Travel writer and photographer - Croatia, Eastern Europe and beyond
Preview of my book of photographs from the Rijeka Carnival in Croatia, available from Blurb…
Held on the last Sunday before Lent, the wild and wonderful Rijeka Carnival is one of the largest Carnival processions in Europe – an enormous event with up to 10,000 participants from around 100 Carnival groups, and well over 100,000 spectators.
The walled medieval town of Korčula, on the island of the same name – one of my favourite spots on the Croatian Adriatic, frequently touted as the birthplace of the Venetian traveller Marco Polo (which it may, or may not, have been, though he was certainly captured by the Genoese in a naval battle not far from here).
Cukarin cake shop
The town of Korčula, with the mountains of the Pelješac peninsula in the background
Evening light on the facade of St Mark’s Cathedral
Sculpture (note the rather fanciful ‘elephant’) on the facade of St Mark’s Cathedral
Franciscan monastery on the island of Badija, just offshore from Korčula
Fishing from the rocks
Backlit
Click here to see more images of Korcula.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Busker and woman with a cigarette, Place Saint-Michel, Paris, France
This was taken a few years ago, D300 + 50/1.4G
Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Gritting the streets during snowfall in Walthamstow, London E17 today (Friday 18 January)
Click here for more images of London.
Photo © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes – the world’s greatest living explorer – aboard the SA Agulhas, docked at Wood Wharf in London’s Docklands (30 November 2012).
A few days later on 6 December 2012 (the images were embargoed until that date), the Agulhas sailed for Antarctica, where Sir Ranulph and five other expedition members will attempt the first ever winter crossing of the Antarctic continent – a distance of over 2,000 miles, which will take around six months, mostly in complete darkness and in temperatures as low as -90C.
Sir Ranulph with expedition co-leader Anton Bowring
It is hoped that the expedition will raise US$10 million for the charity Seeing is Believing. For further information visit www.thecoldestjourney.org.
I was invited along to Wood Wharf to meet Sir Ranulph by one of the expedition sponsors, Paramo, who are the main supplier of technical clothing to the expedition.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Wooden church at Hervartov (Roman Catholic, dedicated to St Francis), near Bardejov, northeast Slovakia. It was built around the end of the 15th century, and (along with several other wooden churches, both Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic, dotted around the the Polish and Ukrainian borders in this part of Slovakia) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
And a glimpse of the beautifully painted interior…
Shot at high ISO in rapidly fading light (I wasn’t travelling with a tripod, unfortunately); D700 + 24/3.5 PC-E (exterior) or 50/1.4 (interior).
Click here for more images of Slovakia.
Thanks to the Košice Tourist Board for making this particular visit to Hervartov and other wooden churches possible.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Young Polish women making Torun and other traditional gingerbread at the Polish stand, on the first day of WTM (World Travel Market) 2012, Excel Centre, London, UK (5 November 2012)
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
The weather in Newcastle was fine for most of the Bridges Festival, with the exception of the occasional shower. Then very, very suddenly on Sunday afternoon – just after photographing the giant print made by Northern Print and the ‘Stupendous Steamroller’ (see previous post), and just before I was due to walk back uphill from the Quayside to the station and catch a train back to London – came this. Some of the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever seen, accompanied by thunder and interspersed with hail. Really quite impressive; though somewhat less enjoyable if you happened to be standing in it.
Newcastle’s Quayside, where the festival was taking place, is – as its name implies – by the river, with steep streets leading up into the town centre. The steep streets instantly turned into sheets of water rushing down to the Quayside, where drains overflowed and the road flooded, and I took shelter under a stall selling Fairtrade wooden animals (the wrong side of the road unfortunately, since I then had to cross it to get back to the station), beside an (understandably) terrified child and a Russian woman who commented on the imminent end of the world.
I should point out that this is not typical weather for Newcastle or the northeast coast in general, which receives much less rainfall than the Lake District or the western Highlands.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
More photos from the Bridges Festival, Newcastle Gateshead (Sunday 5 August 2012).
Near the Tyne Bridge, Northern Print make a giant linocut print with help from the ‘stupendous steamroller’, Coquet Lass. The steamroller, which was built in 1899, worked on the roads around Rothbury, Northumberland, and was restored over a 14 year period from 1987 by David Walker of Hartburn, near Rothbury. The lino was cut at The Sage on Saturday.
David Walker in the cab of Coquet Lass
A quick clean
Inking up
Getting ready to print – a sheet of canvas is unrolled over the inked lino, and boards placed over this before being ‘pressed’ by Coquet Lass
The steamroller in action (David is joined in the cab by his son)
Lifting the first print
Holding up the finished print
The first print is hung on a railing and covered with a protective film
Second print
The final print(s) will be exhibited at the Northern Print gallery in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
Slovak band Silvayovci, from the city of Košice (European Capital of Culture 2013), performing at the Sports Cafe in Haymarket, London, this afternoon. Silvayovci are a traditional band with a twist, using trad instruments to play both traditional Slovak music and reworked interpretations of modern Western pop hits – they were covering Billy Jean in one of these images.
Although shooting at the Sports Cafe (which is being used as a meeting and entertainment venue by the Slovak Tourist Board during the Olympics) freed me from the usual three songs / 15 minutes time constraint of most concert venues, it meant that the band were surrounded by several large flat screen TVs showing coverage of the Olympics (nice red wall though). Avoiding these screens effectively limited me to shooting two band members, Slávka Lorencovičová (vocals and cajón in the first image, and violin in the third one – that’s Pavol Križalkovič in the background of the first one playing accordion) and Juraj Helcmanovský (cimbalom in the second image). Hopefully I can get some more shots of Silvayovci when I’m in Košice later this year….
All shot on a D700 with a 50/1.4G at 2000 or 1600 ISO, using available light.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.
CROATIAN MISCELLANY is an ongoing and deeply personal portrait of this southeast European country - its people, traditions, festivals, landscape and cultural heritage - by UK-based photographer Rudolf Abraham. It is not intended to be a collection of well-known sights and beautiful views - not that Croatia has any shortage of these - but rather a more intimate glimpse of places both on and off the beaten track, and into the daily life of a country that has fascinated this particular photographer for the best part of the last 15 years. Read more
St Oswald's Way and St Cuthbert's Way (Cicerone, 2013) Istria. The Bradt Travel Guide (co-author with Thammy Evans; Bradt, 2013) Rijeka Carnival (Blurb, 2013)
