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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Bubble blowers on the sidewalks of Prague.

Keep moving and you’ll see street vendors who make the most of their small display space by hanging their wares above you, dangling in the air.

Suspended marionettes in Prague

And roofers must have been quite busy as early as the 9th century topping buildings with red clay tiles that you can best see from Prague Castle.

Prague’s red clay roofs

Be sure to check out all the interpretations of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Prolific.