Marek (The Annoying Czech)

[The Annoying Czech]

This year's diary is almost complete except one issue - a really crazy July/August 6-day trip to Premantura, Croatia

Having only one sentence available, I'd describe Premantura as an overlooked, (formerly) fishing village less spoiled with tourists as usual, at the end of nowh... Istrian Peninsula, surrounded with ex military sites from N/S and with gulf/ocean from E/W.

I planned it, I realized it and I'm pretty proud of! Dream come true butterfly vacation. Except I hit the barrier at 110 km/h in the rain near Rijeka

Since I drove another 1 000 km with clearly damanged car hard to handle avoiding cops in Croatia, Hungaria, Slovakia and Czech Rep., miracles sometimes happens

No one, not a soul believed I could ever come back with, but it clearly happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRnPwS178g[/video]

Anyway, back to butterflying. The biotopes tend to have rather low abundances (as quite normal at former military ranges and blown sands), excluding a few species. But half of tne species was a great find for me, sometimes first sighting ever (eg. Hungarian Skipper).

Spotted Fritillary, Trioplan 100

I achieved these two through distant car mirror reflections, which was a really foxy idea

Spotted Fritillary, Trioplan 100

Spotted Fritillary, Trioplan 100

Spotted Fritillary, Canon 180

Knapweed or Jerusalem Fritillary, Canon 180

Knapweed or Jerusalem Fritillary, Trioplan 100

AFAIR, I snapped this Frit just after arrival, in the light rain. I was like, I TRAVELLED 900 GODDAMN KILOMETERES JUST TO SEE CROATIAN RAIN!

After arrival I was so angry about my wrecked right side I expelled rest of my passengers somewhere, just anywhere, locked myself inside the car and slept. When I awake, I found a visit card with apartment and price per night behind the wiper. I either must have looked really miserable sleeping in a damaged 17yo car or Croatians are just great businessmen

Butterflies of Southern Cape Kamenjak

The Tower of Premantura

My little sis'

Here's a list of species I saw there overall, mostly this year, sent to Martina Sasic from some local institute.

Code: Select all

aegeria
aegeria
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
agestis
alceae
alceae
alceae
alceae
alceae
arethusa
argiolus
argiolus
argiolus
argiolus
argiolus
argus
argus
argus
argus
argus
argus
argus
argus
argus
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
atalanta
bellargus
bellargus
bellargus
bellargus
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
cardui
carthami-serratulae cf.
celtis
circe
circe
circe
circe
circe
circe
circe
crocea
crocea
crocea
daplidice
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
didyma
fagi
fagi
fagi
fagi
fagi
fagi
fagi
gamma
glyphica
hyale-alfacariensis
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
icarus
jurtina
jurtina
jurtina
jurtina
jurtina
jurtina
lavatherae
maera
maera
machaon
machaon
malvae cf.
megera
megera
orbifer
orbifer
orbifer
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pamphilus
pandora cf.
paphia
paphia
perspectalis
phlaeas
phleaeas
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
phoebe-ornata
podalirius
podalirius
podalirius
podalirius
podalirius
podalirius
quercus
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
rapae
reducta
reducta
reducta
reducta
reducta
reducta
statilinus
statilinus cf.
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
stellatarum
tithonus
tithonus
urticae
urticae
vicrama

To be continued.

[The Annoying Czech]

Premantura, Croatia Vol. 2

For a while I thought it might be Champan's Blue, otherwise I wouldn't bother with

Common Blue, Canon 180

Hipparchia fagi or syriaca, Canon 180

I had to wait about an hour of rain for my very first P. vicrama photo

Eastern Baton Blue, Canon 180

Two Hungarian Skippers was a nice find, but the sun was far too high lucky photo. We do have only 2 ex. reported in last 100 years in Czech Rep., so we have some photos for species gallery now

Hungarian Skipper, Canon 180

Knapweed or Jerusalem Fritillary, Trioplan 100

Gornji Kamenjak

Both Kamenjaks are banned for turistic investment and grazed "in a Balcan way", but I think it will slowly degrade anyway without military actions

Donji Kamenjak (with Premantura behind the scene)

If anyone's heading to Croatia, I cane give him contact and recommendation for our host family we met in Premantura.


Marek

[The Annoying Czech]

Some Summer scavenging and some Trioplan beauty

Purple-edged Copper, Canon 180

Chalkhill Blue, Canon 180

Small Tortoiseshell, Meyer Trioplan 100

Small White, Meyer Trioplan 100

[David M]

Marek, surely that last image is of Green Veined Whites?

[The Annoying Czech]

Hi, it's obviously a pair of Pieris napi, I might have mistaken English name

[NickMorgan]

Fantastic pictures of some really interesting butterflies. I am sorry to hear about your car, but it was lucky you were still able to drive it.

[The Annoying Czech]

Thank you very much, I do believe I might make a Croatian hattrick in 2015, driving three consecutive years to the sea in a nearly 20-yrs-old car

[The Annoying Czech]

Postprocessing one of the last this year's photos I realized I shot Dusky Large Blue individuals every signle year.

This is how I improved

Can't take them off the Burnet though! They tend to love Burnets just as I do love spaghetti.

Sandy sunset bokeh is partly a succes indeed

Duskie 2011

Duskie 2012

Duskie 2012

Duskie 2013

Duskie 2014

According recent monitorings, those animals are still pretty common here, even more than Adonis, Chalkhill or Silver-studded.

[Goldie M]

Your photo's are lovely can't praise these last postings enough Goldie

[The Annoying Czech]

Another Summer gravedig. This time it's Damon.

Damon Blue, Canon 180

Some of very last season's butterfly photos. Lets cry together.

Peacock, Trioplan 100

Peacock, Canon 180

Since I'm sort of photo addict, I had to switch on portraits.

Trioplan 100

I've lent another damn old lens, Zeiss' Biometar 120. Nice and sharp lens, little boring though (for butterflies).

Biometar 120

And now something completely different. 8mm Samyang sees utterly all.

Samyang 8 Fisheye

All models are my various sisters

Samyang 8 Fisheye

Samyang 8 Fisheye

I'm already employed again. Now I can be spotted with a postman car Hey, Mr. Postman!

+ my next year's new gig: http://arnikatravel.com 2015 will be rock 'n roll!

[The Annoying Czech]

I forgot to process one Apollo photo during Summer - the wildest one.

Apollo (Trioplan 100)

And also one Peacock I don't even remember what it was made with. Apparently too many lens but it's gonna be worst.

Peacock (?! lens, Alzheimer)

Since I'm aiming on Helios 85mm (still in production, btw) that Russians stole to Germans along with V2 rockets you might remember.

Of course it will be very heavy and extremely cool and well built; certain rumours goes from time to time about some MF Russian lenses claiming those to been made of melted WW2 tanks or used by KGB/NKVD party members for espionage, but that's just bollocks



It draws like this, imagine the butterfly possibilities.

[The Annoying Czech]

Since I don't agree with censorship applied on my personal diary without breaking any written rule and won't accept it any more, I'm leaving the forums for good.

The show is over.



Goodbye.


Marek

[Jack Harrison]

Who is the stunning blond? Maybe I should be commenting on the photographic quality but that aspect is easily overlooked.......

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Just looked at your photostream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125619333@N08/
Quite a talent there Marek. Maybe some professional opportunities as a portrait photographer?

Jack

[David M]

Since I don't agree with censorship applied on my personal diary without breaking any written rule and won't accept it any more, I'm leaving the forums for good.

The show is over.

Goodbye.

I sincerely hope this is a joke. What has compelled you to post this, Marek?

I haven't seen anything remotely requiring 'censorship' on your PD.

PM me if you get a moment.

I'd be very disappointed if you were lost to the forum.

[Maximus]

I've the same sentiments as David, Marek, your personal diary is always of great interest and full of cracking photos. I can see no reason why your PD would require censorship, your departure would be a loss to the forum, so I hope you decide to continue.

[Jack Harrison]

I too have no idea what this is about. I had already sent you a PM Marek offering support.

I have a recollection of a minor misunderstanding when Marek in error labelled a GV White as Small White (or other way round) and someone pointed this out. Haven't we all made similar mistakes?

Pete. Over to you now to give some insight please into what is clearly a misunderstanding of some sort.

Jack

[Roger Gibbons]

Marek, you may be underestimating the interest in your postings on UK Butterflies. If it is because of an identification of a Green-veined White, that’s no big deal – I mislabelled a Large White as a GVW a while ago and I have posted this error on my GVW page.

I have only been to Czechoslovakia (as it then was) once, but I find it intriguing to compare what you see there with what I see in France. I would urge you, as do many others on these forums, to continue posting.

Roger

[The Annoying Czech]

I received quite a lot private messages (consider this to be kind of a collective reply), so where to start.

Sice I'm neither attentive reader nor touchy about identification, of course any Green Veined White wasn't a deal. That would be highly ridiculous. (In fact, I hardly remember circumstances or details about.)

The reason is very simple, I posted here a certain Czech written blog entries (translated with Google) touching themes like islamization of the UK, decline of (not only!) British traditional values and so on. The author wasn't me but (I think quite intelligent and profound) Czech doctor doing his proffesion somewhere in the UK (this is, sadly, very often kind of influx outside the country.) Besides some other problems, he clearly opened a question of minority adaptation, failing idea of multiculturalism, the nation getting soft and scared and so forth, as you can probably imagine. I expected some debate if he's right, wrong, or just talks too much and I was very curious about.

Should be fair to add I received some apologies, so I might reconsider my decision, although I don't like it. It's not very manly.

However, I kept my word regarding melted-soviet-tanks-built Helios lens (€244). In the meanwhile, here's some horse made with.

Helios 85mm

[The Annoying Czech]

Seems like I successfully survived another winter time I do hate so much. Sometimes I went out with a fisheye.

Samyang 8mm f3.5

I wasn't much an earner in my primary work but I started up a new business. Being a highly individualistic (and also probably problematic) person, as far as I can remember, I've always wanted to be totally on my own, just don't know why did I have to wait so long.

I also purchased a couple of lenses, around 10, all manual focus. This crackling 1930s German technology shines above them all, being a very fine preserved pre-war survivor. (Optically, the lens is just crap, possibly with the front element not coated at all.)

You can always recognize pre-war lenses by having "cm" instead of "mm" used for focal length and all pre-wars are already (or will be very soon) valuable. Jacks, this lens may be older than you!

Tele Tessar 25cm f6.3

This came from Meyer Primagon 1950s wideangle lens, still a fairly common piece of technology.

Primagon 35mm f4.5

Among others, I grabbed a blasting portraiture lens broadly considered to be the best post-war made German lens - timeless Pancolar 80. Being like 45 years old, still does cost more than average new AF lens. Probably a better performer and so much more fun with too. If I were shooting people instead of butterflies, this lens would have to be my number one.

Pancolar 80mm f1.8

I'm not obsessed with horses but absolutely surrounded with them like that guy from a Patty Smith 1970s punk song.

Pancolar 80mm f1.8

Due to being generally a bit bored with conventional modern photography both very affordable and easy to learn these days, I've decided to reduce using AF to absolute minimum. (In fact, I've never used autofocus on AF lenses anyway.)

A bunch of Carl Zeiss and Meyer Optik lenses II.

Some more lenses.

Telemar 200mm f5.6, Primotar 135mm f3.5

Telemar 200mm f5.6

Two highly bokeh-oriented photos with classic Meyer Trioplan lens. If I had to sell all my technology but one, I would probably keep this one.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

I think this is the biggest recent price-boomer with price raise far beyond 100% per year (and it's even not a whole year yet I started to watch it closely.) By some time in the future, this lens will became unaffordable for most of the planet.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

For me very pleasant Tessar bokeh. Tessar belongs to one of the most classic and famous optical scheme designs together with Sonnar or Biotar. I've sold this little lens anyway.

Tessar 50mm f2.8, 14 blades version

But back to butterflies. I would rather sold my own liver than this lens.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

I decided to look more for colors and color combinations in the nature this year.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

This one is too poisonous and crazy even in my eyes, which is probably something.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

Sometimes I experiment too much. Already scrapped photo.

Trioplan 100mm f2.8

I bought and kept my first Sonnar design lens just from curiousity. It was a rare heavy fast telephoto version I like for some unknown reason. Maybe because of its cool history, being designed specially for 1936 Olymic Games held in Germany. But my lens is, sadly!, younger.

A bunch of Carl Zeiss and Meyer Optik lenses

Unfortunately, It delivers sharpness before bokeh. The OOF areas can be nicely creamy and good looking in the grass though.

Sonnar 180mm f2.8 Olympia

My only AF macro photo, and possibly the only for a long time, is this already damn worn Map Butterfly I believe you have a weak spot for (the species). Despite being totally common, it took me 4 years to make a reasonable rearwing photo.

Canon 180mm f3.5 Macro

Due to lack of time, I will be keeping this diary alive on rather monthly than weakly basis, thanks for understanding.


Marek