Bobby B's Warsaw Blog

Photo Test

Santa Baby

One of the films I worked on before I came to Warsaw has been doing quite well on the festival circuit. To see some of my set photos and check out the trailer, go to the following URL:

http://www.myspace.com/santababyfilm

And yes, that's my photo on the poster.

Some Recent Photos

Here are some photos taken in July on the week-long photo tour in Janow Podlaski, near the Belarus border. More to come in the next few days. I'll post them first and then prepare an index.

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How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Well, a number of you out there have emailed me and asked "Hey Bobby, why no new blog entries for so long?" Well, the fact of the matter is, I've been lazy. The past couple of months have been crazy, but I've been doing a lot of shooting. In July, I spent a week on a photo tour at this awesome inn near the Belarus border, photographing some great models, hanging out with other photographers, and generally kicking back. I'll post some of the pics here in the near future.

Then I spent ten days up north in the Mazury lake district, about 100km from the Russian border, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Oddly enough, it felt like being up in cottage country near Muskoka. Wonderful air, breathtaking scenery, and the stars are absolutely brilliant on a clear night. I even went night swimming with a photographer friend and two local beauties. My friend's landlady is a retired French teacher and since I don't speak Polish, we conversed in French the whole time, while my friend and I spoke English since he doesn't speak French, and they, of course, spoke Polish. Three languages in one flat, but we made it work.

And if you ever come to Poland, I recommend travelling around by train. My ticket back to Warsaw from up north cost PLN 37, about $CND 14.

Well, that's all for now. Check back for more regular updates.

Meanwhile, in Other Parts of Warsaw

Meanwhile, in other parts of Warsaw, beautiful young blonde girls were enjoying cocktails, cavorting in phone boothes, and making the most of the afternoon.

The Pope Comes to Warsaw

This week marks the first visit to Poland by Pope Benedykt XVI
since he succeeded John Paul II last year. The Pontiff arrived in
Warsaw on Thursday morning on the first leg of his four-day
trip to Poland. I've never seen so many cops in all my life. They
were stationed about 100 metres apart on most major streets.
Thursday evening I got stranded downtown because bus service
was suspended in the city centre and I had to walk several blocks
before I managed to get a taxi.

And get this: while the Pope was in Warsaw on Thursday and
Friday it was illegal for any stores, bars, restaurants, cafes or
hotels to sell any alcoholic beverages. This in a country where
alcohol is sold in stores 24/7 and is even available at many gas
stations. The lady at one of the local shops told me about this
on Wednesday, and sure enough, everyone was stocking up
for the two days of dryness. Kind of like an enforced lent.

But aside from sobriety, the key to a successful Papal visit, which
the Poles thoroughly understand, is pageantry, and that means
lots of flags, Polish and Vatican ones, not just lining the motorcade
route or adorning churches, but hung from just about every bus-
iness, government and private building in the city. In some cases,
even giant billboards had Vatican flags attached to them (see the
photo of the Peroni beer ad above).

Interestingly, the Papal motorcade entirely bypassed one of
Warsaw's major arteries, Jana Pawla II Street, renamed many years
ago in honor of the former Pontiff. This surely wasn't done out of
disrespect, but likely due to the fact that Jana Pawla II Street has a
disproportionately large number of Warsaw's sex shops which offer
videos, toys, fetish wear and other forms of erotic entertainment.
So I guess someone at the Vatican decided that a shot of the pope-
mobile passing these establishments wouldn't be a good image for
the local and international media to exploit.

Enjoy the photos.

Open House at TVP

Yeah, so Sunday was the annual open house at TV Polonia, the Polish national broadcaster. I don't watch television here, so I didn't know who was who, but it was a definitive who's who of Polish television celebrities from news, drama and children's shows.

So, since I believe that honesty is the best policy, I simply approached the Polish stars, asked them if they spoke English, told them I'm Canadian and asked them to tell me about their respective programs. So, apparently I photographed some very popular people, even though I had no idea who they were. But everyone was quite friendly, and I got some good shots. I even met Marzena, the most beautiful weather lady in Poland, and autographs from the famous Lippy and Messy. For an open house, it doesn't get much better than this.

1 Anna, the candy girl
2 Marzena, TVP weather presenter
3 Marzena, TVP weather presenter
4 Marzena, TVP weather presenter
5 Kaja Paschalska, actress/singer
6 Jan Kociniak, Piotr Machalica and Ewa Wisniewska
7 Messy
8 Lippy
9 The doctor will see you now
10 Andrew and friend from Polish band Pin

The Girls of Warsaw: Volume 1

Well, it's springtime in Warsaw and just about anywhere you go, you can see a bevy of Central European beauties in full bloom in all their glory. So here are a couple of beauties to bask in: Ewa and Ania. Hope you enjoy the pics.