My entry into Polski took just under 2hrs from Stanstead Airport. Everyone clapped when the plane landed. The taxi driver taught me how to say hello, good evening and thank you in Polish. I can only remember how to say hello primarily because I have heard my Polish friends in London say it over the last 6 years. My regret of not learning more Polish from my Polish friends is making itself comfortable. My hotel is an old communist era building. The staff are friendly but the hallway, is frightening. If I were to shoot a horror film, this would be the location. It’s scary which I kind of like because it’s cinematic and I know there is no serial killer lurking, waiting in the dark spots. I actually chuckled when I saw the ‘scary’ hallway to my room. In a way, it’s a little like a film set. So far so good. One can smoke indoors. I can’t argue with that. Standing out in zero degrees here wouldn’t be fun. No more than it is doing it in 10 degrees in the UK or the rest of Europe. So far people seem sedate and friendly. I met 2 people at airport, one of which said Lodz was flat and grim, the other couldn’t stop raving about it. Perception is as they say, everything. I like my old communist hotel so far, the scarier the better. Give me this than the Holiday Inn any day. I came here for a festival, a luxury to say the least and yes, I am a little excited but why I cannot exact… perhaps it’s the rush of blood to the heart while walking through the horror hallway…
Around midnight in zero degrees I ended up taking a walk around the corner to ul. Piotrkowska which, I didn’t realize, was where all the main hub bub of cafes, bars and restaurants are. I got something to eat.
Breakfast was a bit disappointing considering it cost more than last nights midnight meal. I headed off towards the Grand Theatre, where the festival is held. Though when I got there, they were still fixing stands up. I was greeted by the sign, ‘Welcome to the Camerimage Festival!’. I had evidently got my days wrong or maybe I just booked a day prior to it starting because the flights were cheaper… Perhaps… So I just went for a walk sans map.
In a park I was taking a picture of Hotel Centrum and so too was another snapper. We nodded as we passed each other. Moments later he came up to me and told me a place with industrial communist era buildings that I might want to photograph. He said he would come take me there tomorrow. He is a medical student and he has a Zeiss lens on his old 35mm range finder. That is all I know of him. But if a native of Lodz is going to be welcoming and show me some industrial communist buildings to snap at, just tell me where man. Except of course, I forgot to bring any 120 or 35mm film with me so I spent some of the afternoon looking for a shop that sold it. Finally finding THE shop, he didn’t have any colour neg, just one roll of transparency and a few rolls of black and white. So I got those. A bit like being last in the bread line back in the day.
I have found quite a few people who have offered their assistance to me over the course of the day, the ones who aren’t staring at me anyway.
The never ending streets are wide and there is an air of smog or mist or whatever that makes the low sunlight particularly beautiful.. Maybe that’s why the cinematographer’s from here have a good set of eyes. I think London has the good sunlight too…
- J
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