Marta Wojtkowska's photos

Sad Monday Benches Sad Wednesday Wall Sad Friday Fences with colors of Ukraine - - - - - Olympus C-8080WZ I think that I am gonna repost this one every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until this madness ends.

my Sunday silence ----- Mamiya RB67 + Sekor C 90mm f/3.8 + Ilford Delta 100 + Kodak HC-110 (Dil.B)

Przechodniu, powiedz Ojczyźnie, żeśmy walczyli do końca, spełniając swój obowiązek Passerby, tell the Motherland that we fought to the end, fulfilling our duty The Battle of Wizna was fought between September 7 and September 10, 1939, between the forces of Poland and Germany during the initial stages of the invasion of Poland, which marked the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. (...) 720 Poles defended a fortified line for three days against more than 40,000 Germans (...) Captain Władysław Raginis, the commanding officer of the Polish force, swore to hold his position as long as he was alive. When the last two shelters under his command ran out of ammunition, he ordered his men to surrender their arms and committed suicide by putting a grenade between his chin and neck. (...) Out of 720 Polish soldiers only approximately 70 survived. Captain Raginis ordered his second-in-command, Lieutenant Stanisław Brykalski to leave the shelter and surrender but Lieutenant Brykalski (for the first and the last time in his lifetime) declined, stayed with Captain Raginis and shared his fate/demise. ----- Mamiya 645 AF + Ilford HP5+ + Kodak D-76(1+1)

Decoration of a wall over the bar counter at Fotomato - once my favorite little restaurant and pizzeria in Łódź. I do not remember the name of the artist who authored it but I was told that he had been a student / acquaintance of Władysław Strzemiński and Katarzyna Kobro - renown Polish avant-garde artists (a painter and a sculptor) in the 1950s. I used to photograph this wall a lot as it looked very different depending on the time of day and light (natural coming from windows or artificial from above). I hope that they didn't demolish this beautiful piece of art when they renovated the building some years ago. Artists who apparently rent the place now are as far detached from unism and constructivism art as they can be. ----- Olympus C-8080WZ

Marta's colorful tiles unpacked, put into display frames and waiting to be hanged on the walls of Fotomato - my favorite small restaurant and pizzeria in Łódź, Poland. Long, very long time ago... I never intended to publish this (documentary) shot but it is a good example of how one evolves. What I shoot now is so different ;o ----- Olympus C-8080WZ

looking up (at Hotel Savoy in Łódź, Poland) ----- Olympus C-8080WZ

I am browsing my digital archives again. It looks like I was into ceilings for much longer than I thought ;) ----- Samsung Digimax Pro 815

I am browsing my digital archives again. I am finding things and memories of my 'digital past'. This one is from a year when I was into ceilings ;) ----- Olympus C-8080WZ

Calluna vulgaris 'Alicia' I took this shot today in a local grocery / convenience store. I felt tempted to buy a pot with lovely white little flowers but I knew that I couldn't bring them home. You see, ever since I was a little kid I was told by my Mom that heather was bad luck. She learned it in September 1939 when she was ten years old. Summer 1939 was beautiful. Hot and sunny. Heather thrived. My grandparents house was full of heather. All shades of pink and purple. Then on September 1, 1939 the Second World War begun. My Grandma threw away all flowers and banned all those that were there from being brought back ever. I think that the cultivar that was on sale today is named 'Alicia'. My Mom's name is Alicja / Alice too. ----- Asus Zenfone

----- WZFO Start + Ilford HP5+ + Kodak HC-110(Dil.B) Euktar lens (triplet anastigmat)

On August 28, 1946 the communist authorities (ruling Poland occupied by Soviets since 1945) murdered this 17 year old girl whose crime was being a medical orderly in the anti-communist underground. Her name was Danuta Siedzikówna, nickname Inka . She was captured in July 1946. While in prison she was beaten and tortured but refused to give up any information about her contacts in the anti-communist underground and their meeting points. She was sentenced to death after a "trial" that lasted two hours only. In her last secret letter smuggled out of the prison she wrote: "Please tell my grandmother, that I have acted right" . Six days before her 18th birthday she was tied to a wooden stake in the basement of the prison. She refused a blindfold. Members of the firing squad didn't want to kill her. All of them missed on purpose, only grazing her body with several bullets. It was the firing squad leader who eventually killed her with a handgun. Her last words were "Niech żyje Polska!" ( Long live Poland! ) and "Niech żyje Łupaszka" (her commanding officer). Her body was not returned to her Grandma. Inka was buried clandestinely and unrespectfully by the authorities. Her remains were eventually found and DNA-confirmed in 2014/2015. Please read more about her: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danuta_Siedzikówna (her parents were war heroes too). I took this photo at a concert dedicated to our indomitable soldiers in early 2013. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7FjtfTs9pE www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Podziemna+Armia+powraca

Heatwave, drought... Everybody around is complaining. My neighbors try to save their gardens and they fail. I am not. I didn't water my garden even once this year. You see, in several past years my neighbors raised their properties areas and that why I am flooded every time when heavy rains come. Their water (and fertilizers) come down to my garden. Plants in my private jungle are thriving now. Revenge is so sweet! ----- Asus Zenfone

My grapes will turn pink and sweet in September. Provided starlings won't rob them first. ----- Samsung NX10

It is not much of a shot but there is a story there. It looks like my tenants (Eurasian collared doves living on my garden) played a prank on me. You see, last Friday (on the World Photography Day) I went out onto my south second floor terrace to check upon those magnolia seeds No big change there, not worth documenting. Then I looked a bit up and just in front of me I saw this! A nest placed on a magnolia branch, less than 2 meters from me. Obviously nobody was home. The family moved out, but I can observe them almost every day when the three of them sit at the balustrade of my upper balcony and the parents feed the little one (it is a bit smaller than the adults). Now how come that I didn't spot them earlier when they occupied the nest? How did they disguise? No idea! Do doves laugh? They must have been laughing seeing me so near and not noticing them. ----- Samsung NX10

World Photography Day 2022 It was one of the hottest days this year. It still is: 32°C / 90°F at 10 pm. I think that I already long for winter. And as we are told to expect some shortages of natural gas in December or so (no need to explain why) I already have one of my garages almost full of wood ready to be put in my fireplace and stove when need arises. This is a sample of what is still waiting to be chopped and stashed in my basement maybe. One of these days, when it gets colder. For now it is just something to shoot on the World Photography Day (in lack of more interesting objects). ----- Samsung NX10 and Silver Efex Pro 2

Two years later the video is still available on FB so I am reposting it today because it is such an awesome story. www.facebook.com/dariusz.op/videos/10158913307474239 Today in Poland we are celebrating the 100th 102nd anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw – a culminating point of the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920) and one of the most decisive events in the history of Poland, Europe, and the world. (Józef) Sam Sandi (the dark-skinned soldier seen at the photo taken in 1920 and displayed at the bottom left corner of the screenshot) was a Cameroonian who happened to come to Poland around World War I. First he joined the Greater Poland uprising (1918–19) then he volunteered and enlisted in the Polish Army fighting against Soviet invaders. He eventually stayed in Poland, married a local girl and had two daughters. He was a very popular professional wrestler in the 1930s. He died suddenly in 1937, presumably because of a stroke. Now as a tribute to Sam Sandi (and other heroic participants of those events) this beautiful kids from an orphanage in Cameroon are singing (in almost perfect Polish!) our songs, same songs we sing here, favorite songs of my Grandma... Father Dariusz who filmed them and posted the video on Facebook asked everybody to share. So I am sharing it. Go and listen! Aren't they adorable?

Armed Forces Day , known also as the Feast of the Polish Armed Forces (Polish: Święto Wojska Polskiego ), is a national holiday celebrated annually on 15 August in Poland, commemorating the anniversary of the 1920 victory over Soviet Russia at the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish–Soviet War. ... Armed Forces Day is celebrated throughout Poland, with military parades, commemorations for active personnel, veterans, and the dead. As the day coincides with the religious Day of the Assumption, church masses across the country reflect on the memory of Poland's military dead. The Battle of Warsaw 1920. The Defeat of the Empire of Evil : The Battle of Warsaw in 1920 was not only a culminating moment of the Polish-Bolshevik war but also one of the decisive events in the history of Europe and the world. The British diplomat Lord Edgar Vincent D’Abernon, an eyewitness to those events, claimed in his book The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World that the Poles had saved the Western civilization from the fanatical tyranny of the Soviet. Unfortunately, the European nations are not aware of this historical fact. I took this shot depicting members of the Representative Honor Guard Regiment of the Polish Armed Forces (and the regimental military band) in August 2015 at Pęcice but I think it fits today celebrations quite well. ----- Mamiya 645 AF + Kodak Portra 160 + Tetenal Colortec

Friday me ----- Yashica Mat + Ilford HP5+ + Kodak HC-110 (Dil.B) (taken on Saturday)