This folder includes shots from local trips around ‘my’ Czech places, those I visit all year round on my weekly nature trips out to photograph birds. I love returning to places, sometimes even more than visiting new ones. There’s something unique about seeing them change through the seasons, the months and the years. The places featured in this folder are the Czech places of my heart, those I’m most familiar with and never tire of visiting: Brno reservoir, Pálava and the Vysočina region.

Brno reservoir

Blue hour, twilight, sunrise. Lake swims, lake walks. Birding, shooting, more walking. Green leaves, autumn foliage, high tide, low tide. And on it goes.

Sometimes places close to home are little gems that don’t seem to shine as bright. Oh but they do. Backyard seasons are beautiful.

Pálava

Nové Mlýny is a reservoir in Pálava, a Protected Landscape Area and UNESCO biosphere reserve located about 50 km south of Brno, quite close to the Austrian border. I was already familiar with the area, but since I’ve taken up bird photography, these lakeshore walks have taken up a wholly new meaning.

These skies, these trees are teeming with diverse birdlife to an extent I’d never fully appreciated. Now that I do appreciate it, I’m trying to catch up on all of it, multiple consecutive shots at a time. While at it, I also took some time to photograph the reservoir and its surroundings at different times of the day.

Vysočina

In July 2023 I completed a photo book project called ‘Vysočina 101’. Between August 2019 and September 2022 I took 101 day trips from Brno to the Czech region called Vysočina (literally ‘Highlands’). As I walked routes and trails, I tried to document the beauty of its nature through the seasons.

While the folder ‘Vysočina 101’ is, in fact, entirely dedicated to the project, I couldn’t help including a few shots here as well. When I talk about ‘my’ Czech places, Vysočina always has to be there.