facts of life: houses are private, not for parties.

June 19, 2011

dinner party

Czechs aren't much for house parties. You'd be hard-pressed to find a lonely Czech inviting you over for a movie and wine. Your best bet would be beerfest 2011 and an expat's house. It's interesting, coming from a culture where it's no big deal to offer an invite to your house at any given moment.

Czechs don't really seem down for that. I'm sure if it's on an intimate level, they'd hop to it, but not for a social gathering. I took this picture at a dinner party my friend Joshua threw. Even he commented that only Americans invite people to their home. Nevertheless, I was grateful. Who doesn't love a couple glasses of wine and good conversations among friends new and old. It made for a good ending to a really good experience working with Joshua for my project.

around here: dogs and kids are the norm

June 18, 2011

A walk in the park

Now that I've lived here for a month, I've become completely accustomed to seeing kids and dogs roam the city freely. This particular picture, both actually seem to be guided and controlled to an extent, but normally that's not the case.

Kids as young as seven or so, roam the city via tram and metro. Dogs, though generally not far from their owners, pee and sniff at their own discretion. Both seem to be rather friendly and tame. Unlike American children and dogs, they don't come running after you or tackle you to the ground licking your face. It's really a safety issue because tackled people in tram tracks, don't make for happy tram drivers...and we don't want them to get pissy and strike again. Or not do anything, which seems to be the norm.

Nevertheless, I took this picture because I thought it was cute. There are so many parks here, both large and small, that it makes for a really good place to raise a family, I think. Not to mention, who wouldn't want their dogs and children to come have a beer with them every now and then.

around here: summer showers.

June 17, 2011

Rainy day in Prague

Generally speaking, April shower bring May flowers, but that's not really the case for Prague. In April it's still in the forties, and with any luck, it will probably snow. The weather stays wintery from about November to March, but overall the city has a pretty cool climate. 

Sitting about ten latitude lines closer to the North pole than New York City, the city is known for its extreme weather patterns. The winters can be brutally cold, and the summers can be just as brutally hot, and you know Europeans, there's definitely no fans, let alone some air conditioning. That appears to be an excessive luxury, only required by Americans...not sure why, because it's pretty grand. Anyways, the heating systems in Prague are pretty intensive with double windows, not double-paned like in the U.S, but actually two sets of windows about 8 inches apart. The Czechs really have the insulation thing figured out, I think, because they seem to be pretty well stocked in the heating department. They probably consider A/C pointless in necessity when compared to a heater, and if you've lived through a winter here, you'd probably know why.

Just as much as it snows in the winter, it rains in the summer. With rainfall highest from May to August, July sees the peak of rainfall reaching on average 18 mm per day. In addition, as a result of its global placement, Prague sees the daylight hours last from 4am to 9pm during the summer, and from about 8am to 4pm in the winter. 

I took this picture on a rainy afternoon in Prague, while waiting for the tram....in the rain. It gets rather annoying expecting rain every day, but generally it cools off after the rain. If you can find a good place to hide, it's actually quite nice. I took this picture because I liked the motion of the tram, contrasted with the stillness of the umbrella. I thought it captured a rainy day nicely, even though you can't really see the rain. Many people that live here, still don't carry umbrellas and just brave the rain. 

angels in the architecture: historic cityscape

June 16, 2011

Young girl feeding geese near the dancing building, Prague

Like I've mentioned before, Prague's cityscape is filled with multiple types of architecture, one right next to the other. One of the most famous instances of this is the dancing building, designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in co-operation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot. The plot, left vacant after the Bombing of Prague in 1945, has been the home to the building since 1996. 


The design of the building was very controversial for its time, even though the Czech president who lived next to it, encouraged its construction. He hoped the design would allow the building to become a cultural center. I'm not sure what his definition of cultural center was, but multinational firms within and a French restaurant on top, probably wasn't what he had in mind. Nevertheless, it does serve as a cultural landmark and tribute to the bomb mistakenly dropped on Prague by American troops at the end of WWII. 


I took this picture because I really liked the simplicity of the girl feeding the birds, contrasted with the complexity of the architecture. Photographing architecture has been difficult for me, because I find it very boring for the most part, so I thought this was a nice way to fulfill the assignment. 

around here: public love.

June 15, 2011

Young Prague couple in love. 

Public display of affection is widespread across Europe, but here in Prague it seems to be even more so. Young couples in love kiss, caress and grope in the most public of places, like the tram. There is no shame or modesty in their youthful sexuality, and while uncomfortable to be around, it's probably quite liberating. More than once, I've been riding the tram while a guy his holding onto his girlfriend from under her skirt. Odd? For me, yes. But for them, its completely natural. I'm still unsure if they do this in front of their parents, I'd like to think they draw a line somewhere, but probably not. Lines are really gray and fuzzy in the Czech Republic...they aren't particularly drawn to conformity. 

Nevertheless, the love seems to flow freely around these parts. I took this picture of Joshua and his wife, Martina because it depicted both them, and the PDA here in Prague...and it was cute. 

morning glory: praha fashionistas

June 14, 2011

fashionista

Prague fashion, while I would say a majority of it is stuck in the late 80s, has some definite perks. Many people, mainly the younger crowd, are very attune to European fashion and all of its beauty and glamour. You can see very poorly, almost hysterically dressed people, riding the same tram as a beautiful, young fashionista. It's quite bizarre that such a wide range of fashion resides in such a homogenous culture. You would think Czechs would all be on the same fashion page, being in Europe and all.

This morning I got to experience some of Prague's most fashionable at an Elle magazine photo shoot. The topic being "fashionable couples in love", my documentary subject Joshua and his wife were chosen. Martina, his wife, is a well-known fashion blogger here in Prague. If you look at her, you can see why in both her beauty and elegant choice of clothing. Being chosen for the shoot, they got made up, dressed up and ultra glammified. The issue will run in August, and I'm sure the photos will be beautiful.

angels in the architecture: including card houses

June 13, 2011

flaming house of house cards outside the meet factory, prague

Just like card houses, Prague was built in layers -- chunks, if you will. Or maybe, more appropriately it was rebuilt in chunks. Winding through the streets of Prague, you can find almost any type of architecture, from almost any time period. You are also more than likely to find architecture of one time period, built in another -- or restored in another. Modern buildings are constructed right next to 17th century historical landmarks, and no one seems to mind. It's certainly not an "out with the old, in with the new" mindset, it's more of a "this looks nice, we'll put it right here" frame of mind. In addition, many old buildings have been abandoned, leaving a vast amount of eyesores in the czech streets. I'm sure that a majority of people are just glad to have a change of pace. 

I took this picture and placed it under this category for multiple reasons. One, there is fire. Lots of buildings here in Prague have been damaged by fire, gunfire, or they at least they look like it. Prague's been around for quite awhile so back in the days of cannons, quite a few edifices were crushed. Two, I wish to call Prague my home one day. This stack of postcards was a promotional piece from one of the artists at the meet factory. Many of her homes have been in Prague, so if you look closely, you can see some Prague landmarks, so I thought it was fitting.