These shots iare from a work trip last year to Łódź, in Poland - I miss travelling for work and having a few hours alone with a camera. I know a lot of people who don't like work trips, but while the travel schedules, transfers, lugging bags and often the work itself can suck - wandering with a camera can definitely make it worth it.
Łódź is a beautiful city from the little I saw of it, as while normally I travel alone, on this particular trip, I was training an outsourced support team and the customer travelled with me - which was both nice and a drag. It was nice as travelling can be lonely and it is harder to enjoy a good meal for one, it was a drag because I not only felt like I had to always be working, I didn't want to take too long shooting a shot, so it was more of a "run and gun" scenario.
Even so, I think my client actually appreciated the walk and the opportunity to talk along the way, as we were able to discuss many things non-work-related, as well as he got to see a view of the city he wouldn't have done by himself. Having a camera in hand with intention tends to take a person into places they may not wander alone. In some ways, the camera becomes a shield of protection, at least psychologically. It is understandable how experienced photojournalists can get themselves into trouble.
However, Łódź felt safe enough and the people we were working with were friendly and we went out with a small group of them for a dinner and then some drinks, which was a lot of fun. It is rare that when people travel as tourists they get to hang out with locals, but it is one of the things I always try to do and on work trips, there is often the opportunity to connect up for some drinks and a chat at least.
The people I was training were relatively young and cool, mid to late twenties, professional in the work place, but laid back and chilled in the evenings. We had a chance to talk about life in the city and life as a young person there in general. While the city is run down, it is slowly being refurbished, as so many of these types of places around Europe are. In some ways it is a shame as they all tend to end up looking the same.
People of course like clean and orderly, but the crumbling buildings of Łódź had so much texture in them, that they were almost speaking of their past themselves. There was a coldness and hardness in them, concrete and steel, yet if looking closely, the details of the past were there, peeking through the grime and telling of days of love long ago - days before the darkness of World War II impacted hard on the city and country as a whole. Much of Europe has a long and chequered history that dates back millennia, but many share a similar story from the 1930s and 40s.
Łódź is the type of place that probably doesn't see many tourists from outside the country and not a place that I had ever heard of prior to traveling there. Yet, it was the kind of place I hope to travel to again, especially with camera and some time in hand. When we travel for leisure, it is these kinds of places that we never see - but it is in these kinds of places where life can be seen, through real people and their real lives.
I really enjoyed talking with my clients over the couple days I was there, even though there were issues with their setup and in the office, there was a clear hierarchy of power, something that I have become unaccustomed to to after living in Finland for so long, where the corporate structure is very flat. Yet as I said, once out of the workplace, the same people levelled themselves and a warmth I wasn't expecting shone through and the bonds of friendship were made apparent, a softness uncovered that the buildings had tried hard to hide.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Edit: I should add that the title only "kinda" works in English, as the pronunciation of Łódź is more like "Wooj" as far as I understand it.