Yesterday I finally returned home from my route, which means I’ll be staying here for a few days. I thought it was the perfect moment to share a few frames from my home country again — places that are close to where I live.
Lake POGORIA 3 in Dąbrowa Górnicza might already be familiar to you from my previous posts, but today I want to show it in a monochrome version, with soft winter tones and a slightly nostalgic atmosphere.
The lake has a walking path of about five kilometers around it and you can reach different parts of the shoreline by car. So when I went out for this little photo session, I started from the far side of the lake — the quieter, less visited area where these first frames were captured.
To be honest, I was hoping to find more boats or yachts there, but then I remembered… it’s winter. The season has its own rules. The only thing I found was a single small drifting boat on the water — and somehow, it still became the main character of my composition.
After that I got back into the car and drove to the other side of the lake — the main, more popular area, where the public beach is located.
This is the place where summer life truly happens. During the warm months it becomes a lively spot full of swimmers, families and people spending long afternoons by the water. The beach is supervised by lifeguards, there are small places where you can grab a drink or something to eat and many visitors come here for barbecues, walks or simply to relax.
And of course there is also a small but charming pier stretching into the lake — one of those simple structures that feels completely different depending on the season. In summer it’s full of footsteps and noise but in winter it turns quiet, almost meditative.
Right next to the pier another beautiful scene caught my attention — a large gathering of swans and ducks resting by the snowy shore.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many birds in one place, especially surrounded by winter light and patches of snow. What surprised me even more was how comfortable they seemed around people. They weren’t afraid at all and many of them came right up to the edge of the water. Some visitors were feeding them and it created a very peaceful, almost intimate atmosphere between humans and wildlife.
It looked wonderful in real life but I have to admit, photographing it was much more challenging than I expected. With so many birds moving at once, the scene quickly became chaotic and it was difficult to find a clean composition in all that visual noise.
I took quite a lot of photos but most of them ended up in the trash, simply because they lacked structure and felt too messy. The view was beautiful but for me, it was also a reminder that some moments are harder to capture precisely because they are so full of life. On top of that the freezing temperature made the photo session even harder — my hands were practically numb and instead of calmly searching for the perfect frame, I was already mentally at home with a warm cup of tea.
So this is definitely something I want to practice more. Maybe next winter — or even later this season — I’ll return to Lake POGORIA 3 and try again, with a bit more patience and a better eye for order within the chaos.
This is me entry for the #monomad challenge
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This post is based on my own experience and original photography. AI was used for grammar correction and for supporting the translation process.
