I was there too
As we were waiting for a train to take us to the old town of Warsaw, another train pulled up with a little Polish flag stuck in the bumper. It was August 1st, so no wonder. A pretty important day in that city because of the uprising 80 years ago.
| Aperture | ƒ/3.5 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Just before I left Warsaw, I spotted these four women leaning against the wall of the stairs to the train station, and they appeared to be Jehovah’s Witnesses. You’re no doubt familiar with them as they’ve taken to the streets as well as calling to homes to spread the Word. In Poland, it appears that there are 116,307 “ministers who teach the bible” according to their website.
Anyway, now I want to watch Life of Brian…
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The train tracks of Birkenau concentration camp in Poland lead off to the front gate. The camp is only a 5 minute bus journey from Auschwitz, along a road bordered by a train track. It’s surreal passing by homes, businesses and people walking about living their lives next to these places.
Tourists gather around the building, listening to their tour guides.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 160 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
The Commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, lived in the large house at the end of this road. It sits right outside the concentration camp where so many people were put to death, but a family lived here, and they are the subject of a 2023 movie, The Zone of Interest.
When I visited the camp last week, the guide made an offhand remark while pointing in the direction of a locked gate, saying, “That’s where the camp commandant lived with his family.” My group were on our way to Gas Chamber 1, so nobody went to look, but I stuck my camera over the gate and recorded a photo of an ordinary street with parked cars outside a red brick building and the family home further down. Watch the trailer of the movie, and you’ll recognise the shape of the roof in the background. Gave me chills.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Young men climbed on a public toilet in the centre of Warsaw this afternoon to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.
At 5pm, sirens rang out and suddenly red flares were lit as a large cargo plane flew overhead. Smoke from the flares filled the air, and it got noticeably cooler as the sun was temporarily blocked.
The flares and smoke cleared within minutes, and a commanding voice in Polish continued to talk to the massive crowd.
Earlier in the day, we observed a simple military service. Two elderly people were there, and it’s obviously about the Uprising, but if anyone recognises them, I’d love to know more.
This episode of Dan Snow’s History Hits podcast does a great job covering what happened when Poles rose up against heir Nazi occupiers 80 years ago today. I found a Reddit thread about it too.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 124mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/800s |
Two people cycling on a path next to the barbed wire fence surrounding the former Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 400 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Buried deep underground in the Wieliczka Salt Mine is a huge man made chamber called St Kinga’s Chapel. It’s quite a sight to see after wandering down tunnel and after tunnel. You come across chambers on the way there, but this one is the special one, and it’s a consecrated Catholic Church where they hold religious ceremonies.
It’s 101m underground, 11m high and has a floor space of 465 metres squared.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to spend there as the mine is really busy at this time of year with tourist groups coming in and out all the time!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7RM5 |
| Focal length | 35mm |
| ISO | 8000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/25s |
