Oh, the Places We See . . .

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #121: Focus on the Subject

Oh, the Places We See

With the topic of “Focus on the Subject” selected for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week by Patti and with the upcoming change to Daylight Savings Time on November 1st, we’ve decided to focus on time. And, for us, there has been no more memorable timepiece we’ve seen than the Astronomical Clock in Prague, Czech Republic.

Time is precious. Make sure you spend it with the right people.

Anonymous

Just finding a spot to view the clock can be difficult. Hundreds line up as early as half past the hour at Old Town Hall in Old Town Square to view the one-minute “performance” of the clock. But it took us three or four times of lining up early and watching the hourly time change to know what to focus on from start to finish.

Tourists line up early to see the astronomical clock strike on the hour. For taking pictures, finding a place and a focus can be difficult.

The clock — established in 1410, making it the fourth oldest clock in existence — is composed of three clocks: an astrolabe showing signs of the zodiac, a calendar clock showing the months, and a clock flanked by saints with the 12 apostles moving past the windows above. As amateur photographers, we wanted to capture all the movements, but we didn’t know where or when to focus our cameras on the exact “right” spot.

A change in focus allowed us to see these carved and painted pieces near the face of the bottom clock.

My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things.

Bill Gates

So, with several viewings, we learned to focus our cameras on the subjects, one at a time.

First, the skeleton rings the bell, so he became our first capture.

When the skeleton (representing Death) rings the bell, the movements begin.

Then we re-focused as saints and other figures moved their heads or parts of their bodies.

A focus on the saints came next as they moved their bodies side to side.

Throughout it all, however, we were also looking up, trying to capture any of the twelve apostles as moved, assembly-line style, past two small windows.

Throughout the striking of the clock, 12 apostles move past the windows.

Finally (and it took us three viewings to realize this), we focused on the cock at the very top. When he crows, the “show” has ended.

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

J. R. R. Tolkein

And so by changing our focus, we were able to see more of the workings of the clock as each moved in turn, but we had to move quickly. The whole show lasted only a minute. Knowing where to look, however, made the difference as we tried to capture each event.

If you would like to see more of the movements of the Astronomical Clock in Prague, take a look at this video from the Official Tourist Website from Prague.

Focusing on the saints beside the two faces of the Astronomical Clock in Prague.

Back in the present: Don’t forget to focus on the time change this weekend. We’ll be setting our clocks one hour ahead on October 31st and getting up to more light earlier in the day on November 1st. If you’re an early morning photographer, you’ll probably be happy to see this coming.

To participate in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #120, link your post to Patti’s blog and use the tag Lens-Artists. We look forward to seeing your area of focus!

Travel timely,

Rusha and Bert