Prague or Amsterdam?

italy74

italy74

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Hi guys
I'm trying to set up a secret trip of around 4 days (flights included) to one of these two cities with my wife but I confess that, although I would be tempted more by the Dutch one, most of my colleague adviced me for the Czech one, but I know few to none of it and I'm wondering what that city has really to offer us. Let me explain.

Amsterdam has its channels, its open, lively and mixed nature, its polders and tulip meadows around it, etc. just to name a few. This means several ENVIRONMENTS prone to be shot that would give me back different views of the same place. But what about Prague? I mean, for sure it's an old and beautiful city but which are its peculiar aspects, just like I named those for Amsterdam? I'll tell you that I don't want to spend much time INSIDE museums (my wife wouldn't enjoy that much) rather than OUTSIDE in street markets or daily life, churches excepted. Italy, Czech and Netherlands have first different architectures, colours and soul and it's what I want really want to capture, this is why churches (and castles) might be interesting and museums not.

I'd like to shoot in colour, both digital and film and Kodak Ektar 100 and Velvia 50 just love it (colour).

Since the trip would be at the end of October, around Halloween, how cold are such cities at that time? Any advice for something typical to visit? Many thanks in advance.
 
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I'm partial to Prague myself. The post-war Communist occupation turned out to be a good thing because basically nothing was done for upkeep and maintenance of the old city centre, which means that it is pretty pristine today without having suffered much of the normal nineteenfifties and -sixties architectural insanities. The biggest problem with Prague is the zillion tourists running in your way, but October should be a way around that.

Weather... "continental". It can get nippy. The beer is always good though.

Some Prague stuff I shot this summer, with rangefinders...

Josefov, through a Summar: http://www.pbase.com/ssanneru/praha20090712i
Mala Strana and Stare Mesto, through an Industar-22: http://www.pbase.com/ssanneru/200907fedka
Josefov, the Summar in b/w:http://www.pbase.com/ssanneru/praha2009josefovbw
Charles Bridge, Elmar 50/2.8: http://www.pbase.com/ssanneru/praha20090713a
 
I'm partial to Prague as well, but that's because I live in Leiden, 50 km from Amsterdam, with similar canals, houses and street life as Amsterdam 😉. BTW, the tulip fields are only soil now, they're flowering in early spring.
 
I have only spent a few days in Amsterdam, it is a nice city to shoot.

I have lived in Prague for more than a few summers, and it is something quite special.

It is very easy to get around, by taxi, tram or metro. There are certainly more than a few days of photos. There are quite normally a couple of nice photo exhibitions. The beer is the best in the world, prices are much more reasonable than Amsterdam. I would think more wide angle than telephoto.

Great walking city, the area under the Charles Bridge has some canals cut next to the river, it is called Kampa.

I have generally rented apartments from a company called Ave, the agent I used is Pavel, they probably have a kiosk at the airport, but normally some friends call him to see what he has. Even for a few days, it is an interesting stay as opposed to a hotel.

Plus, though not a buying trip, interesting camera stores on Vodickova off Wencelas Square, Pazdera and Skoda, with lots of cameras from the owner's collection, and you can get a brick of Foma 200 to carry home, my kind of souvenir.

If you count the shots of Petra, I have more than a dozen shots taken in Prague among my gallery shots. Am guessing Petra might not be available. ;-)

The Opera House was beautifully restored, it is where Mozart introduced Don Giovanni.

If you want hotels, there are plenty, there is one rather a boutique hotel, near the end of the Charles Bridge that looks very inviting, am sure you should get off season rates, plus you can wander around to get some night shots.

Plenty of exploring room, should be easy enough to find some more details on line.

For buying jewelery, Amsterdam had diamonds, and Prague Czech Garnets, so Amsterdam might be more pricy there as well.

First class meals will likely be half the price in Prague. An expensive beer should be a bit more than a dollar for .5L.

Regards, John
 
I've been to both, and I can say without a doubt that Prague is a better city for photography (and everything in general). There are many large open areas where people congregate to view cathedrals, sit by fountains, or generally laze about while drinking coffee or beer at cafes. The streets are compact and people walk close together, making it very easy to take inconspicuous street shots.

Amsterdam has some of this, but not with the charm or compactness of Prague. You can walk from one end of Prague to the other in a single day, but you'll never get tired of the things you see.
 
Depends on what your vacation should look like to you.

I feel Amsterdam is more the place to shoot street life, the Dutch are very liberal and there is a lot to see in the streets, truly multicultural city with cosmopolitan influences, people from all over the world that kept to their culture. Every now and then I step back and it's like I'm in a space harbour in some seventies sci-fi film.

Prague is excellent for architecture, you can easily shoot in the streets but all the tourists look the same so apart from Karols Bridge there isn't much of an interesting street life going on. Well, not as interesting as Amsterdam anyway.

Back to the holiday: if you at all feel you're at risk of walking around with a wife that is irritated by your constant photographing, go to Prague. It's much easier to walk away from a building than it is to walk away from crowded streets!
 
go to Prague and than first visit the very small Josef Sudek Musem in his old atelier.
After that your kind of seeing photos and taking them will change in seeing light and shadows.

Prague is never boaring and always wonderfull,
there's so much history even in photography and especially b/w work.

Go around, take the tram and leave wherever you see a lovely place.

If you have a darkroom visit the fomashop.

best regards
 
i don't know Prague
but if you wanna go to Amsterdam, you better like people. A lots of them, and all different.

It's a very nice city, a very "walkable" but in the end of October the weather will be probably ugly, cold windy and rainy. I don't want to scare you off, but if you like outside, the best time for Amsterdam is april to september...
Also, you talk about polders and tulip meadows...end octobers the polders are muddy and grey, and forget about tulips. Practically you will be stuck in the city itself, so as i said, you better like people 🙂

BUT
the people are very nice, lots of interesting stuff to shoot on the street, and well, the architecture, the cannels, the churches are there in october too!
 
Prague all the way. People is different-a little less European, a lot more Slavish. I went in late November last year, and found it ideal: few tourists, and subdued colours that somehow match the city. Cold as hell, BTW.

I never went inside a museum. Praha is a lot about the outdoors. The sidewalks alone warrant a photo essay.

.
 
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Guys
first of all, thank you very much.
I'd like to tell you that I find b/w something feasible if you're already in the mood of a certain place or if you can environment a portrait, b/w and sepia are closer to people because they fade everything else distracting that is not your subject. Although I'll have some rolls with me, I guess I'll shoot mostly in colour, also due to the fall colours and if you can spot for me wherever when I can get lots of reds, yellows, greens (less likely) and if the places (Prague or Amsterdam) aside the possible bad weather, have mostly a blue sky or, as often happens at home where I live, the sky is always grey/milky, whatever weather you may have. Due to the particular geographical place, just when rains a lot we have a moment when the sky is clear and blue at wonderful levels and you can even see the Alps, far over 200 km from here. Very different, for example, if you go to Bozen (northern Italy, closer to Austria) where lots of flowery balcons pops against coloured walls and the sky is usually blue, perfect for Velvia.

This is the kind of image I'd like to emphatize of a place, not a too melancholic one.
I guess you got my point. Of course I can take b/w pictures but most of them would be useless once back at home. People around me don't like that much b/w and it would be a pity telling them "If you could have seen which wonderful colours had that street, that balcon, that sky..." They would immediately reply "So why did you shot them in b/w?"

For sure, whatever little (also photographic) market you could spot again would be equally welcome. I'm honestly puzzled by those Czech Garnets that John mentioned a few posts above. Never heard of them and my wife would be glad to discover too.

Actually, for what you told, I'm leaning toward Prague, leaving Amsterdam for a better period of the year, especially if its beautiful meadows around are - as more recalled - just a dream now. Are in Prague some panoramic points where to shoot the whole city at night or during sunset ?

Thanks again, whatever advice or input is really greatly appreciated.
 
Mary Jane? Is she a model like Petra ?
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Don't worry, just joking I got your hint.... Some of you might reply: "No she isn't a model but may make you able to see whatever model you want, right?" ROTFL !
 
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Prague. There is no competition. Basically if you want to take pictures. Every corner, vista and view in general is wonderful. Amsterdam is great, but it isn't as pretty or as interesting. Prague has three very distinct areas too. The medieval, the 18th Roccoco and the 1920' /30's Deco. All three are in very good condition and complete. It may have changed in so much as it's got tarted up since I was there last, but it wil still be pretty fabulous.
 
italy74 said:
Guys
Actually, for what you told, I'm leaning toward Prague, leaving Amsterdam for a better period of the year, especially if its beautiful meadows around are - as more recalled - just a dream now. Are in Prague some panoramic points where to shoot the whole city at night or during sunset ?
Click to expand...

Petrin Hill (take the funicular, get off at the stop half-way up the hill, there is a restaurant with a view) or Hradcany (Metro station Malostranska, walk up the stairs to the castle, stop just outside the castle entrance) will serve for a sunset shot across the river. The television tower in Zizkov might also be worth a look, it's certainly tall enough and there is a restaurant thingy halfway up its stalk... take the metro to Jiriho z Podebrad. Shots up the length of the river Vltava with its bridges in full view can be taken from the Metronome monument, in Letenske Sady. Or you can go the old fortress at Vysherad for the opposite view.
 
Possibly my two favorite cities to visit.

It's been many years, but if I could only go to one again it would be Prague, no question. Very interesting culturally and architecturally.

You'll have fantastic buildings which, as stated previously, were untouched during the communist era, and thus not ruined with brutalist concrete.
Artists and musicians of extraordinary skill all over the place. The islands on the river are lovely, with outdoor bars at night, fantastic beer and, if you have the time, there is a lot of greenery surrounding the city.

You'll find a vista of the city from the castle on top of the hill, across the river from the downtown (the castle has the most extraordinary stone floor...outside in the courtyard). The Charles Bridge is nice at dusk, full of people as the lights come on. You can never be sure with the skies, but I'd imagine that you'd be more likely to see blue there than in Amsterdam.

When I visited we intended to stay 2 or 3 days as part of a longer trip, but ended up staying over a week in Prague and scrapping the rest.
 
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one of my favorit Prague shots,
it's a pleasure to stroll around the castle at night when all those beautiful gaslamps
and after all the stressfull walks a good fresh czech beer, ahhh

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