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Neal Hendrix
Skateboarder.Brand Manager.Photographer.Broadcaster
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Prague has always been one of my favorite cities to photograph. I first started visiting Prague in the early 1990’s, soon after the Czech escape from the clutches of the Soviet Iron Curtain that enveloped all of Eastern Europe in it’s grasp. When I first visited Prague still looked and felt very different from the Western Europe I was used to, but with each passing year the Soviet stylings faded away and Prague soon turned into a top European tourist destination with the same trapping (and tourist traps) as Paris or Amsterdam. In the Summer of 2008 I went to Prague for a skateboard contest, just like I had done many of the 15 summers before. I had a new camera and I planned on exploring every inch of the city that I could in between practice and competition at the event. Unfortunately the weekend flew by without me being able to explore the city, so it was only on Monday morning, the day that I was flying home that I was able to trek into the city for a quick photo mission. My flight was at 10am, so I was going to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to be able to make it happen but I figured it was better than nothing, and just hoped the weather would be ok. I checked to see what time the sunrise was, and set my alarm for 30 minutes before sunrise. Enough time to wake up, grab my stuff and walk into the city as the sun came up. There is something special about exploring the streets of an amazing city before the city wakes up. To me, photographing in Prague begins and ends with the Charles Bridge. It has an amazing view, on one side the castle on the hillside, and on the other the city’s picturesque cathedrals and ancient architecture. I would start there and see how much time I had to continue. The morning light was just starting to emerge as I first approached the bridge, and after walking about halfway across I looked back to notice a group of guys, which to me looked like a band wobbling home after a late night gig. I shot a couple of photos of them and continued over to the castle side of the bridge. I realized I didn’t have time to make it up to the castle, so after shooting some photos on the far side of the bridge I turned back to backtrack the way I came. When I turned around I noticed a couple of people in the distance on the bridge that weren’t there when I walked past just a couple of minutes before. As I walked closer I realized it was another photographer. And his subject, was a naked woman. It took my mind a minute to process what was happening. I had just walked by this point a couple of minutes before, and now, about 100 feet in front of me a guy was taking photos of a naked woman (to be fair, she was wearing high heels). A million thoughts went through my mind. Should I turn the other way? Should I put my camera away and sneak past? Should I take photos, like I had been doing all morning? I decided to take photos. They were in a public place, maybe the MOST public place in all of Prague. I would never ever make the same decision if I happened to stumble on this scene in the privacy of someones backyard, or through the window of a hotel room, but this was in the middle of the fucking Charles Bridge in the heart of central Prague! I took photos. And then I walked closer and took more photos. Eventually the woman made eye contact with me. She had expected to be posing for a photographer that morning at sunrise on the Charles Bridge, but she didn’t expect to be posing for two photographers that morning on the Charles Bridge. I assume the rush of exhibitionism is knowing that is a possibility. She was naked, but tastefully naked. She was exposed yet still reserved. I walked closer. I wanted to capture the moment, but also not interfere with whatever photographs they were taking. Every tourist that has ever visited Prague has a photo of the Prague Castle from this bridge, but how many have a photo of a beautiful naked woman on the Charles Bridge with the Castle in the background!!??