great opportunity to see live such stars of nowadays European figure skating like for instance Tomas Verner from the Czech Republic sure is. Who visited the skating arena, could see, and sure enjoyed and was satisfied.

Lietava Castle Day 2009+

(May 30, 2009)

Almost one year passed by and there were again castle celebrations under the Lietava castle full of medieval warriors, trained birds of prey, medieval food, battles, shooting from bows, and other entertainment. In the gallery, there you can find a few shots so you are welcome to enter.

Plushenko & Friends 2009

(April 14, 2009)

Evgeni Plushenko and his friends visited our city to show the audience their figure skating art on ice. Beside many well known world figure skaters, in the show performed also Jozef Sabovcik an excellent figure skater born and grown in Slovakia. Young figure skaters from Kraso klub Zilina introduced the show as forerunners.

Indian Evening 2009

(March 3, 2009)

Do you like the Orient, the oriental culture, the oriental dances? I was invited and so visited, in the Puppet Theatre, a short programme introducing Indian dances to our public. Not those world wide famous belly dances as known mainly from Turkey, another kind of a dance, however also very attractive. Although the light was really horrible for photographers (the scene was lightened by strong red and yellow searchlights almost all the time) I tried to make a photo-reportage as we were approved to photograph the performance.

Sudoku Slovakia 2009+

(February 28, 2009)

This year's Slovak championship in Sudoku was in Zilina again, however this time in the Slovakia hotel in two its rooms. The competitors solved many tasks in three basic rounds and the best of them got one more this time final round in reward to show who is the best of the best. Check the gallery for a photo-reportage.

Rally Tatry 2008

(September 14, 2008)

Here you can find shots from the biggest rally in our country - Rally Tatry. The weather was splendid although it seems the summer is definitely gone because the temperature was quite low already and the weather forecast does not say anything about it being dramatically better anytime soon.

Pribylina Weekend 2008

(May 23‑25, 2008)

This gallery is dedicated to photographs from Pribylina village, Museum of Liptov Village nearby, and surroundings where the last weekend of May was really eventful. In the Saturday, there was the Slovak Cuvac's competition whilst the Sheperd's Sunday was in token of sheep, milk, and cheese. Enjoy the gallery.

Farm Horse Racing 2008

(May 3, 2008)

In the start of May, one part of the farm horse racing series took place near Zaskov, a Slovak village. This gallery captures a few moments of this event.

More Travelling

Spain

(2017 ‑ 2014)

The end of September is a perfect time for photography in Spain if the weather allows naturally. We were lucky and the sky was blue most of the time so we enjoyed the trip greatly. We visited the two largest Spanish cities, Madrid the capital of the country and Barcelona the capital of Catalunya (being there on the controversial separatist plebiscite's eve). We also saw Bilbao the capital of the Basque Country, historical Santiago de Compostela, and Santander.

Portugal

(September 25‑27, 2017)

At the end of the last September, we travelled to taste the westernmost country of the continental Europe; to taste literally - port, wine, cheese, biscuits to name some goodies also enjoying the weather that could not have been better. Admiring azulejos the famous painted tiles everywhere, we visited Porto and Lisbon the two largest Portuguese cities, Nazare the seaside town with splendid vistas from its cliff, the westernmost cape of the continent, and more.

Albania

(July ‑ August, 2017)

Looking for a new destination to spend a few days in relaxing as well as exploring something new we decided for Albania, which is not very well known in our region. It is a small Balkan country quite isolated for a long time in the past. A half of its citizens works abroad and its travelling business has a lot to improve. We visited Durres the biggest Albanian port, Berat the ancient inland town with antique roots, and former antique port of Apollonia.

Ukraine

(2017 ‑ 2010)

Ukraine invited us with perfectly clear and incredibly blue sky in its Lviv city this time. It is a metropolis full of historical buildings and monuments located in the western part of the country not that far from neighbouring Poland, that resulting in a great mixture of Ukrainian and Poland influence in the city life and history. As an extra bonus we visited a little historical pearl of Zhovkva town just a few kilometres away.

San Marino

(April 15, 2017)

Walking through narrow streets, on ramparts, forest walkways, a lot of shops packed with tourists, and splendid views of the countryside, it all is offered by the capital city (of the same name) of the fifth smallest country in the world nested on the hill of Monte Titano and its surroundings. San Marino is a republic surrounded completely by Italy and located in its northeast part near its well known summer resort of Rimini.

Latvia

(August 20‑21, 2016)

In Riga the Latvian capital we were twice during our travelling to north to Estonia and back, however first time we stopped just for a night rest in a hotel so it does not count in fact. :) Nevertheless, the second stop turned perfect. We managed to explore quite a portion of the city, its parks, buildings, even a market. Additionally, the usually busy river bank traffic was stopped due to army celebrations. A pleasant sunny weather was a nice topping of the day.

Estonia

(August 18‑19, 2016)

The northernmost Baltic country is Estonia. Its western and northern coast is bathed by the Baltic Sea. We visited Tartu the university town with very nice university botanical garden, Kasmu the coastal town of Lahemaa the national park (fresh blueberries in the forest were as a welcome bonus), and Tallinn the capital. A hotel room with sauna was another bonus, that surprised us pleasantly and that we used gladly.

Lithuania

(August 16‑22, 2016)

Our trip through Baltic countries started and ended in Lithuania, the southernmost one of them. The start was devoted to a visit of its largest cities (Vilnius the capital, Kaunas) whilst the end to a visit of the Baltic coast (Klaipeda) and Curonian Spit (Nida with sand dunes, Juodkrante with its Hill of Witches full of wooden sculptures). Beside this we also saw Trakai, a nicely renovated water castle, and Hill of Crosses near Siauliai.

Bulgaria

(2016 ‑ 2011)

Bulgaria is a country of the southeastern Europe bordered by the Danube River from the north and by the Black Sea from the east. It used to be a popular summer destination for our citizens in the past and it seems this trend is coming back. This time we took the trip a little wider so in the gallery you can find new photographs from the Ropotamo River to the ancient Nesebar Town, where we stayed.

Austria

(2016 ‑ 2008)

Being invited to a graduation concert the other day, we did not hesitate much and set off for it. The performance we experienced was great as also was the city where it took place. It was Linz, one of Austrian biggest cities having a rich history and being spread on both banks of the Danube River. The only drawback was the weather; but one cannot have everything.

The Netherlands

(2015 ‑ 2013)

During visiting The Netherlands this time, the main points on the programme were Rotterdam the city with the biggest harbour in Europe, Delft a nice town known mainly for a production of typical porcelain, Flower Park of Keukenhof in which the spring flower season was in its full run already, Open-air Museum of Zaanse Schans, and naturally the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. The weather was of a mixed bag - through rain in Rotterdam to totally blue sky in Zaanse Schans. Amsterdam was quite pleasantly warm and we even managed to tan slightly, too.

Belgium

(2015 ‑ 2013)

We once again visited Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and it once again was in the early April. The temperature was lower than last time and there was no trace of the Sun so the light for the photography was nothing special. Despite it we liked the journey. We enjoyed cherry beer and did not forget to buy home a typical box of Belgian pralines. We explored not only old known parts of the city but also new ones and ended, naturally, in the well known Atomium. Just the weather...

Vatican

(2014/15)

Spending the New Year in Rome the capital of Italy, we also visited Vatican, just nearly 0.5 square kilometre large city state located in the historical centre of Rome that not only is a centre of Christian spiritual world but also maintains and exhibits an enormous collection of art items gathered from all over the world and offers spectacular vistas over the Rome from its Saint Peter's basilica. Although small it without any doubts has something to offer so it sure is worth of visiting.

Turkey

(2013 ‑ 2011)

Turkey as well as its largest city of Istanbul is spread over two continents - Europe and Asia. Its northern shores are bathed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara whilst its southern and western shores by the Mediterranean Sea. In the gallery you can find photos from our short visit to Istanbul and a bit longer trip to the coastal centre of Alanya.

Norway

(July 15‑18, 2012)

Third and last country we visited during our northern journey was Norway with Oslo its capital, the port of Kristiansand, and Lysefjord, the Fjord of Light. The bus gave up working properly due to engine problems. Luckily, another one could be rented so we visited the fjord and saw the beautiful Norwegian nature eventually. All is well that ends well, isn't it?

Sweden

(July 14‑15, 2012)

Second country on our northern tour was Sweden. There we explored Malmo, Helsingborg, and Gothenburg the second biggest Swedish city, with night break in Surte, a small town near Gothenburg. The weather again was kind to us, also the bus worked, though only until our move to Norway during which problems started. However, more about it next time.

Denmark

(July 13, 2012)

This time we visited northern Europe. Our first stop was in Denmark, in Copenhagen its capital city. The bus worked perfectly yet, also the weather was great (i.e. sunny, neither summer heats nor northern cold), so we liked this visit much.

France

(2012 ‑ 2008)

These are galleries of images displaying Paris the capital city of France and Calais the French port.

Hungary

(July 20‑21, 2005)

We spent this summer in south Slovakia almost on the Hungarian border, so we crossed the border a few times, visited Esztergom, and travelled to the capital, Budapest, too with a break in Visegrad during our return. I did not photograph too much but you can find something in the galleries.