Libušín 2015 (Republished pictures from 2015)

This, 24th Libušín, was different for me from the previous ones. For the first time, I managed to arrive on Friday and stay until Sunday. I made it to the morning battle rehearsal for the first time. I arrived in costume rather than in street clothes — but the biggest change was that I spent more time talking to people than with a camera pressed to my eye.

It’s true that, thanks to my chattiness, I missed Battle of the Nations, but considering that the World Championship will be in Prague soon, I’ll catch up there (at least I hope so). I’m sure I also missed out on plenty of fun moments from camp life, but you can’t have everything, right? Since the new year, I’ve also realised that people are a higher priority for me than they used to be.

So I spent Friday evening chatting in front of the tea house with my camera slung over my shoulder, a bottle of Highland Park on my belt, and a glass of this treat in my hand.

In the morning, I realised the camp had grown quite a bit overnight, and I didn’t know where to stop first or how I’d manage to take photos while talking all the time, but I somehow managed. For example, I saw the rehearsal of the main battle for the first time and, based on how it looked, decided where I would photograph the entire battle from. That it ended up looking a little different and the spot wasn’t exactly ideal… well, that happens. The bigger problem was that the rope stretched across the viewing stands was exactly the right height to be in the shot, so in many photos, you can see it at the top or bottom edge. But that’s just a minor detail; what’s much more important is that no one got hurt and that separating the battlefield from the spectators saved the medics a lot of work.

There’s no point in mentioning all the vendors and parts of the program that are there every year, but I did see a part of the tournament in La Soule, for the first time — the match between the two women’s teams was particularly worth watching.

It’s worth noting that Hauptmann, who had been involved in organising all previous Libušín events, has now stepped down and received a new sword as a farewell gift. And that Dan Vávra wasn’t sitting in the photo booth this time, but was running around in costume promoting his latest project Kingdom Come: Deliverance.