Prague Portrait Power

Your Custom Portrait Session in Beautiful Prague

Not everyone gets to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. But you can, if you want to. In the meantime, you will want to visit Prague. And when you are there, you will be astounded at how beautiful the city is—unless you succumb to heavy overdoses of fine Czech beer and stay in your hotel room for the entire visit. But that's ok too. You'll be back. Kafka says so.

Recently I took Gabriela's portraits in Prague. It was her first trip to Europe and she wanted more than photos from a selfie stick held at arm's length to remember her trip. She wanted the full-on Prague portrait experience, and I was happy to provide this service for her. Prague just can't be beat for the sheer number of beautiful backdrops for portraits—you can chuck a 10 crown coin almost anywhere in Central Prague and get a good shot from the spot where it lands.

 

We started in one of my favorite hidden garden spots off the beaten path. Then we worked our way through the gardens and over to Prague Castle. The Prague Castle Steps are a great location to capture the spirit of Prague Mala Strana (Little Quarter) rooftops and classic architecture.

From there we continued down to the river, where we had the most stunning view of Prague, a riverbank, the Charles Bridge and swarms of swans. I timed it to arrive exactly at sunset in order to get the 'sweet light' every photographer craves.

Gabriela was impressed by the orange tint of Prague's ubiquitous street lamps. Where she comes from, all of the street lighting is a dull white. So for a few final shots, I sent her home with memories of the Old Town Square awash in a sea of orange.

For more information about your personalized Prague portrait tour, contact me today!

Craig Robinson Zombography

Zombies are HUGE. Once a quiet group, shuffling along in the shadows in search of brain food (fish?), zombies have clawed their way out of their graves and shambled into the spotlight of Tinseltown. You've got your zombie movies, zombie sequels, zombie tv shows, zombie tv show spinoffs, zombie talk shows and even zombie walks. Zombies have eclipsed vampires as the most popular creatures in the underworld—living, dead or undead.

The last time I wrote about mainstream horror films was a story for the Prague Post about the production of (yet) another vampire movie—in this case, Van Helsing, shot in Prague's Barrandov Studios. Being a photographer, my shutter finger twitched nervously through the entire tour of the set. I was not allowed to photograph ANYTHING, which for a photographer-slash-movie-slash-slasher-film-fan-slash-writer, was like a kick in the netherworld. Needless to say, there was nothing top secret to spill: the vampires sucked the blood, the Helsing staked the hearts. During my research I discovered that over 700 vampire films had been made since the days of the first film, making vampires the single most popular monsters in film. Ever. And one of those first films was Nosferatu, a German film made before there was even a modern Germany (it was credited as The Weimar Republic back then).

700 films and 100 years later, people grew tired of all the blood sucking and wanted some good old-fashioned brain munching instead (I think the vampire death knell was the production of sparkly-skinned teen vampire movies). I have the good fortune of being good friends with the originators of the first public zombie walk, which occurred on the streets of my hometown of Sacramento, California in 2001. My good friends at Trash Film Orgy gave me my first taste of zombography, and I've been doing it every time I get a chance. I've photographed zombie walks in Sacramento, Berlin and (for the hat trick) Prague.

If you've got zombie walks, then eventually you're going to get a zombie run. Enter: the Prague 5k Zombie Run on October 31, 2015. While Halloween is not a traditional holiday west of the UK, the organizers of the event must have been hip to all those Halloween movies and the general spookiness of that date. What is a zombie run? Zombies shuffle, right? You can outrun them in a wheelchair, right? Well, as the vampire character developed, so did zombies. Starting with the 28 Days Later film franchise, these rotting dudes could RUN YOU DOWN. They were seriously brain starved and made no bones about it. So on that special spooky day last autumn, I climbed Vitkov Hill to check out the action.

Vitkov Hill separates the districts of Karlin and Žižkov in Prague. From the spearhead of the hill, the third largest equestrian statue in the world gazes over a killer view of Prague from 180 degrees. Mounted upon this giant steed is the one-eyed General Jan Žižka, Protestant Hussite warrior and generous giver of his name to the working class quarter of Žižkov below. Just behind the tremendous haunches of the horse lies a massive mausoleum full of dead commies.  When it is not being just another soviet eyesore, the venue hosts art exhibitions and other cultural events. On All Hallows Eve, Mr Ž was all about the Zs. A 5 km route circled the hill and joggers—some of them dressed as zombies—ran the course. For the joggers not dressed like zombies, special squads of hidden zombies jumped out of the bushes and terrorized them.

Czechs can really get into the zombie motif. In addition to the various stages of gore makeup, shredded clothing and decomposition, these Zs ate sausage links soaked in ketchup—pulled from the bellies of fallen joggers. In grand Czech tradition, they even washed their meal down with delicious Czech beer. After the brain buffet, the full zombies sat around drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. As Czech zombies do.

When Craig Robinson is not engaged in zombography, he photographs events, weddings and portraits in Prague, Czech Republic and Berlin, Germany.  Contact the photographer today for a quote.

A Romantic Proposal in Prague

Karen had a big surprise planned for Ashley in Prague.  Karen had contacted me to take her and Ashley on a 'photo tour' of Prague's most beautiful sites.  I am already the perfect Prague tour guide, since I have photographed hundreds of happy people on the streets of Prague.

The planning went on via email for months before the Big Day.  We wanted everything to be perfect.  Even the big Prague flood waters of the week before had subsided just in time, just for us.

The same torrential rains which had caused the Prague flood were threatening to rain on our parade.  I assured them that in more than 10 years of doing photography in Prague, I have never had it rain on me and my clients.  As the rain clouds moved in and a few drops started to test my boast, I began staring at the sky and busting those clouds with my mind.  Y'know, cloud busting.  Like Clooney in that movie.

It seemed to work; the rain was held at bay. Contrary to popular belief, bright sun is NOT the best lighting  for portraits, as you get squinty eyes, hard shadows and washed out backdrops.

We began our 'photo tour' at Vrtbovska Zahrada (Vrtba Gardens) in Mala Strana, the Castle quarter of Prague.  These hidden gardens are a must see for anyone wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Prague tourist season--almost nobody knows about these beautiful gardens.  You can literally walk right by the small stone archway which enters the park.
 

Inside the terraced gardens, we climbed the steps to experience one of the most incredible views of Prague.  Often the best kept secrets of Prague are just off the beaten path.


John Lennon holds special meaning to Karen and Ashley; so much so that they had applied a piece of poster art to the John Lennon Wall in the middle of the night.  The next day as we strolled by for photos, we noticed that it had become the centerpiece of the wall and a big attraction for tourists.  They were lining up for photos.

Next we took some photos around the Charles Bridge.  Rather than spending too much time walking on the crowded bridge, we took some fun and playful shots on the steps and along the river front.

 

As we were taking our photos, a string quartet  began playing beneath the bridge  and it was time for the Big Surprise: Karen popped the question. On bended knee with a beautiful musical backdrop, Karen proposed to Ashley.

It was simply the most romantic moment I have ever witnessed.

Your Portrait Photographer in Prague

PRAGUE PORTRAIT POWER

by Craig Robinson

Prague portrait and wedding photographer




A growing trend in recent years is the increase in destination weddings and portraits in exotic locations. Many websites are springing up all over the world offering exotic destinations for weddings and portraits. Among the most popular of these destinations is Prague, Czech Republic. Prague is no stranger to visitors in the last decade; since the fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc countries in the late 1980s, many previously-forbidden cities are now flooded with eager visitors.


Millions of visitors have discovered the fantastic beauty of Prague; and the city's beauty almost seems to be in arrested development compared to the rest of Europe. In a single evening stroll in Prague you can time travel the architecture from the early Gothic period (12th century) through the Art Nouveau (circa 1900). Outer Prague is showing signs of Western modernization with its malls and megaplex cinemas, but the heart of Prague is virtually untouched by the ravages of time.



Many people are discovering that Prague makes a perfect destination for exotic portraits and romantic weddings. Some people get married in Prague while others get married elsewhere and opt to have their wedding portraits taken with beautiful Prague as a backdrop.