Few pictures from promo fashion photo shoot for my friend Barbora Plesarová. It was a cold and rainy spring day and pictures were for Barbora's new Boutique in Prague.
BP Fashion - Fashion Shoot Prague
Interlaken - Switzerland
Snow in Bratislava
After a quite long time i've spend last Christmas in Slovakia and it was pretty cold there i have to say at least. Europe is struggling with Arctic winter and temperature in Bratislava dopped down to minus 20 Celsius. Luckily it's not just cold and there was also few days when everything was covered with fresh snow. Here are some pictures while it was all nice white.
One day in Paris
At the end of October @London was running a promo on Instagram with Eurostar trains and return tickets were just 39£, the only condition was that you had to return the same day. I've bought a ticket to Paris and was really looking forward visiting this beautiful city again.
One day is certainly not enough to explore Paris properly, but as I knew exactly where I wanted to go I've made most of it. My train left from London St. Pancras International at 7am and arrived at Gare du Nord in Paris slightly after 10am. It was a sunny day in Paris but Air pollution was really bad and Mayor of Paris decided to limit access for cars to the city center and public transport was free which was quite handy.
Anyway, I've had a lovely day and ten hours and over 40k steps later I was on the train back to London, tired but smiling and with the camera full of pictures. Here are some of them, hope you like them.
What's in my camera bag?
I think two or three years ago I wrote an article on Tumblr about what camera I'm using and what is my favourite accessories. Couple things had changed since then so here is an update on what's in my camera bag these days.
Some time after I've wrote that article, one my friend mentioned that he bought a new camera to play with, FujiFilm X-100, and he was very impressed. I went on Fuji online store to check X series cameras and decided to give it a try.
For start, I bought FujiFilm X-E1 as i wanted to be able to use different lenses and i have used that camera for a couple of months. It was really exciting and excellent little camera and lenses were great too. Surprisingly even the kit lens 18-55mm, I bought with the camera was very sharp and fast.
As i was very happy with Fuji's X- Trans CMOS II sensor I've decided to upgrade to FujiFilm X-T1.
I love this little camera even more, it's light, powerful, and much faster than X-E1 was plus as bonus it's weather/rain sealed. It has built in WiFi for Remote control and easy photo transfer, autofocus is fast and accurate. 3" tilting LCD screen is very handy feature if you shoot down at ground level or very high, but what is most important, X- Trans CMOS II produces images with stunning quality and sharpness even in low light conditions. If you shoot also to JPEG, you can apply straight in camera some of the Fuji's beautiful film simulations.
All lenses that I'm using are from FujiFilm,I love their superb quality and how fast they are. I love to shoot with primes, however lately i find myself quiet a lot shooting with "lazy" Fujifilm 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 OIS WR. It's great lens, sharp edge to edge, has built in stabilisation OIS and it's weather resistant too. Very handy in wet and rainy London. Also at full zoom offers great background compression.
Next lens always in my bag is small, very light and powerful prime FujiFilm 35mm f1.4 R. It's first version of this lens, Fuji released last year upgraded WR f2.0 version. I genuinely do love this fast lens, 35mm in APS-C is about 53mm in Full Frame with angle of view that is similar to human eye and it's great for street photography. At widest aperture f1.4 you'll get amazing creamy bokeh, :)
When I know I'm going to shot portraits, I'll add to my bag FujiFilm 56mm f1.2 R lens. It is a killer portrait lens, with great booked, super fast and sharp. Love how it does delivers stunning results outside or in studio.
My last lens is FujiFilm 16mm f1.4 WR, it's wide, weather sealed and fast too. I'm taking this lens with me to shoot landscapes or when i need to go slightly wider than 18mm while still being able to shoot in low light.
Another things that I can't miss in my bag are SD cards and batteries. I have two original Fuji batteries and i bought on Amazon another few third party ones and to be honest, i couldn't notice any different in performance yet. Also there is always battery pack for my iPhone and little SD Card to Lighting adapter for times when i can't use wifi.
So what's my bag that accommodate all that stuff? Lately I'm using ONA Brixton bag, it's reasonably sized, I can fit in easily camera and three lenses and it has slot for my iPad Pro/Macbook if needed. There are two massive front pockets that holds a lot of small stuff and two smaller pockets on the side. It's made from canvas and it's waterproof and very durable while still look very stylish. ONA has recently sent my a small Bowery bag to test and it's great bag for summer when you just need a camera and one extra lens.
Feel free to reach me with any questions here in comments or through my social media.
Brussels with Radisson RED
I've been invited to spend weekend in Brussels by Radisson RED, the newly opened fancy hotel in European Quarter. After the recent terror attacks, Belgians are going through though time and they want to showcase some beauty that Brussels has to offer. As I've never been there before and it was for a good cause I've said yes.
It was an amazing weekend, damn cold but filled with some amazing food and festive drinks and obviously chocolate as we were in Belgium. I've met some old friends there and make some new ones too as Radisson invited about 20 influencers from all over the Europe to support this campaign. My favorite place in Brussels was the Grand Place with Christmas tree and the view from between the towers of Basilica Koekelberg. If you haven't been there yet, don't wait anymore :)
Enjoy my pictures and thank you again Radisson RED
Autumn in Bratislava
I've spent few weeks in Bratislava early in November with my family and took few shots while everything was dressed in autumn colors.
Shooting for Urban Artist
I was approached by Urban Artist to shoot pictures of Modupe for her upcoming single release. We shot few portraits in studio and then went to Shoreditch for more urban shots. Here is few pictures.
Cameron
Cameron called me that he need new profile picture for his company website so we met and shoot few portraits.
Kids portraits
Last weekend me and my friend Gabriel have decided to organise little shooting session with his kids and kids friends. Suddenly at some point there were running seven kids around and there was a loads of laugh.
Destination Canada - #ExploreCanada Campaign
Last week i've returned home from an awesome trip. Three of us were invited by Destination Canada and Canadian Affair to visit and experience Ontario, Canada.
My flight was from London to Toronto with Airtransat took only about 8h and I was lucky enough to have all three seats for me so it was very comfy :) Toronto Pearson International Airport is large and busy airport and it took me a while to get my luggage. Airport WiFi is free but sucks as block any apps requiring locations, so to get Uber, load map or check-in was impossible. Also Airport signage is not the most intuitive either and took me a while to find place where my Hotel shuttle bus was waiting. That's about all complaints I have, rest was good stuff.
It was almost 7pm when I arrived at Sheraton Centre Hotel, right in the centre of Toronto's downtown. As my pre-booked room didn't have free wifi and cost of that extra was almost the same as to upgrade room, I've decided to go for second option. My new Room was on 34th floor with totally awesome view of Toronto's City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square as a bonus. It was really huge and here was also massive flat screen telly, not that I planed to stay in but it's always a nice thing to have.
When I landed, sky was cloudy and raining however by the time I got to the hotel, it became one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. So after check-in I've dropped my bags in the room, grabbed my camera and went out to get few shots on the wet streets before Sun get down.
When I came back to the hotel, my friend Jiří was already there. He was in Canada for about week by now and done the trip around B.C. He'll be my travel buddy for four days in Toronto before he'll fly back home and Allan will come to join me.
First day wake me up with sunshine and temperature around 26C so we went to explore the city. Yonge Street is quite long street running from harbour front across the Toronto's downtown and by mistake it used to be called longest street in the world. It's still pretty impressive at 86km length and have plenty of shops, restaurants and at junction with Dundas Street is cool Yonge-Dundas Square that reminded me a bit London's Piccadilly Circus. Queen Street is also full of lovely small shops and restaurants and has amazing vibes. Tired after all day walking and hungry we started looking around for some dinner and found place called Beer Bistro that serves amazing and tasty food and their WiFi was just lightning fast. Great place!
On the Day two we've had a pre-booked activity on Toronto's CN Tower called 'Edge Walk' where I guess the name says it all :) So after breakfast in the hotel restaurant we walked to the CN tower. After short training session we were transferred in special lift up to the platform sitting at 356m or 1168ft and then hanging on special security harness you walk around tower for about 30 minutes. View from top is breathtaking and scary at the same time :). There is also a restaurant, viewing platform and small Skypod in the CN Tower so if you don't dare to go outside then give a try to Skypod, views are also pretty stunning from there unfortunately through glass panels.
Day three and another activity that we had pre-booked was Segway Tour around Distillery District. Gooderham and Worths Distillery used to be the largest Distillery in the world and these days you can find there plenty of shops, cafes and restaurants housed within old Victorian historical buildings.. I've never been on Segway before and what looked a bit boring on the beginning ended up as loads of fun :) Tour guides were also hilarious and told us plenty interesting facts about the district too.
This week Toronto hosted Hockey World Cup and Fan village was located at the end of Distillery District. It was pretty cool as the streets were full of fans in hockey jerseys. We've decided that after the tour we'll go to Air Canada Centre to find out if there are any tickets left for todays game CZE vs EUR. We were lucky enough and bought tickets and my dream of seeing ice hockey match in Canada was becoming a reality :). It was an amazing game in supercool arena and team Europe beat Czech so the day couldn't end better.
Day four, last day in Toronto with Jiri so we decided to jump on the bus and visit nearby Niagara Falls. Greyhound Bus station was just few minutes from the hotel and the 120km journey took about 2 hours. To our surprise instead of getting of the bus right at the falls we had to walk for another 40 minutes till we could see them. But it was damn worth it, view we got was absolutely spectacular! While it may not be the largest waterfallsIt's it was still incredible to see that mass of water falling right on the front of you and makes you realise how powerful the nature is. Niagara's are actually three falls connected, two on US and Horseshoe Fall on Canadian side. There is also Skylon tower on Canadian side and if you pay extra 14CAD you'll get panoramic view of whole Niagara.
Day five, my last day in Toronto before I'll move on more up north and there was still a few things to do on my list so i've started the day early with short ferry ride to Hanlan's Point at Centre island to take shots of downtown skyline at sunrise. It was pretty awesome and ferry is cheap, return ticket is only 7.50CAD. Next stop was Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, i've seen few aquariums before and this one was one of the better ones with large sharks and colourful jelly fishes. I would certainly recommend to visit at the morning to avoid crowds. I went there when they opened and I was there almost alone :)
While strolling Queen St. West i've found cool looking burger place called Burger's Priest and as i was hungry and it was lunch time, i walked in. Seriously, It was the BEST BURGER i've ever had. Later on couple of my friends confirmed that fame of this place is running around the world and they have this place on their ToDo lists for a long time. Now i know why :) Later on that evening Allan, my other travel buddy arrived so we were ready to move on from Toronto next day.
Day six, we've check-out from Sheraton and went to find AVIS Car Rental to pick up the car. Their offices are well hidden on Bloor St. East and took us while to find it. After couple minutes wandering around we were in and collected our Jeep Patriot that gonna drive us around for next couple of days. I had to also show Allan that burger place i've found so we went for lunch before journey.
Todays final destination was city called Kingston located at the east end of Lake Ontario near the Thousand Islands area and about 277km from Toronto. Unfortunately weather decided not to cooperate anymore and sky gets grey and cloudy with occasional raindrops. As it was fully raining when we arrived to our hotel, we just decided to relax and test hotel Spa features.
Day Seven and sky was still cloudy and rainy so we've decided to find some cozy coffee place and get brunch before we will go to our Boat Tour. Kingston is lovely small town and it's called Limestone City as many of the old heritage buildings were build using local Limestone. We found an awesome place called Pan Chancho and I've decided to try typical Canadian speciality called Poutine. It's pretty much fries, cheese curds and gravy but this place added extra bacon and egg. It was absolutely DELICIOUS!
After brunch we moved to Kingston Harbour where we embarked on board of our boat called Island Queen and went on cruise around 1000 Islands. It's an area of 1864 islands on Canada/US border covering around 80km. They range in size from over 100km2 to a smaller ones with only one house. The tour took 3h and served lovely meals accompanied by live music. Shame it was rainy and cloudy otherwise the views will be even more stunning.
Our next destination on itinerary was Ottawa, drive about 200km from Kingston. Along the way we've done a quick stop at Hill Island to visit 1000 Islands Tower. It was well worth the stops as you can see some of the islands from above. Views must be even more stunning few days later when the trees will be changing colour. From there we continued to our hotel in Ottawa. I went straight to bed as forecast for tomorrow was sunny and we had planned a lot to do.
Day eight, Ottawa, capital city of Canada and home of Canadian Parliament. I've get up early to catch sunrise on Parliament Hill and once sun risen i went to get breakfast to The Ministry of Coffee. Nutella late was absolutely amazing :) At noon we had pre-booked tour with Paul's Boat lines so we walked to the Rideau Canal and embarked on lovely cruise around Ottawa River. Rest of the day we spent exploring Ottawa and as the sun was going down i went on place called Napean Point that have beautiful views of Parliament Hill and Alexandra Bridge.
Day nine, another lovely warm and sunny day and we have checked out from hotel early in the morning and went on the road. Todays destination was 350km far town called Huntsville and Deerhurst resort where we will stay overnight, but there were few cool spots along the way we wanted to explore more. First we stopped at Golden lake took couple pictures and second stop was at Dorset Lookout Tower. It's pretty cool lookout tower with a panoramic view of beautiful Lake of Bay.
From there we continued to Deerhurst, massive resort in Ontario's Muskoka region. This place was voted as best place to see autumn collors in Canada but once again, we were here too early. Only around 15% of trees had started changing to red and orange yet. We've checked in to the hotel and get to explore area around the resort.
Day ten, sun is gone and water is falling from the sky. We've had breakfast and as there was not a much to do in a resort in these conditions and as the forecast for next days wasn't looking promising we've decided to check out a day early and return to Toronto as city would look better in rain. So we went on another 230km drive back to The 6ix. I love that city and was really looking forward to explore it even more. As we arrived i drove Allan to his AirBnb place and obviously went for dinner to Burger's Priest straight after. With full belly i went straight to the hotel and as it was right on Yonge St. i went for little stroll around before bed time.
Day eleven, last day in Canada and surprisingly sky cleared out and sun was shining. I had few things planed before i leave so i went straight to Toronto City Airport where i had booked Heli flight with Toronto Heli Tours. Highly recommended as it's quite cheap to compare with London and other cities. For 100CAD they will fly you for about 10min around Toronto's downtown and CN Tower. Check their page and if your lucky you may get Last minute special with 50% off the price. I guess it was my best spend 50 bucks :)
From the Airport i went to check Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame where as a big hockey fan I wanted to see and touch the Stanley Cup. Loved that place thoroughly. From there I went to check Royal Ontario Museum but unfortunately i haven't got much time left and I had to come back to the hotel, pick up my luggage and get to the Pearson Airport for my flight back home.
Thank you Canada, you are amazing country and i'm sure i'll be back to explore even more!
Jay
Jay visited me last week in my studio for quick headshot session.