The path from the Republic Square (Náměstí Republiky) up to the St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle is known as the royal way of Prague. For centuries this was the way that had to be taken by the Bohemian kings to be crowned in St. Vitus Cathedral (Katedrála svatého Víta). Since in 1836 the last king was crowned in Bohemia, nowadays the Royal Way is just a tourist attraction – but one well worth seeing!
To escape the masses of tourists a bit, I gave myself the pleasure of a look from the top of the city. The town hall tower on Old Town Square in the center is ideal for that because you can enjoy a 360° view over Prague. From up there, the city seemed so much calmer than in the crowded streets. The moon had already risen and in the sky there was an incredibly beautiful evening glow. The tourists (we were on Ascension Day in Prague – so the place was full of Germans) were forgotten until the guard admonished us quietly to pack up since the tower is closing. He allowed me one last photo so that luckily I was able to capture this moment.
Workflow
On the town hall tower you can indeed use a tripod, but given the narrowness and the amount of people up there I wouldn’t recommend it. I think it would be inevitable that someone touched the tripod and thus blurred the photo. So I was very glad I had my GorillaPod with me. I could easily attach it to the railing and shoot my photos the way I wanted to.
In the post-processing I wanted to keep the foreground slightly overexposed to pick the viewer up from here. The idea is to recreate the way from the old town to the castle visually, starting at the church on the Old Town Square and ending at the moon over the Prague Castle.
