Pics of Warsaw by the Guardian's David Levene

They look good in arty photos - not just Polish ones.


No doubt.

Meaning sad, very sad? That would the be appropriate term. Homeless people everywhere on the planet are a sad sign where the society stands, especially when the number of younger ones rises.

For me Warsaw was always fascinating because of the strange mix of commy culture and old tradition. Western countries and their big cities don't have that kind of 'inner struggle' in the architecture or urbanism. That makes all eastern metropoles so interesting.

For the selection of this guy, that's subjective and propably also kind of 'demanded' by his editor. ;)

And it's got all of us debating it, so he might not be as bad as we think.


I don't find many things in life sad, I mean in my kind of work I have learnt not to let other peoples situations get to me, the majority were yes i guess, but every now and again you'd find something that could be inspiring.

The end of commy life brought about a lot of Krk's homeless.

The Guardian should pick better theme for wider public not artistically inclined sophisticated reader , it is mostly a paper for blue collar workers who have no idea of Poland . Why tell them a story not the reality ?

Cos it is also a reality, why only see things from one perspective. I can bet that most newspaper articles will talk about the brighter side of Poland, but I quite like to see the other truer sides too. Not everything in Poland is rosy, not all medieval churches and tall towers, try going to the tri-cities, for most people they would say that the area is a ******** full of unhappy people, the reality is that yes they are industrial cities and people are over worked for not much money, but you can find the other side too.

trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Poland/East/Mazowieckie/Warsaw

Pictures of Warsaw. Some of them quite interesting.

That would surprise a lot of people - I suspect most "blue collar workers" have rarely, if ever, read The Guardian. Check out their jobs section to get a clue about their readership. But I suspect you know that and are just trolling a bit.


What reality? The reality of a publicity brochure or the reality the photographer saw?

I know Warsaw very well and I thought the pictures, not representative, cmon a russian women with a raccoon what is that ?

I liked his photos. But then, I have an aversion to postcards.

Having looked at the photos long and hard, the only picture I really like is the one with the courtyard Jesus. And I'm not even religious! ;-)

Well most Polish cities do look "chilly." From my experience living in Poland, Polish cities only have a few places here and there that are aesthetically pleasing whereas in western europe (ie germany) most parts of the cities are well maintained. Poland still has a long way to go, but it's getting there.

Lols,the look I got when I attempted to just leave my empty plate on the table.....reminded me of Yorkshire Aunties :)


You obviously do more than most people....


But Warsaw is drab....god,has anyone with a "Polish" screen name here actually been to Warsaw??


Why not? Ive seen full on beardy jews in warsaw plenty of times. Do you only ever take photos of polish americans then? Fcuking tin foil nutter.


Yes, we dont have sticks up our arses so go ahead,show the worst you can find if you want,its called reportage.


Exactly,its not all chocolate box Old town tweeness,its a gritty exciting city with all aspects of life combining to make it interesting.

There are many young people in these pictures. For some mysterious reason, it seems you've got fixated on the picture of two elderly pensioners eating in a bar mleczny. They're probably not homeless, they're quite decent looking and anyway, most Polish pensioners can't afford anything more than a bar mleczny as far as eating out, you know it as well as I do. Not that there is anything wrong with bar mleczny - they're great institutions, much better than fastfood joints.


I'm not sure why your idea of normal life should differ from mine so immensely and why you suppose that I know Warsaw (or normal life?) from books only.


Yes they do. I don't know if there's anything special about Polish poor people, they're just as real as the richer ones. And I live in Lublin, which is generally looked down upon and regarded as Polska B, so I suppose there are more poor people in my city than in yours. But I still fail to get what all this has to do with the quality of the pictures.

I Like the Racoon

Look at picture number 2 of the stadium,work has progressed a lot since this photo, that picture has to be at least a 12 months old.

I think they stimulate interest and are reasonably compelling..

It's not meant to be art.

What a most derisive comment towards people who often have nothing to put into their dining pot, Monia! Incidentally, I also live in Warsaw and in my professional work I often come across people who happen to starve in this strangely beatiful city. But it is very likely that attorneys in law, such as you, would never have a chance to see any one of them in their whole life. You are obviously on the "posh" side of Warsaw life, but please show some respect of an 'adwokat' towards those who are not. Since you are noisily demanding more pictures of the bright side of the Polish capital in The Guardian, one might expect you will be toning your judgment of the people who do not use any newspapers exept for covering themselves with it during a chilly night. Simply disgusting!

Does this guy have some beautiful photos like this over London?

We are not talking about the quality ,but about a tendency of a photographer . I know now, why you are opposing me so hard . Many people come to Warsaw from Lublin for work and they are not very happy about the idea of commuting 180 km one way every week to see their family and they are a bit envy of the glamour of the big city life which lacks in a provincial city . These people always complain about Warsaw . But you should be happy that you can work in this great city and the idea that Warsaw has made such a progress from cumunist times.

I love the city and its people . I love traffic jams , night life , architecture and monuments , new constructions everywhere , business minded people and young happy faces everywhere you go .

Its a city for positive minded people not for frustrated ones .


I think so , he went out ( a man with a camera ) of some Warsaw hotel ,one winter day , shot some pictures at random , and came back to the paper with great art work , lol .


You make me chuckle , are you insane ? Have you ever been to Paris , Rome or Berlin ? Are you sure they maintain them so well everywhere ?

I have visited those other big cities and I assure you there are many poor areas too .


I totally agree , the reality the photographer wanted to see and show, not the reality of the big city . When I take a look at pictures from NYC I always see traffic jams and bussy people on the streets not the homeless or poor .


I surely do . Always remember about poor . Polish people are compassionate and never let anyone without any help . If I was poor I wouldn`t dine out , I would make a dinner at home , I would not go to a milk bar . But I am not critisizing these bars . I am glad they are and can serve to those less fortunate , but I am doubting in that idea of exposing them in a british opinion forming newspaper .

I repeat myself and ask again who wants to hear about the poor and old people from Warsaw or some relic buildings waiting for renovation if there are other most interesting and unique features of Warsaw to show to the british public interested in obtaining some info about the country which sent to its land thousands of newcomers . Was it the main idea of this session ?

As if you didn't know. Poland is poor and grim, the people are all destitute and / or old, and we all want to flood the UK and claim benefits. That's about the gist of it ;-)

What's your problem? They are photos. You know what that means? It happened. Whether it was photographed or not.

Deal.

Why can`t I find in British or American newspapers articles portraying Warsaw as a glamourous city , but instead I always see sad ? This bothers me so much. How people from distant places can have a positive view about Poland this way ?


Sure , why are you asking ?


Stereotypical view .

OMG Monia. First you took me for a foreigner with no idea of the Polish reality and now I'm a frustrated commuter from a provincial city, envious of the Warsaw glamour. Wonder what comes up next. No, I've never commuted to work in Warsaw or anywhere else for that matter, with the work I do I could live anywhere, even in Puszcza Białowieska. I like where I'm living, thank you very much. And glamour of any kind is not exactly my thing. But go on please, this is getting more and more interesting. Don't let me cramp your style.

I don't think you'll ever understand why some people might like these pictures more than a gazillionth shot of £azienki or Galeria Mokotów, and even - surprise, surprise - come to like the city shown on them, so I'll just link a song for you.

Mainly because newspaper articles aren't there to have a biased opinion on "look how great Warsaw is".
But you couldn't have looked too hard because The Guardian has a whole section dedicated to guardian.co.uk/travel/warsaw


I don't think if all the news was bad then people would be flocking to Poland for their holidays.

I don't get why you seem to want to ignore the problems that may exist in Warsaw.

Another article about Warsaw: guardian.co.uk/music/2011/apr/03/new-europe-poland-clubs

Every city has it's problems, areas that are still in poverty ect. Unless it's reported then no one is going to change that.

Anyway these photos seem to have done the job.

Probably because it's already been reported to death in the English media that Warsaw is 'the' city in the former East right now.

Care to post some of your own pics and re-focus our minds a little...?

Are you bothered by the truth or the fact that it can be captured in pictures...?

This is probably my last post on these photos, but I couldn't stay away ;-)
Yeah, they have done the job, fair enough. An old lady stands scowling right next to the Royal Castle and Sigismund's Column, but we only get to see a nondescript wall and a shadow. A view of the Palace of Culture and Metro Centrum shows not a peek of Aleje Jerozolimskie, an artistic and photographic feat in itself. Park Skaryszewski looks like two very ordinary rows of trees with an alley in the middle. If you've never been inside a milk bar, the "service hatch" picture will not give you a clue. It mainly shows you a a very sceptical-looking lady. In the picture of Warsaw's "financial district" the photographer has managed to make it look old, tired, and tiny, consisting of two dirty-looking tower blocks. The man selling the fox skins again looks very embarrassed. Has the photographer asked for permission to take his picture? I'm not really sure. The Śląsko-Dąbrowski bridge is another masterpiece of censorship, having been reduced to a pavement with some tiny people seen from above. Nobody could tell what it looks like, whether it's beautiful or ugly, large or small. The view of Ursynów is realistic, I agree, but possesses no merit beyond that. It's just a random snapshot. In the picture of the Vistula, the photographer has again managed to exclude from the view anything remotely interesting or unique (don't tell me heating and power stations are unique, OK?). Palace of Culture meets Kebab Van - again, the surrounding architecture is non-existent. If you have never been to Warsaw, you might as well think there is really nothing there. Milk Bar II - again, I don't see the milk bar, I see a voyeuristic shot of old people eating. People should never be photographed when they eat.

What Mr Levene has (deliberately, I assume) left OUT of his pictures seems to be the problem here, not the pictures as such.

Oh dear child, why must you tell such pathetic lies? Prozna has not even a single renovated house, let alone being full of "beautifullly renovated old , noble houses"! And I can prove that to anybody who cares to look:

google maps and zumi both offer satellite images of more than enough detail for people to see that!
maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=&q=prozna+warszawa&rlz=1B3GGGL_en-GBIE361IE362&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Pr%C3%B3%C5%BCna,+Warszawa,+Poland&gl=uk&ei=PDCcTeSYFcSxhAewy8nNBg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA

zumi.pl/,Warszawa_Pr%F3%BFna,Szukaj,namapie.html?street=1

Also, a newspaper article from two days ago shows that renovation work hasn't even started on the street yet!

What rubbish. He's not working for the Tourist Board and if your and Monia's view that these photos could in any way distort the view a foreigner has of Warsaw is true, then it's the Tourist board that's not doing its job properly.

Get some context. One, the Guardian does exposes like this on cities all over, and is especially forthright on inner city problems in the UK. Two, been to any photojournalism exhibitions on the South Bank lately? Warzones, refugees, the lot.

What has that got to do with it?