Ryan Air is the best thing that has ever happened to people who love to travel thanks to the insanely priced tickets. A common complaint about the airline is that it rarely lands in major airports due to the prohibitive airport taxes that eliminate its’ value. I for one see this as something positive, as it gives you an excuse to visit another city/region. This time around my journey from Warsaw lead me to Gdańsk – thanks to Ryan Air.
Neptune's fountain
I returned to Poland for one week to visit my family in Warsaw. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of all the places I use to frequent when I was studying there. The city has changed quite a bit during a very short time, and so have its’ people. I took my trusty XSi along with me on that day, but more and more I regret not getting the Canon 18-200 mm lens – probably the best lens for urban hiking.
Old town square
By chance I was visiting my family in Warsaw when I heard of the plane crash that had occurred in Smolensk with Poland’s most influential leaders on it. Here are the pictures that I took of the mourning that took place in Warsaw on the same day of the tragedy.
I had one day to spend in London when waiting for my next flight. The city is quite enormous, so a day’s worth of urban hiking allowed me to only see a fraction of this gargantuan city. My trek led me from Victoria Station to Blackfriar’s Bridge and back. Along the way I did visit some sites, including Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus. This was my first attempt at photography with a ND4 filter. I was quite happy with the results, and I did avoid sky highlights. As you can see in my first picture, all of the blue in the sky did turn out correctly. Once again, I used my 18-55 and 70-200 lens with my XSi.
These photos were taken in late January, 2010 with my XSi. I used my 18-55 and 70-200 lens during this day. Some of my pictures have severe highlights in the sky. I learned that this anomaly can be rectified with a ND filter. In the span of about 8 hours I hiked through most of the interesting areas in Vancouver, and took Sky Train a few times. After my urban exploration I got a feel for the city, but I did not really experience any of Vancouver’s attractions. I had to unfortunately leave on the same day of my arrival, but I shall return.
Vancouver Airport
A few pictures taken a the Southland Dog Park in Calgary with my Rebel XSi. Some of the pictures were taken with a polarizing filter. I mainly used my 18-55 mm lens and my 55-250 mm lens. After reviewing the photos from this day I returned my 55-250 mm lens and exchanged it for the 70-200 L lens – I have no regrets.
