I like to continue my little series about Prague with views from Europe's busiest pedestrian bridge, Karluv Most (Charles Bridge). It connects the Old Town quarter with Mala Strana (Lesser Town) and the Prague castle, the biggest castle in the world. That it is also the most visited castle in the world can easily be found out by just walking across Charles Bridge. It is impossible to make a picture without having lots of people in the frame. The only way is to shoot just above peoples heads like in the photo above. A dark sky with nice clouds and the buildings illuminated by the low evening sun made for a great color contrast. I used the tele end of the 24-120 for this image. It compresses the view over the bridge nicely and the churches in the background appear much closer than they really are. An image I always wanted to make.
The bridge is lined by 30, mostly Baroque, statues mounted to the balustrade on both sides of the bridge. It is supposed to bring good fortune if you touch the plagues below some of the statues. I have seen people waiting in line for doing this, it must be true... This young man thought so too and gave me the chance for this shot in best light. I'm usually very hesitant to make pictures of people I don't know (you probably can tell by browsing through my picture galleries). In Prague everybody runs around with a camera around their necks and shoots whatever comes across. It is easy to blend in, even for me... ;-)
Charles Bridge is not just an architectural highlight in Prague it is also a place where art is performed, displayed, and sold. Dozens of artists try to make a living and offer their paintings, drawings, jewelry, and other handcrafted things to the millions of tourists that walk across the bridge every year. Musicians and other performing artists gather good crowds all the time. By just listening to or looking at the people you can tell that the visitors come from all over the world. Bus loads of tourists with their guides make navigation sometimes not easy. The trick is to wait patiently for your chance to make a particular image. If you wait too long someone may have walked into the frame already... More to come.