Skinny Dippin' Photography

see you in paradise

2010-08-17T07:49:00.015+01:00

As some of you may already know, this year I succeeded in visiting a piece of Asia. It was a dream that I had for a long time and I will tell you all about it as I always do, in pictures and words. But, as I was away for a long time, when I got back there were things to resolve and I didn't had the time to make a proper selection.

So, until they are ready, I got these three shoots that I took two days ago. There are from my country, Romania, which has such an unspoiled, natural, beauty that sometimes seems unearthly. Or at least this is my feeling. I made thes in Bucegi Natura Park, while cruising at altitude of about 2000 meters. You can get there by cable car or by foot, climbing the Bucegi Mountains. If you ever take into consideration to visit this place, you can find more details here.

Street Delivery. A People's Story

2010-06-23T09:57:00.036+01:00

The most waited-summer-announcing event of 2ooo and ten, at least for me, is Street Delivery, a local project that "closes the streets for the cars and opens them for the people". This year was the fifth edition and the best so far if you ask me. After last year when I had such high expectations and came up empty, photographically speaking, this year I can say that I'm satisfied by the outcome. Bellow you can find a short selection and if you want to see more you can go here.

p.s. As you can see I have a brand new copyright watermark. I know that it can be an inconvenient, but taking in consideration that last week somebody stole one of my picture I said that was about time to make one... It's not quite what I had in mind, but it works for the moment.

life's snapshots

2010-05-14T07:04:00.008+01:00

The last days I've struggled, with all my power, not to fall in the despair that surrounds me. Regardless of what happens in the world, in your country, with your government, at work, on the way home, I've realized that one has the choice to be thankful and to try to make the best of his life or... not. Don't mistake this kind of attitude with naivety, futility or ignorance. It has nothing to do with that.

"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is bliss, taste it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it." - Mother Teresa

lifedried

2010-05-11T18:30:00.011+01:00

Patrick Summerfield said that black and white photography is like a perfect lie. Now, what can I say, better a lie than a common-colored-spoiled image.

everlasting

2010-03-23T17:53:00.009Z

weird mood. weird photo. it couldn't be otherwise.

macroscopic playground

2010-03-19T10:29:00.006Z

Combine the view with what wiki says about macroscopic scale and you will understand better my thoughts.

“The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or processes are of a size which is measurable and observable by the naked eye.
When applied to phenomena and abstract objects, the macroscopic scale describes existence in the world as we perceive it, often in contrast to experiences (microscopy) or theories (microphysics, statistical physics) considering objects of geometric lengths smaller than one millimeter. […]
The term may also refer to a "larger view", namely a view only available from a large perspective. A macroscopic position could be considered the "big picture".
The opposite to the macroscopic scale is the microscopic scale: objects smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye and which require a lens or microscope to see them clearly.”

Nice weekend to you all :)

the parisians

2010-03-17T20:31:00.005Z

“Every city has a sex and age which have nothing to do with demography. Rome is feminine. So is Odessa. London is a teenager, an urchin, and, in this, hasn’t changed since the time of Dickens. Paris, I believe, is a man in his twenties in love with an older woman” – John Berger, English Painter

What’s the conexion with the image? None in particular. I just like the quote. Those of you who have been to Paris might understand it better. Or, on the other hand, maybe it’s just me..

iDream

2010-03-08T09:08:00.003Z

... about Paris

shadows on canvas

2009-09-14T07:19:00.007+01:00

"It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer.You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary."
David Bailey [english photographer. 1938 - present]

the most sought after solitude

2009-09-09T21:43:00.007+01:00

"I owe my solitude to other people. "
Alan Watts [british philosopher and writer. 1915 - 1973]

sol-i-tude. spelled pronunciation sol-i-tood, -tyood
noun
• the state of being or living alone; seclusion.
• remoteness from habitations, as of a place; absence of human activity.
• a lonely, unfrequented place.

origin
Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sōlitūdō, from sōlus, alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.

synonyms:
1. retirement, privacy. solitude, isolation refer to a state of being or living alone. solitude emphasizes the quality of being or feeling lonely and deserted, while isolation may mean merely a detachment and separation from others. loneliness. 3. desert, wilderness.

please note that this is image is selected from the Solo Photo Book Month. you can find, watch and comment my SoFoBoMo project at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/

long gone summer days

2009-09-08T07:55:00.005+01:00

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Elliott Erwitt [advertising and journalistic photographer. born in 1928 in paris]

please note that this is image is selected from the Solo Photo Book Month. you can find, watch and comment my SoFoBoMo project at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/

run away cottage

2009-08-31T22:07:00.006+01:00

"All good things are wild and free."
Henry David Thoreau [american essayist, poet and philosopher. 1817 - 1862]

please note that this is image is selected from the Solo Photo Book Month. you can find, watch and comment my SoFoBoMo project at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/

monochromatic heaven

2009-08-28T17:56:00.007+01:00

"One very important difference between color and monochromatic photography is this: in black and white you suggest; in color you state. Much can be implied by suggestion, but statement demands certainty… absolute certainty"
Paul Outerbridge [american photographer, an early pioneer and teacher of color photography]

please note that this is image is selected from the Solo Photo Book Month. you can find, watch and comment my SoFoBoMo project at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/

things that define us

2009-08-17T08:07:00.010+01:00

this is the second image that I selected from the Solo Photo Book Month, that is still available for everyone to see and comment at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/

still, this time, I've chosen another processing, because my soul is duo toned this morning. beside that, my thought for this moment sounds like this..

“We must not allow other people's limited perceptions to define us”
Virginia Satir [american psychologist. 1916-1988]

raw physiognomy

2009-08-14T08:10:00.007+01:00

as I said the last time, I intend to post some of my favorites photos from the Solo Photo Book Month, that is still available for everyone to see and comment at http://www.sofobomo.org/2009/books/skinnydipping/AfterSun/
this is the first one of the selected photos..

"A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."
Richard Avedon [american photographer. 1923 - 2004]

after sun

2009-07-29T12:41:00.019+01:00

oh, dear friends, I'm back and I have a pretty good excuse for my absence. besides the well deserved holiday I have finished the Solo Photo Book Month (click here to see the book) and I have uploaded it to the SoFoBoMo site, where you can read the whole story and even download it. In the next period of time, I will post some of the pictures I've used also here. The book it's called After Sun, as you can see also from it's cover above.
I hope you will enjoy it too. Thanks for taking your time and reading my book and if you have any comments or criticism or thought regarding my book, please don’t hesitate to write to me.

music bath in plaine street

2009-06-22T18:59:00.002+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/50 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 200 | 58 mm

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"An artist, in giving a concert, should not demand an entrance fee but should ask the public to pay, just before leaving as much as they like. From the sum he would be able to judge what the world thinks of him - and we would have fewer mediocre concerts."

Kit Coleman [born Catherine Ferguson. Canada's Pioneer Woman Journalist. 1864 - 1915]

the storytellers

2009-06-20T18:29:00.006+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/40 seconds | f 16 | ISO 200 | 44 mm [left]

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Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 9 | ISO 200 | 60 mm [right]

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These puppets are made by a local designer named Ana Ponta. You can find more about her work and even buy one by accessing her web page. All her models are made manually.

It is said that the most difficult thing to do is make a puppet walk and talk, but still all the time I stood there and watch Ana Ponta selling her dolls I was under the impression that he is selling also stories.

“Storytellers, by the very act of telling, communicate a radical learning that changes lives and the world: telling stories is a universally accessible means through which people make meaning” Chris Cavanaugh [an American voice actress who has a distinctive speaking style and has provided the voice for a large range of cartoon characters]

selling desires

2009-06-14T22:06:00.006+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/200 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 200 | 60 mm

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What I found at Street Delivery? People that want to escape. From what or where? Nothing or anything or everything… anywhere. Or maybe just from the concrete walls. It’s one of my favorites shots and it made me remember a text a friend of mine wrote. Maybe you won’t find the connections in the first place, but… sleep on it.

Here it goes…

“Why should we lay on the grass?

I forgot. I’m forgetting. I’m fighting not to forget… the smell of grass. No, I meant the smells of grass, for there are different kinds. The smell of thirsty grass, thirsty and blunted by the cruel sun and by the rockers spiked boots. A pungent, ancient like the furniture in grandma’s house, smell.

The smell of fresh rained on grass or, even more intense, of dew. Delight, slumber, flight, swimming, a woman’s body or anything else that a relaxed mind can draw up. Powerful like a “Paco Rabane” on a seeking male body. Protective, like a wreath of chestnut tree in plain summer or like grandma’s rough hand caressing the child’s skin. Tasty like a peach… Bashful like a schoolgirl… Sweet just like the breast of your first love and bitter like a fight with your mother.

The smell of wet grass opens the gates of imagination, of freedom… Freedom has such a strong resonance… Imagination has no boundaries. Sensations, tastes, colors, memories, wrap around a tiny, stray, soul, with once precise direction, and though, without no goal.

Did I answer the question? Why should we lay on the grass? Aren’t you convinced yet? Go to the first park and make a first step. Doesn’t work? Then run for Sighisoara or London. It’s worth-while!”

p.s. thank you Bogdan for your lovely personal thought that you found proper to share with your friend.

binding waxed pages

2009-06-12T21:41:00.013+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/30 seconds | f 16 | ISO 200 | 62 mm

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Today was the first day – out of three – of StreetDelivery Bucharest, a local street event that “closes the streets for the cars and opens them for the people”. Although the activities were programmed to begin at noon today, when I arrived there the image was quite disappointing. But.. I didn’t loose my hope.

Anyway, from the few things ready was the booth where will take place a workshop about bookbinding. There I took the picture above. Not an extraordinary scene one may say. I agree… not for momentousness I decided to post it, but for the roots of that word… “oracle”. So follow me if you please…

Oracles are the old “memory books” that we used to make in school. I remember that I had my first one when I was in eight grade (this is like a year away from high school in accordance with the romanian education system). It had a deep blue cover and the pages were burned on the sides, wax was dropped here and there and lipstick fake kisses were in the corners.

“What’s your name” or “if I’m not too indiscreet, when did you appear on this planet?” – were two of the not so inspired and shy first questions of the oracle. “What’s your favorite dish?”, “what’s your favorite movie?” or “what do you want to become in life?” and many more, followed them. But the best part of this foolish game was when a boy or girl that you liked accepted to write in your book. It was such an innocent emotional moment. Do you remember? Have you had such a book?

As years gone by, the oracles are less popular. Now we have messenger ids, we are frivol users of facebook, hi5 or some other mass online community and we have blogs, an erudite form of this memory books.

I wonder what will write the passing byes of StreetDelivery 2009 if asked so…

p.s. ii multumesc lui alin care m'a invatat cum sta treaba cu filtrele astea :P

daily childhood mysteries

2009-06-08T16:52:00.008+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 100 | 50 mm

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“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

Albert Einstein [German born American Physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955]

made it through the night

2009-06-04T20:51:00.006+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/50 seconds | f 4 | ISO 640 | 50 mm

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...going through a grey period, have you noticed?

“What is a face, really? Its own photo? Its make-up? Or is it a face as painted by such or such painter? That which is in front? Inside? Behind? And the rest? Doesn't everyone look at himself in his own particular way? Deformations simply do not exist”

Pablo Picasso [25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973. spanish painter and sculptor. one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art, he is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work]

imaginary game of hide and seek

2009-05-31T20:10:00.007+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/1000 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 100 | 58 mm

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...hiding my thoughts behind an umbrella, in plain summer, it's what i do best.

damaged DNA

2009-05-26T20:01:00.005+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 4 | ISO 100 | 26 mm
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"A man's memory may almost become the art of continually varying and misrepresenting his past, according to his interest in the present."

George Santayana [1863 – 1952. philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist]

reed's riot

2009-05-25T20:23:00.006+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/10 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 100 | 50 mm

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"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality."

almost barefoot

2009-05-24T15:58:00.007+01:00

Laced moccasins are a common element of the Romanian traditional wardrobe, which is only natural if we think that we are a nation with profound rural reminiscence. Even nowadays one can find laced moccasin in remotes parts of the country used in every day labor. The moccasins are made manually, from pig, cattle or donkey leather. You can buy a pair with less than 10 euros. Wear it or just expose it as a local keepsake.

p.s. at first, i intended to make a post with the woman in the image. i wanted to tell you all about the short but intens interaction i had with her. i changed my mind, realizing that it will be too poor in comparison with the reality.

“When you find yourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you photograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know you are on the right track.”

Arthur Fellig - American Photographer

ethnographical networking

2009-05-22T21:06:00.004+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/40 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 100 | 50 mm

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I began yesterday a series of pictures taken last Saturday at the Romanian Village Museum (Muzeul Satului). I’ve spent some great couple of hours there and I decided to post, separately, some of my favorites shots, with a short comment regarding some cultural Romanian habits.

But first, I thought it would be nice to gather for you a short description of the Village Museum. So enjoy reading and maybe, someday, visiting this fantastic place.

The Village Museum was a very nice idea of some Romanian sociologists, started in 1925 by Professor Dimitrie Gusti. The idea was to create a museum demonstrating the sociological structure of the Romanian village. During the time, more and more objects have been moved from their original place to Bucharest. You will have to remember that the ample works for hydro-amelioration in the northern part of Bucharest (the capital of Romania) began only in 1932, when Herastrau Park was being born. 4,5 hectares were allocated to the project. Gradually, the area was filled by houses and the Village Museum was inaugurated on May 10th 1936 together with the Herastrau Park.

The exhibition has a total of 322 constructions (47 dwellings, household dependencies, 3 wooden churches, 3 windmills, technical installations that use the force of the water etc.)

The best thing is that they are organized in Romania's ethnographical regions: Transylvania, Moldova, Dobrogea, etc. It really takes you on a tour of the country's rich tradition of folk architecture and art. Plus, it's a nice relaxing walk that makes you forget you are actually in a city, and the nice view of the lake in the neighboring Herastrau Park adds to the "summer holidays" feeling!

Entrance to the park is free, while entrance to the Village Museum costs 6 Lei (1.20 GBP) per adult and 3 Lei (0.60 GBP) per child/student.

For more information you can go here. You can find also more pictures, with larger perspectives, and reviews from real travelers.

I used the following sources of information:

http://www.muzeul-satului.ro/

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Romania/Municipiul_Bucuresti/Bucharest-520545/Things_To_Do-Bucharest-Village_Museum-BR-1.html

how to grow old with grace

2009-05-21T17:21:00.008+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 100 | 50 mm
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seven reason why I like best old structures over new people:

*they don't invent stories to seem more interesting
*they know how to keep a secret
*they are proud about their age
*they know how to suffer in silence
*they know how to make you feel like home
*they have personality
*they aren't ashamed to see you naked all the time

brides parade

2009-05-19T21:11:00.012+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 100 | 135 mm
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sunday. 17th may 2009. Bucharest. 11.00 a.m. and almost 30 degrees Celsius. first edition of Bride Parade. what's the catch? any women that has more than eighteen years old, married or with plans, or anyone that has a bride dress and wet dreams to become a wife, can participate to the march on one of the most famous bulevards - Calea Victoriei (that means something like the way of the victory. huh, what can i say.. a predestinated name). and from grace I will not make any coment about their dresses, afterall, tastes are subjective.

at first glance it seems to be more photographers than brides. to complete the mockery, lots and lots of police men and casual audience. not really my type of event, but still i've given it a shot. the outcome: 900 shots. it remained 360 after a harsh sorting. did I mentioned that I had zero expectation? and there I was with 360 shot quite nice.. how can one not make a post in this circumstances? So, I selected 40, processed 14, picked 7 and.. then crashed under the "to post or not to post"dilemma.

finally I decided to put this one. seem more elegant and in line with this place. the woman in the picture is Loredana Groza, a well known romanian singer. she lead the parade and she was a real lady.

if you are curiouse about her, you can have a taste here. you will hear her sing a famous traditional romanian song.

p.s who knows.. maybe I'll do a sequel about this event..

choosing the right mug for a good friend

2009-05-15T19:49:00.008+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/200 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 320 | 80 mm
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today i "stumbled", at someone's recommendation, into a text called "life's little instructions". the author wasn't mentioned, but i enjoy it, although, i must confess, i do just about 40% of the things. i decided to sent it further to others, after adding to the list one of my own: "choosing the right mug for a good friend"

so there it goes..

"life's little instructions"
* sing in the shower
* treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated
* watch a sunrise at least once a year
* leave the toilet seat in the down position
* never refuse homemade brownies
* strive for excellence, not perfection
* plant a tree on your birthday
* learn three clean jokes
* return borrowed vehicles with the gas tank full
* compliment three people every day
* never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them
* leave everything a little better than you found it
* keep it simple
* think big thoughts but relish small pleasures
* become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know
* floss your teeth
* ask for a raise when you feel you’ve earned it
* be forgiving of yourself and others* say “thank you” a lot
* say please a lot
* avoid negative people
* buy whatever kids are selling on card tables in their front yards
* wear polished shoes
* remember other people’s birthday
* commit yourself to constant improvement
* carry jumper cables in your trunk
* have a firm handshake
* send lots of Valentine cards. Sign them “someone who thinks you’re terrific”
* look people in the eye
* be the first to say “hello”
* return all the things you barrow
* make new friends and cherish the old ones
* keep secrets
* sing in a choir
* plant flowers every spring
* always accept an outstretched hand
* stop blaming others
* take responsibility for every area of your life
* wave at kids on the buses
* be there when people need you
* don’t expect life to be fair
* never underestimate the power of love
* drink champagne for no reason at all
* don’t be afraid to say, “I made a mistake”
* don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”
* compliment even small improvements
* keep your promises no matter what
* marry only for love
* rekindle old friendships
* count your blessings
* call your mother

the lemon tango

2009-05-11T18:55:00.006+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/4 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 100 | 20 mm
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"The female nude – magical, erotic, aesthetic – has been modeled and painted since prehistory. Appearing rarely and awkwardly in the earliest art, she attained fulfillment and glory in ancient Greece. In their idealized treatment of the nude, The Greeks established a standard that only the asceticism of the Middle Ages ignored. The artists of the Renaissance and their successors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries revived the nude, and by the 1930’s she was again a conventional form. It was inevitable that she should become a favorite subject of photography."
Peter Lacey [Introduction. History of the Nude in Photography by Peter Lacey and Anthony La Rotonda]

beyond appearances

2009-05-10T15:24:00.010+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/250 seconds | f o | ISO 100 | 0 mm [Lensbaby]
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"Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be."
Duane Michals [american photographer. 1932 - present]

giving birth to rocks

2009-05-06T18:18:00.007+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/200 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 100 | 48 mm
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“A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery [french writer and aviator. 1900 - 1944]

time gap

2009-04-28T17:54:00.010+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 100 | 44 mm
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it could have been just the same the mid-1960's, but it was last autumn in Lucca, Italy. they were a quiet frame on the usual uproar on the two meters puzzled streets. of course, if we would have been indeed in those years, they wouldn't smoke filtered cigarettes, their shoes would have been plain sneakers, not c*nverse, and the houses behind them would have been younger and cheaper.. but still, don't be fooled by the apperences, think at the progress and knowledge nowadays and there you'll feel the difference..

"Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known." Ronald Reagan [the 40th President of the United States. 1911 – 2004]

strange how Ronald Reagan's words sound like my grandfather's..

crossing the burning fields

2009-04-22T20:46:00.010+01:00

Nikon D50 | 1/250 seconds | f 8 | ISO 1ooo | 55 mm
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Thinking about relationships I realized that we people like to have all for granted: someone's trust, someone's time, someone's thoughts.. but often we don't have the patience to discover the other person, to raise the "veil of weeds" and discover someone's real personality. So we have shallow friends and shallow experiences with people. I am not an exception. In my defense I say just that I lack patience. Also add some bad experiences with people.
I find easier to trust strangers.
These said, at somebody's suggestion I played a little game named "100 things about me", after all we are the sum of habits, memories, frailties, wishes and so on and so forth..
So there it goes..

1. My middle name is Dori.
2. My mom named me also Romina after the Italian singer Romina Power.
3. I had a blessed childhood.
4. My favorite game back then was hide and seek.
5. I wish I could time travel.
6. I used to play handball in elementary.
7. I was growing up my nick name was Dexter.
8. I prefer carbon pencils over pens.
9. I like black pens over blue pens.
10. Palatino Linotype is my favorite font.
11. I have a bachelor degree in journalism and a master degree in management.
12. My father wished I was an accountable. I hate math.
13. I relax myself cooking.
14. Every recipe I tried work out delicious.
15. I don’t know how to use the washing machine.
16. I own a stamp collection.
17. When I was young my parents made me take violin and piano lessons.
18. I don’t know how to play violin or piano anymore.
19. I can read musical notes.
20. Salman Rushdie is one of my favorite writers.
21. The last concert I went to was Koop Life in Bucharest.
22. I love to people watch.
23. I don’t have a best friend.
24. I have just a few friends.
25. I don’t trust people in general.
26. I have strong believes.
27. One of my grandfathers made jail time for his religious believes.
28. I don’t like to chat on the internet.
29. I am an extrovert.
30. I have 5 coffee mugs at work. I don’t drink coffee.
31. I don’t smoke either.
32. I used to be an workaholic. Not anymore.
33. I have premature grey hair.
34. I would have voted for Barack Obama as president if I was an American citizen.
35. I absolutely love to travel. I have visited five countries until now.
36. My favorites cities are: Sighisoara (Romania), Venice (Italy), Lucca(Italy) and Bucharest (Romania). Yes, you read it right: Bucharest.
37. My favorite website is www.amazingrace.ro – the guide of clever traveler as I like it to call it.
38. I like cats.
39. I really really like cats.
40. I don’t have cats.
41. Someday I will own a Mini Cooper.
42. I am allergic to coconuts.
43. I am not a big fan of “reality” television.
44. What I like most about television are the news and the politic talk-shows.
45. I like people that know about the major themes of the day in the world.
46. I am environmental oriented.
47. I never had earring holes.
48. I don’t look good in mauve.
49. Lots of my clothes are grey.
50. I don’t really like blue jeans.
51. Most of my wardrobe is bought from Mini Prix outlet.
52. I use to sell the clothes I don’t wear anymore.
53. I have 47 purses at current time. I had 64 a while ago.
54. I didn’t count yet how many pairs of shoes I own.
55. The other day I came home with one shoe, the left one, number 5 (37 in European numbering), and the other one, the right one, number 7 (39 in European numbering).
56. I am photophobic.
57. My sunglasses model is just like those in “Breakfast at Tiffany's”.
58. I like candle’s light.
59. I don’t trust credit cards.
60. I don’t currently own a credit card.
61. I love Christian’s Dior J’Adore fragrance. And Addict2 fragrance. And Gucci by Gucci. And Calvin’s Kleine Euphoforia Blossom. Oh, and Hypnose from Lancome.
62. I like to express my self thru writing and photography.
63. I own a Nikon D80. I secretly dream about Nikon D700.
64. My last camera gear acquisition was a Lensbaby Composer.
65. I spent an important part of my childhood in the darkroom.
66. My mother used to be a professional photographer.
67. I believe in emotional intelligence. I think most people lack it.
68. I once worked like a babysitter.
69. I don’t really feel the urge of being a mother yet.
70. I feel in my element in the water.
71. I like skinny dipping.
72. I don’t know how to scuba dive.
73. I like wild beaches.
74. I am movie addicted. I dare you to name one I didn’t already see.
75. Sex and the City is one of my favorite serial. It should be used like educational material in high school.
76. I don’t buy glossy magazines. Ever.
77. I am a moody person.
78. I have a scalpel scar on my left shoulder.
79. I like hand made things.
80. I like the subway.
81. I don’t give money to beggars.
82. I eat too much salt.
83. I like tomato juice.
84. When I was little I used to eat fresh snow.
85. My dog bit me when I was six years old. I bit him back.
86. I like sunflower’s flowers.
87. I have a driving license since 2001.
88. My first job was voice editor at one of the three main national televisions.
89. My first salary was something like 200 euros.
90. I like to play backgammon.
91. I am at day with my bills.
92. I laugh out loud.
93. I have a mobile modem.
94. I have the same mobile number since the beginning.
95. I like flying.
96. I was a Girl Scout.
97. I can’t whistle.
98. I dream a lot.
99. Nevertheless I can be arrogant, stubborn, pragmatic and self-indulgent, but also kind, intelligent, funny, practical, creative, loving, conscientious and realistic.
100. I almost quit on the way, but I made to 100. Must confess it was harder then I expected.

window of peace

2009-04-20T17:25:00.008+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/40 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 160 | 38 mm
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…paraphrasing charles’s simic statement about poetry I might add that photography can be also “an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them”

p.s. happy 10.000 views anniversary! thank you all for visiting my place..

a worthy opponent

2009-03-07T22:03:00.001Z

Olympus SP500UZ | 1/100 seconds | f 3.3 | ISO 100 | 15.8 mm
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“Most gods throw dice, but fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along.”
Terry Pratchett [English Writer, b.1948]

... I don't actually believe in fate. I believe in God. But I like the irony.

reflections on a white bench

2009-03-05T12:04:00.008Z

Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 135 mm
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paradise on fire

2009-03-01T16:31:00.007Z

Olympus SP500UZ | 1/125 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 80 | 6.3 mm
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listening Ella Fitzgerald - Summertime and remembering Tunisia and the summer of 2006. i'm just craving for a glimpse of sun.

"Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh your daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush little baby, don't you cry
One of these mornings
You're goin' to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take the sky
But till that morning
There's a nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by"
[Ella Fitzgerald. Summertime Lyrics]

behind door number nine

2009-02-26T05:48:00.003Z

Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 90 mm [left side]
Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 1250 | 18 mm [right side]
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I remember as if it was yesterday. But it’s almost a year now. We were on the way to Sighisoara, beloved place of my next to come dreams. The lady at with we were suppose to stay canceled the reservation at the last moment, but with some help we managed to find another place to stay. At first, it sounded strange on the phone: “yes we have just one room and actually you we’ll be our first guests to sleep in it”.

After five hours driving on a not so welcoming weather we arrived at the fortress gates. We were told that it’s possible to enter on the narrow paved streets with our cars. And after just another five minutes, there we were, in front of door number nine.
Just one meter from it a little store inviting you to buy souvenirs. We met our host inside. She was a souvenir to take her self with a delicate smile and all so dressed in an original medieval outfit. The things became even stranger when she gave us the keys: two long rusted and heavy iron keys.

We stood now in front of the door number nine like we were in front of the rabbit’s magic whole. As we will have to find out later, the house was a historical monument and it had only three rooms, all redecorated recently. It was a family treasure and a family small business.

The door opened with an ancient voice in the background. We weren’t sure anymore of anything. The knotty wall seamed more like those of a cave. At the right a little garden carved in stone. It looked so intimate with that only for two bench and those half-melted candles.

We fallowed the winding stairs up to the first floor. There she was. Another era recreated in the smallest details. I should not unveil any of them. It’s not a place to be told about it, but a place to discover in person.

Shortly after this charming encounter I will have to return. I will have to have a prelude and an afterglow on the ledge of the bathrooms window. I will have to eat one of the best pies I have ever tasted and take in account that I’m not a very good friend with the sweets. I will have to climb the almost 200 stairs nearby the house until it will take my breath away. I will have to get married in the beautiful church up the hill seven months later. That special is this place for me.

“Every wall is a door.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson [american poet, lecturer and essayist. 1803-1882]

between shadows

2009-02-23T19:06:00.009Z

Nikon D80 | 1/320 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 90 mm
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"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between."
Karl Heiner [Photographer]

under the magic wand of time

2009-02-20T19:41:00.007Z

Nikon D80 | 1/1000 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 135 mm [left side]
Nikon D80 | 1/320 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 160 | 50 mm [right side]
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“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.”
Paul Strand quotes [American Photographer, 1890-1976]

memories from his boyhood

2009-02-13T22:33:00.004Z

Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 160 | 48 mm [Orton Effect]
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first i wanted to write some text for this post, as usual. but analyzing all the thoughts that came into my mind i realized that a better way to express myself is to give you a fragment from a famous Romanian book called Childhood Memories, written by Ion Creangă, storyteller and memoirist. The book was translated into English a while ago under the title "Memories of My Boyhood". In this book the author gives an extraordinary tribute to his childhood, by reviving those days page by page. Actually, now that i think about it, things aren't that much changed in a certain way. Romania is, in proportion of 60%, still a rural country and many children are born and raise there until they have to go to college, if they go. Creangă's memories are in a way brighter than the reality today, when the children play less and work more, starting at the early age of six or seven.
I realize the fragment is quite long, but i have no doubt that you will enjoy it. it's a real delight. oh, and by the way, one more detail to increase your interest, almost every child had ore has to learn it by heart in secondary school, as a requirement for maternal language classes.
so.. there he goes:

"I don't pretend to know what other people are like, but for myself, I seem to feel my heart throb with joy even to this day when I remember my birthplace, my home at Humulesti, the post supporting the flue of the stove, round which mother used to tie a piece of string with tassels at the end of it, with which the cats played till they dropped exhausted, the flat ledge of the stove that I used to cling to when I was pulling myself up and learning to walk, the place on top of the stove where I used to hide when we children played at hide-and-seek, as well as other games and delights full of childlike fun and charm. Lord, what good times those were, for parents and brothers and sisters were hale and hearty, there was everything needful in the house, the sons and daughters of our neighbors were for ever romping with us, and everything was exactly as I liked best, without a shadow of ill-humor as if the whole world were mine! I myself was as happy as the day was long, whimsical and playful like the gusting wind.
Mother, who was well-known for her spells and cantrips, would say to me sometimes with a smile as the sun peeped from behind the clouds after prolonged rain: "Go outside, you fair-haired child, and laugh at the sun, maybe the weather will change." And the weather did change at my smile.
The sun no doubt knew what I was capable of, for I was my mother's son, and she in truth could work wonders: she would chase away the black clouds overhanging our village and drive the hail away into other places by sticking the axe into the ground, outside the door; she would so curdle water by means of a couple of beef bones that the people crossed themselves in amazement; she would hit the ground, the wall or any wooden thing that I bumped my head against saying: "Take that!" and forthwith the pain was gone.
When the red embers moaned in the stove, which is supposed to foretell wind and bad weather, or when the embers hissed, a sign that someone is talking about you, mother would scold the hearth and beat it with a poker to make the enemy shut up. More than that, if I didn't look as well as she thought I ought to, she would immediately lick her finger and make a muddy mixture with dust from the heel of her shoe, or, if she was in much of a hurry for that, she would take soot from the stove and say: "As heel or stove are free of the evil eye so let my baby be free of it!" and she would make a mark on my forehead lest her precious pet come to harm. These and many more things did she do.
That's what mother was like when I was a child, full of strange and wonderful practices, as far as I remember; and well do I remember, for she rocked me in her arms as I sucked at that sweet breast of hers and nestled in her bosom, babbling and fondly looking up into her eyes! I have taken my blood of her blood and my flesh of her flesh; I've learnt speech from her and wisdom from God at the time when a man has to distinguish between good and evil."
- Memories of My Boyhood (Childhood Memories), by Ion Creangă
Translated by Ana Cartianu and R.C. Johnston at Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1978

Sources: http://www.tkinter.smig.net/Romania/Creanga/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Creanga

seven minutes away

2009-02-11T05:56:00.003Z

Nikon D80 | 60 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 100 | 135 mm [flash fired]
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these are some of the cigarettes smoked by my colleagues today.

it is said that smoking just one cigarette shortens ones life by seven minutes. a simple calculation shows that smoking a pack of cigarettes shortens ones life by 140 minutes per day. this means that the year of a smoker has less than eleven months.

still...
"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism."
Carl Gustav Jung [Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of analytical psychology. 1875 – 1961]

.. or photography?!

bridge to never never land

2009-02-09T20:10:00.007Z

Nikon D80 | 20 seconds | f 9.0 | ISO 100 | 35 mm
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what I like about traveling, in random order:

* missing the loved one
* walking safe in the streets in the middle of the night
* taking at least one good shot (photography shot, not tequila)
* people smiling at me without hidden purposes
* talking with complete strangers and finding connections
* adopting a pet, most likely a cat
* free internet hot spots right next of an archeological excavations
* clean bathrobe and slippers in the hotel room
* having an excuse to watch cnn until four a.m., in the morning
* buying chocolate and parfume at airport duty-free
* reading on the plane
* having an excuse for shopping in general
* having an excuse to eat junk food (I know I know, eating junk food has never an excuse)
* good interstate highways
* arriving at the beach. any beach
* because it changes you

... and the list remains open for your reasons

"What you've done becomes the judge of what you're going to do - especially in other people's minds. When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road'.
William Least Heat-Moon [also know as William Trogdon, born in august 1939. American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry]

doris loves klaus

2009-02-05T21:26:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 100 | 58 mm
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It’s strange how some can control their mood from one moment to another, how can they aloof from their problems or thoughts relating work, isolating everything, protecting themselves, their private life, their loved ones, or just their free time at any cost. Those that can achieve this, day by day, will definitely live more than me. And this is a fact.
For example, I was just yesterday in Köln (Germany), with affairs concerning my work, but I took my camera with me, not to regret after that I missed God knows what, based on previous experience when I was too lazy to take it.
It wasn’t a good business trip. It was not even a well fructified photographic opportunity. And this mainly because I had a bad mood. I made in all twenty five pictures, from which just four or five are any good at all. This is one of them made as I was crossing the Rhine on Hohenzollern bridge. It was the first time when I had the chance to see what is called „love padlocks”, a custom, originating from Hungary, in which lovers affix a padlock to a fence or similar public fixture to symbolize their love. I must confess I have never seen so many padlocks models, one more unusual than another.
Still, as you can clearly see in this picture, the love padlocks from Hohenzollern bridge are by far outnumbered by those clamed to a fence in a narrow street in Pécs (Hungary), street that links the mosque in the main square of the city and the cathedral. Here is the place where it seems that this custom first started, back in 1980s.
This habit spread quickly so today you can find love padlocks on Szinva Terrace bridge in Miskolc (Hungary), in Riga (Latvia), Tokio (Japan), on Ponte Vecchio in Florence (Italy), but also in the United States of America, in Guam, or far away in Montevideo, Uruguay.

“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge”.
Plato [ancient greek philosopher and one of the world’s most influential philosopher. 428 BC – 348 BC]

*source used http://en.wikipedia.org

pursuing passion

2009-01-30T20:13:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/25 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 100 | 48 mm [left side]
Nikon D80 | 1/30 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 100 | 26 mm [right side]
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Just a week ago, a new friend of mine, Steph, told me that I must have a lot of photographic “benefits” from the fact that I’m a journalist. I laughted immediately as I read his email and replied at once: actually nothing that I do at work doesn’t implicate me taking photos. Still, my mind remained set on his words, and, unconsciously, I searched for opportunities. Said and done. In this January edition of the magazine I work for, standing proud and smiling are… my photos. I didn’t realized until I saw the printed version of the magazine, even if I selected them and decided what and where should be put. I must confess that it was a nice feeling to know that over 25.000 people will see my photos, although I sign every month at least two or three articles. Don’t know why, but it is not even close the same feeling.

The article is a cover story about a branded convenience store, named Oliviers and Co., who’s 85th boutique opened recently, thru a franchiser, in Bucharest. I gave you just one shot of these series: an imaginary ball made from little, tiny, bottles filled with extra virgin olive oil made in Provence, France, concept that is actually a trade mark for the store’s layout in the whole world. The article was written by my colleague, Andreea Ion. We made a pretty good team in this formula too.
It is not quite in my photographic target this kind of shots and I’m sure there are skilled and techniques needed for posing objects, but I really like the outcome.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”
Thomas Edison[American inventor and businessman.1847 – 1931]

wanted: people with personality

2009-01-20T21:58:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/30 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 160 | 66 mm
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I will never understand why there are people that don't understand diversity, that don't love ethnicity, or who don't understand their age or their limits. I guess I don't understand peoples that think in frames all the time, and, even more, I don't understand people that don't understand that the only one who can judge me is God.

"For everything there is a season,
And a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate,
A time for war, and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

p.s. the people that don't understand me are not welcomed here.

about perception and manipulation

2009-01-16T19:45:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/60 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 125 | 112 mm
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I recall quite well a moment back when I was at university, at one of many courses about journalistic deontology and writing techniques. It was the first seminary with Liviu Popescu, the professor that in just a few week will have to became our friend, mine and my colleagues.
At first, when he entered the class, it was one of that situation when nobody know about the other or what to aspect. Of course the ball was in his court. Looking back now, I have no doubt that he staged very well that moment. He brought a computer an played for us a series of images requiring that each one of us to write what he or she sees in that picture.
Sounds simple, no? And so we started to write.. “an old lady that was banished from her house”, “a skater who is preparing for the Olympics”, “a lovely puppy begging to be pat”, “a just married couple, very in loved, walking in the botanical garden”, “the storm who is on the verge to break out” and so on and so forth. And he started to name students randomly in order to get some answers. After a couple of minutes, he said loud and clear to each one of us: no, no and again no. You should have seen “an old lady”, “a skater”, “a dog”, “a man and a woman”, “landscape”... regardless the practical journalistic application of that short experiment, we all remember, as human beings, to “never assume”…

And, in conclusion, but with no evident connection what so ever with the above made statements, one of my favorites quotes…
“For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication”
Friedrich Nietzsche quotes [German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900]

light and future in their hands

2009-01-14T18:18:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 320 | 105 mm
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Childhood - The 21st Century

How advanced they are, these children of the future,
Like small adults, within their tiny frames,
They grow up in a fast 'speed driven' culture,
Where 'learning pressures' change their kind of games,
Where is their childhood, in all this hurly burly,
Where is their pure untainted view of things,
Why do they have to grow so old, so early,
And lose the joy that only childhood brings.

Our childhood was filled with thoughts of joy and gladness,
We lived our lives, oblivious to the world
And all the hardships, wars, the grief and sadness,
We stood, waiting for our lives to be unfurled.
We had time to grow, and gain an understanding,
Of each new phase, each change along the way,
As we grew slowly, our senses all expanding,
So with clarity, we slowly changed our play.

We had a framework on which to build and flourish,
Slow and steady, this was no rushed affair,
Taking each step, then step by step to nourish,
Our childhood, so finally adulthood we would share.
What will become, of these 'New Century' learners,
I doubt if they, a dreamy childhood see,
Will they then tell to all those bright discerners
Of their own, how they remembered their childhood to be.

a poetry by Ernestine Northover*

source http://www.poemhunter.com

cheatchatting thru life

2009-01-09T19:18:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/15 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 200 mm
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I will always remember my first nikon week. it was also the first time when I was in the magic land of Sighisoara.. as you can see I was far for ready to use the camera, but I really like how it turned out this picture. I made me realized, again, the blessed period of childhood, without any wories..

"The child laughs: my wisdom and love is the game. The young man sings: my game and wisdom is the love. The old man says nothing: my love and game is the wisdom".
Lucian Blaga [a Romanian poet, playwright and philosopher. 1895 - 1961]
Lucian Blaga is the same who said “God, I have only one prayer: never let me be satisfied with myself!”

alfred's birds

2009-01-07T09:12:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 7.1 | ISO 800 | 75 mm
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this is a pleading for the need for good movies.

"I don`t understand why we have to experiment with film. I think everything should be done on paper. A musician has to do it, a composer. He puts a lot of dots down and beautiful music comes out. And I think that students should be taught to visualize. That`s the one thing missing in all this. The one thing that the student has got to do is to learn that there is a rectangle up there - a white rectangle in a theater - and it has to be filled. "
Alfred Hitchcock [British film director and producer. 1899-1980]

Movie lines from Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds" [1963]

Melanie Daniels: Just what is it you're looking for, sir?
Mitch Brenner: Lovebirds.
Melanie Daniels: Lovebirds, sir?
Mitch Brenner: Yes. I understand there are different varieties. Is that true?
Melanie Daniels: Oh yes, there are.
Mitch Brenner: Well, uh, these are for my sister, for her birthday, see, and uh, as she's only gonna be eleven, I, I wouldn't want a pair of birds that were... too demonstrative.
Melanie Daniels: I understand completely.
Mitch Brenner: At the same time, I wouldn't want them to be too aloof, either.
Melanie Daniels: No, of course not.
Mitch Brenner: Do you happen to have a pair of birds that are... just friendly?

identities in ruins

2009-01-03T21:58:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/250 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 90 mm
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Take nothing for granted as beautiful or ugly, but take every building to pieces, and challenge every feature. Learn to distinguish the curious from the beautiful. Get the habit of analysis - analysis will in time enable synthesis to become your habit of mind. 'Think simples' as my old master used to say - meaning to reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.
- Frank Lloyd Wright [American Architect and Writer. 1867-1959]

Sighisoara is the only inhabited medieval fortress in Europe, and, even if annually it receives hundreds of tourists, the reconstruction program are delayed every year. In this rhythm, soon there won't be nothing left for one to see... In the mean time, there are voices who say that the modern architecture is the new perspective and due to the technologic and engineering developments made a bright future awaits us and we have nothing to sigh about...
What are the medieval fortress, what are the old castles, what are the traditional villages in front of the great process of globalization.
But, what about our identities?

2oo9. a fresh new year

2008-12-31T19:59:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f 7.1 | ISO 800 | 50 mm
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loving God. loving each others. loving our planet. this are my wishes for 2oo9.
happy new year all..

any day is a good deed day

2008-12-30T16:31:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/15 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 125 mm
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.. as one friend stated today “the children that weren’t present, didn’t get any present from Santa.. hohoho”, I realized this Christmas [as I realize it every each one, and here I take my blame] that we are forgetting what are the real significations of it. And I remember what I read recently, an affirmation of Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth President of the United States: “Christmas isn’t a period, neither a season, but a state of spirit. The true spirit of Christmas means to value peace and good willing and to offer, fully, compassion”. And remember.. we don’t really need the Christmas to gave presents.. any day is a good day for making good deeds :)

And now.. some kind of post scriptum.. Recently I was asked why I tend to see always the down side of things an accordingly to that to take photos and to manipulate them thru processing or thru the words I say. . So I made an inventory of all the entries in this last few past months since I started this photoblog [is great that I had also the time to do so].. and.. I discovered that it’s a doze of truth in those allegations. Still I refuse to comment upon the matter. Is my way to see things. Everyone else is free to get a camera and relate their own We all are moody human beings, or not?

Note: you can place your wish by clicking on the comments link on the top of the picture

at last... a taste of winter

2008-12-29T13:25:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 800 | 18 mm
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"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [german playwrither, poet, novelist and dramatist. 1749-1832]

Note: you can place your wish by clicking on the comments link on the top of the picture

resized memories

2008-12-14T20:00:00.001Z

Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 160 | 58 mm
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[published December 14th @ 11.00 p.m. ]
sometimes trying to have happy thoughts is like searching for springtime flowers in the middle of winter...

[published December 15th @ 1.25 p.m.]
hmm.. after reading Tudor's comment I wanted to complete the post with the lyrics of one of my favorite songs "bill withers - Ain't no sunshine".. who's "she"? anything or nothing.. anyone or no one.. maybe just sanity sometimes ..

Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

Wonder this time where she's gone,
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.
Anytime she goes away.

sos swallows

2008-12-11T19:27:00.004Z

Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 135 mm
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i found out recently that the common swallow is about to disappear. the news is at the same time odd and... sad. I, like the person who's article make me think about this little creature, Harris Wallmen, chief editor of roumanian Photo Magazine publication, wondered about the causes.
after a superficial online documentation, i found out that the swallow population of most of the european big cities just vanished. for this phenomenon exists a lot of reasons, like: the industrialization of agriculture in the rural areas, the intensive use of pesticides, the lack of food or the massive tree clearing from the cities that made impossible the finding of a place where to put their nest.
in the end, Wallmen said it beautiful: "the swallow likes to live almost exclusively in the presence of humans. She never abandon her pair once in the short life she has, of four or five years. and, even if she isn't extremly talented, like the nightingale or the blackbird, she is one of the most garrulous singers. the world without swallows seems more deplorable and plaintive".

smile baby, smile!

2008-12-08T17:20:00.003Z

Nikon D80 | 1/100 seconds | f 9.0 | ISO 160 | 50 mm
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no words for today

2008-12-02T10:10:00.003Z

Nikon D80 | 1/160 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 75 mm
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no more doors to open

2008-11-30T21:19:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 6.3 | ISO 800 | 62 mm
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Today, like the other five days in the last almost twenty years, should have been about change. Or so they stated each four years. I’m talking about the election day. My disappointment isn’t new or unexpected, or as a matter of fact, even important for a large group of people. But it’s mine. Instead of a long expected generation of new politicians, we have the old school boys.. again and one of the most weak voting presence in our short democracy history.

Without any connection, at the first sight, Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism, said, in another age, that “one may know the world without going out of doors”. It’s a pity that the people, in particular politicians, that have this strategy in mind omitted the fact that then the resources weren’t so poor and the power so concentrated in the hands of few nations.

Soon won’t be any other door to open. The moment to think about the consequences of our actions it’s now.

if the gramophone could play

2008-11-24T21:08:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 100 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 100 | 18 mm
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Martin Bormann said that films and gramophone records, music, books and buildings show clearly how vigorously a man's life and work go on after his death, whether we feel it or not, whether we are aware of the individual names or not. There is no such thing as death according to our view. For those who don’t know who he was I’ll just say that he was a notorious Nazi of his time and private secretary to Adolf Hitler. But this isn’t the point. I thought that if he could only see today how wrong it was in his view – politically and artistically. The times when things stayed for ever are long gone. Even the classics – literature, music, painting – are a click away. We are all part of the great cultural industry and popular culture.

Instead we can keep the memories, the afterglow – the feelings after reading, listening, watching. The only memories I still have with the gramophone is when I listened to records in my childhood. Oh, what happiness when listening the favorite stories.

Like it or not, the so called consumerism drives our life. Shall not drive our passions too.

Note:

Gramophone, originally known as the phonograph, electromechanical instrument for reproducing sound from a record. A record is a vinyl disc that has a spiral groove with tiny bumps on the walls of the groove; the bumps encode a musical or other type of recording. The gramophone has four principal components: the turntable, the tonearm, the stylus, and the amplifier, although an amplifier was not always incorporated into the instrument. More modern examples came to be called record players.

framed reality

2008-11-13T18:10:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 1o0 | 40 mm
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just trying some Jan-Oliver Wenzel stunt. not really the same results, but at least i have tried. just a day or two ago i put my hands on his book, "Fotofix", a great collection of photographic art, with amazing photographic puzzles. some interesting things to see and learn. for those of you who are kean to see some great black and white shoots you should check also his website. it's a must :)

worlds apart

2008-11-09T20:23:00.002Z

Nikon D80 | 1/250 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 160 | 50 mm
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I like people that are open to pose for me. Me, a complete stranger. I’m not so willing to do so in return, but this is another story. Resuming… I remember the character in this shoot very well. He was standing on the gravel in the old tower square in Sighisoara. Where else if not in Sighisoara, the place most surprising in all Romania, could you find such interesting face? I’ve noticed him, the pipe and… the neatly interior of his wide-opened backpack. He was a photographer. I smiled and he smiled right back at me and what I recall most of that moment is that, even if we didn’t have a real conversation, we understood each other perfectly because we were talking the… nikon language. Worlds apart, just a detail, same passion. Isn’t it strange how just a few seconds can create such great memories?

life in seclusion

2008-10-20T19:19:00.001+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/4000 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 1100 | 40 mm
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de curand, unul dintre cei mai noi prieteni, pentru ca recunosc ca imi place sa "colectionez" prieteni, urmasi ai acestei veri nebune in evenimente personale, isi publica cateva dintre gandurile, lineare si in versuri, pentru un grup la fel de intim de oameni, asa cum el insusi s-a exprimat...
motto timidului, dar cuceritorului volum, dezvaluie mai mult decat graieste "Yet Freedom! Yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like thunderstorm agains the wind"
mi-am propus sa redau, in masura in care voi gasi compatibilitate printre fotografiile mele, cateva dintre paginile mele preferate. multumesc lui bogdan munteanu pentru gratuitatea subinteleasa in ceea ce priveste drepturile de autor :)

provocare

si oare daca bulgari din soare in dar ti-as aduce
patrunde-va lumina ochii tai goi,
ori cu indiferenta-i vei lasa sa se stinga
in lada de gunoi...

iar dac-un fir de iarba din palmele-mi va creste
topi-va el gheata din sufletul tau rece
ori cu convingere-mi vei spune
iarna ca-ti place...

si oare daca aripi pe spatele-ti inconvoiat as prinde
zbora-vei liber intr-o zi de mai,
ori cu parere de rau te vei scuza
rau de inaltime ca ai...

si daca satul de timide-ncercari moartea-ti voi prezenta
putea-vei cu voiosie sa-i zambesti,
ori cu spaima-mi vei sopti
ca pregatit nu esti?

Bogdan Munteanu, Pur si simplu, Editura Mirton, Timisoara 2008

ponte di magdalena

2008-10-20T19:09:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 720 | 18 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/2000 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 1100 | 50 mm
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charlie chaplin's little tramp

2008-10-10T19:48:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 1600 | 62 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1600 | 90 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 1400 | 40 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 1100 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 1600 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 1600 | 52 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1600 | 135 mm
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for the real movie lovers that will know what about I'm talking...

venice, boulevard of sinking dreams

2008-10-08T08:35:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 500 | 52 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 160 | 18 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 450 | 26 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 450 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 720 | 70 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1000 | 95 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 360 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 220 | 52 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 320 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 900 | 48 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 1400 | 52 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1000 | 100 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 720 | 66 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 160 | 22 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 200 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 1600 | 48 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 500 | 18 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1600 | 70 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 900 | 80 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1250 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 560 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 360 | 44 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 450 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 280 | 20 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 360 | 40 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 320 | 44 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/2000 seconds | f 5.0 | ISO 900 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/4000 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 1600 | 22 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/4000 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 1600 | 48 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/4000 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 1100 | 44 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1400 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 720 | 66 mm
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le magnifique bicyclette

2008-10-06T20:14:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/50 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 1600 | 24 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/2500 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 1600 | 44 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 560 | 112 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/400 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 1600 | 18 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/50 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 1600 | 22 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/250 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 450 | 26 mm
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another great sunset

2008-10-06T05:55:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/3200 seconds | f 3.8 | ISO 160 | 20 mm
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summer memories

2008-10-06T05:45:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/160 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 200 | 28 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/500 seconds | f 2.5 | ISO 320 | 18 mm
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where the wild roses grow

2008-09-11T08:04:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/200 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 85 mm
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“Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lies in sweetest bud.
All men make faults.”

William Shakespeare [1564 - 1616]– english dramatist, playwright and poet

À la recherche du temps perdu

2008-09-07T08:00:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 95 mm
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am descoperit recent poezia urmatoare pe un alt blog cu profil fotografic. mi-a ramas in minte si mi-am propus sa o transmit mai departe ca atare, pentru a va trezi propriile sentimente si ganduri, nealterate de parerea mea atat de subiectiva uneori. acordati-i rabdare

Avem timp pentru toate.
Sa dormim, sa alergam in dreapta si-n stanga,
sa regretam c-am gresit si sa gresim din nou,
sa-i judecam pe altii si sa ne absolvim pe noi insine,
avem timp sa citim si sa scriem,
sa corectam ce-am scris, sa regretam ce-am scris,
avem timp sa facem proiecte si sa nu le respectam,
avem timp sa ne facem iluzii si sa rascolim prin cenusa lor mai tarziu.
Avem timp pentru ambitii si boli,
sa invinovatim destinul si amanuntele,
avem timp sa privim norii, reclamele sau un accident oarecare,
avem timp sa ne-alungam intrebarile, sa amanam raspunsurile,
avem timp sa sfaramam un vis si sa-l reinventam,
avem timp sa ne facem prieteni, sa-i pierdem,
avem timp sa primim lectii si sa le uitam dupa-aceea,
avem timp sa primim daruri si sa nu le-ntelegem.
Avem timp pentru toate.
Nu e timp doar pentru putina tandrete.
Cand sa facem si asta - murim.

Am invatat unele lucruri in viata pe care vi le impartasesc si voua
Am invatat ca nu poti face pe cineva sa te iubeasca
Tot ce poti face este sa fii o persoana iubita.
Restul ... depinde de ceilalti.
Am invatat ca oricat mi-ar pasa mie
Altora s-ar putea sa nu le pese.
Am invatat ca dureaza ani sa castigi incredere
Si ca doar in cateva secunde poti sa o pierzi
Am invatat ca nu conteaza CE ai in viata
Ci PE CINE ai.
Am invatat ca te descurci si ti-e de folos farmecul cca 15 minute
Dupa aceea, insa, ar fi bine sa stii ceva.
Am invatat ca nu trebuie sa te compari cu ceea ce pot altii mai bine sa faca
Ci cu ceea ce poti tu sa faci
Am invatat ca nu conteaza ce li se intampla oamenilor
Ci conteaza ceea ce pot eu sa fac pentru a rezolva
Am invatat ca oricum ai taia
Orice lucru are doua fete
Am invatat ca trebuie sa te desparti de cei dragi cu cuvinte calde
S-ar putea sa fie ultima oara cand ii vezi
Am invatat ca poti continua inca mult timp
Dupa ce ai spus ca nu mai poti
Am invatat ca eroi sunt cei care fac ce trebuie, cand trebuie
Indiferent de consecinte
Am invatat ca sunt oameni care te iubesc
Dar nu stiu s-o arate
Am invatat ca atunci cand sunt suparat am DREPTUL sa fiu suparat
Dar nu am dreptul sa fiu si rau
Am invatat ca prietenia adevarata continua sa existe chiar si la distanta
Iar asta este valabil si pentru iubirea adevarata
Am invatat ca, daca cineva nu te iubeste cum ai vrea tu
Nu inseamna ca nu te iubeste din tot sufletul.
Am invatat ca indiferent cat de bun iti este un prieten
Oricum te va rani din cand in cand
Iar tu trebuie sa-l ierti pentru asta.
Am invatat ca nu este intotdeauna de ajuns sa fii iertat de altii
Cateodata trebuie sa inveti sa te ierti pe tine insuti
Am invatat ca indiferent cat de mult suferi,
Lumea nu se va opri in loc pentru durerea ta.
Am invatat ca trecutul si circumstantele ti-ar putea influenta
personalitatea
Dar ca TU esti responsabil pentru ceea ce devii
Am invatat ca, daca doi oameni se cearta, nu inseamna ca nu se iubesc
Si nici faptul ca nu se cearta nu dovedeste ca se iubesc.
Am invatat ca uneori trebuie sa pui persoana pe primul loc
Si nu faptele sale
Am invatat ca doi oameni pot privi acelasi lucru
Si pot vedea ceva total diferit
Am invatat ca indiferent de consecinte
Cei care sunt cinstiti cu ei insisi ajung mai departe in viata
Am invatat ca viata iti poate fi schimbata in cateva ore
De catre oameni care nici nu te cunosc.
Am invatat ca si atunci cand crezi ca nu mai ai nimic de dat
Cand te striga un prieten vei gasi puterea de a-l ajuta.
Am invatat ca scrisul
Ca si vorbitul
Poate linisti durerile sufletesti
Am invatat ca oamenii la care tii cel mai mult
Iti sunt luati prea repede...
Am invatat ca este prea greu sa-ti dai seama
Unde sa tragi linie intre a fi amabil, a nu rani oamenii si a-ti sustine parerile.
Am invatat sa iubesc
Ca sa pot sa fiu iubit.

Octavian Paler

l’amor avec Françoise

2008-07-10T19:09:00.001+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/60 seconds | f 4.0 | ISO 320 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/60 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 40 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/10 seconds | f 3.2 | ISO 320 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/10 seconds | f 2.5 | ISO 320 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/100 seconds | f 3.5 | ISO 640 | 50 mm
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… when I arrived at the Palace Royale she was standing bashfully in a corner, looking gorgeous but so natural at the same time. I had seen her before, but never laying naked on the scene, alone, and never so close to really get to touch her. at his sign she was invited to dance with the lyrics… what a stature, what smooth skin, what silky hair and what beautiful neck… she seemed twice alive like a woman in love. but above all she was the goddess of the night. I myself, like everyone around us, was mesmerized with her worm, peaceful voice…her name is, as I was going to find out later from the lips of her lover, Françoise...

the covenant sign

2008-07-06T00:39:00.000+01:00

Nikon D60 | 1/500 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 250 | 70 mm
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"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."

Genesis 9:13-17

*picture published with compliments of Mr. Radu Ion

the sea of sunset

2008-07-06T00:03:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/4000 seconds | f 1.8 | ISO 160 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 160 | 145 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/800 seconds | f 7.1 | ISO 160 | 85 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/250 seconds | f 5.3 | ISO 100 | 58 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/1600 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 1250 | 48 mm
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This is the land the sunset washes,
These are the banks of the Yellow Sea;
Where it rose, or whither it rushes,
These are the western mystery!

Night after night her purple traffic
Strews the landing with opal bales;
Merchantmen poise upon horizons,
Dip, and vanish with fairy sails.

Emily Dickinson. Poems, Series 1. XII The Sea of Sunset

hall of pain

2008-07-02T21:56:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/15 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 38 mm
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Nikon D8o| 1/40 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 125o | 38 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/60 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 31 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/40seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 32 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/20 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1000 | 30 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/30 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 18 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/80 seconds | f 4.2 | ISO 1250 | 31 mm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nikon D80 | 1/6.0 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 1250 | 18 mm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nikon D80 | 1/25 seconds | f 4.5 | ISO 1000 | 32 mm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nikon D80 | 1/50 | f 5.6 | ISO 1000 | 31 mm
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we found the Big Synagogue (Sinagoga Mare) hidden between Ceausescu's famous communist block of flats, or, as I like it to call them, little, crowded, box of matches.. anyway, even if there's still some church activity now and then, the Big Synagogue runs like a museum in the honor of the Jewish slaughter from World War Two, slaughter that didn't avoid the Jews establish in Romania..

among the vivid lights, thousands of documents, name or unnamed corps, faces of pain and faces of evil and, I admit, also a drop of good marketing.. i saw the fallowing poetry, written by a Jewish writer that did survive the Mannheim.. though simple, her words sink deep into my conscience..

"i wish to live oh so many summers

to laugh and willingly carry my burdens.

i wish to fight, to hate, to love

to hold the sky with my bear hands, high above

and free to be, to breathe, to shout

but still I wouldn't want to die. no. no.."

* the translation may have cause some loses

a dream within a dream

2008-06-30T13:57:00.001+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/640 seconds | f 4.8 | ISO 125 | 38 mm
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 Take this kiss upon the brow!
 And, in parting from you now,
 Thus much let me avow
 You are not wrong, who deem
 That my days have been a dream:
 Yet if hope has flown away
 In a night, or in a day,
 In a vision or in none,
 Is it therefore the less gone
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
  I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep
While I weep while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is  all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

A Dream Within a Dream. 1849. Edgar Allan Poe

the cotton candy mystery

2008-06-27T13:43:00.001+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/20 seconds | f 5.6 | ISO 160 | 135 mm
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most childhood memories include reaching up to grab huge, pink swirls of cotton candy clouds at the circus or an amusement park. It brings back hot summer days, crunchy sweet candy you can only eat with your hands and of course, pink sticky faces and clothes. The smell and scent are unforgettable - often times it makes one feel a bit nostalgic. and, above all, it always remains the cotton candy mystery.

jazz manouche interlude

2008-06-25T14:31:00.000+01:00

Nikon D80 | 1/60 seconds | f/5.6 | ISO 1600 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f/5.6 | ISO 1600 | 135 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f/5.6 | ISO 1400 | 80 mm
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Nikon D50 | 1/60 seconds | f/5.6 | ISO 1000 | 50 mm
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Nikon D50 | 1/60 seconds | f/6.0 | ISO 1000 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/125 seconds | f/1.8 | ISO 1000 | 50 mm
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Nikon D80 | 1/10 seconds | f/5 | ISO 1250 | 50 mm
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on y parle de jazz manouche bien sur, à travers la guitare en particulier, mais aussi de toutes ces petites choses qui font que l'on aime cette musique. Ces pages pourront j'espère combler votre attente, que vous soyez à la recherche de quelques conseils pour débuter la guitare dans le style dit "Jazz Manouche" ou bien par curiosité car entendu ici ou là. Ce site est sans prétention aucune mais si vous repartez la tête un peu plus pleine alors ce sera très bien.

Le jazz manouche jouit d'une bonne presse depuis quelques années et d'une exposition grandissante à l'image des musiciens du style que l'on retrouve de plus en plus dans les festivals de jazz. Il suffit de le voir pointer son nez dans la chanson française pour s'en convaincre (Sanseverino par exemple) ou bien de constater le succès de formations comme Paris Combo, Les Pommes de ma Douche, Poum Tchak ou encore Les Doigts de l'Homme. Mélange de guitare acoustique et de jazz, de tradition et d'air frais, voilà peut être ce qui vous plait dans le jazz manouche.

Les raisons du succès populaire du jazz manouche sont multiples, on pourrait notamment avancer un passé riche qui repose sur les épaules d'un guitariste de légende, Django Reinhardt, mais aussi bien sur exalter les qualités intrinsèques de cette musique : attache forte aux valeurs traditionnelles, désir d'expérimentation et d'originalité, vitalité débordante...

Swing manouche, Jazz manouche, Jazz gitan...Cette musique peine à se trouver une appelation mais est ce bien le plus important? En tout cas, elle ne laisse pas indifferente.

* http://jazz.manouche.free.fr/

carnival of joy

2008-06-20T02:33:00.001+01:00

As I was wondering around the spider web streets of Sighisoara, one of the most revealing places of Romania, a loud drone of happiness bit my inner sorrow.. down the hill, with and enormous energy, were coming three little creatures of joy with yet undefined faces.. they seemed to be playing a strange game, with unwritten rules and bizarre hand sings, approaching faster that I was thinking this thoughts..
..and then.. there she was, like a rainbow in an almost sunny day..
hope that brings you the same feeling that she brought to me..

p.s. … and now, the funny side of the story.. while I was imagining the perfect shot, in slow motion, I almost lost the real one.. in that moment of confusion I said to my self that I have better chances to freeze the frameworks of the moment if I kindly came forward and speak to her. And so I asked her, in a very polite English, to pose for me.. Only God knows what was I thinking when I did that, but then it seemed to be the only way I had to stop her even just for 1/4000 second…
I was honestly frightened to lose that moment.. and then, like a divine intervention, she turned to her friends and, with a very puzzled look, asked them in the most pure Romanian language, my mother language, this: ce-o zis asta?, that stands for “what is she saying?”, in a free translation, translation that doesn’t even came close to capture the subtle irony of her genuine innocence.
Conclusion? I never got my perfect shot, this is the closest one and, as a matter of fact, the single shot taken before she fade away again in that blessed period of life called childhood

just a worries free day

2008-06-20T02:18:00.000+01:00

“The things which the child loves remain in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remaining over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves” - Kahlil Gibran [Lebanese born American philosophical Essayist, Novelist and Poet. 1883-1931]

on the road

2008-06-20T02:16:00.000+01:00

It was a lazy friday morning when I decided to bale out work and to go in an already to short weekend escapade. It was then when I took this shoot, after two hours of jolty railway road. I must confess that it wasn’t a matter of great precision, but rather a case of luck. Either way… looking at it, my mind flew away at Jack’s Kerouac novel – On the road – even if it has nothing to do with jazz or with the american culture in general. On the other hand, I share the same fascination with the idea of humanity and I wonder , just like him, what is the dynamics of my eclectic group of friends, so different characters, so turn apart by values, but still brought together by common passions.

Further more, even if my age has nothing to do with the so called “beat generation” I must admit that I find my self filled up with the same disillusion. Reading about Kerouac’s novel, some years ago, I stumbled upon an article of Clellon Holmes, a friend of the novelist, who said, among other things, one great truth “the absence of personal and social values is not a revelation shaking the ground beneath them (… or us), but a problem demanding a day-to-day solution. How to live seems to them (… us again) much more crucial than why”. Nevertheless, that’s why for me, as for Kerouac, “the only people are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles”.

.. after all this thoughts from just one simple shoot, I think I easily qualify for the category “mad ones”…

santa claus is coming... by train

2008-06-20T02:00:00.000+01:00

… I close my eyes for just one moment and I imagine that Santa Claus exists and he’s scouring the world all year long in order to check on us… have you been good or have you been bad? Sometimes I almost can hear his mawkish voice asking me… And so, in order to give my mother satisfaction – for she always believed that I was a precocious child – I thought to give Santa a short insight view of my 2008 Christmas list… there it goes (in random order):
- in first place… some brief ones (and in the same time the ones that doesn’t stay in his power): faith, health, happiness, good friends, long life for the loved ones
- second… some of my whims :)
*a big raffia sack, filled with smaller sacks with all the tea assortments he can “borrow” from carturesti book(and more)shop
*an ice cream machine
*a daydreaming day every week
*good music in every teahouse or café in Bucharest
*all the books I want from amazon.com
… mmm, and the list remains open to tomorrow’s wishes
aaa… and Santa, if I don’t ask too much… it doesn’t hurt to have a free pas to neverland :)

p.s. is it so obvious that I crave for my childhood? Lately, it’s just like a leitmotif of my thoughts, of my acts, of my writings, of every breath I take and give away and… it drives me insane, it’s insane indeed to linger upon memories that doesn’t come around anymore… be careful at your inner, deep hidden, child… I should know best

the time window

2008-06-20T01:55:00.000+01:00

. .for those who doesn't know what to choose between "up the rabbit - window" and "the time window" i recommend to flip a virtual coin

up the rabbit - window

2008-06-20T01:42:00.001+01:00

and so... “Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?' So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her”

If the action of the lewis carroll's book, “alice’s adventures in the wonderland”, would have been in Sighisoara, I’m sure that the rabbit – hole would be actually a magic window… or else, what is he dreaming about?

At the end of the story, Alice says to herself…”lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood: and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago: and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.” The end... p.s. at your choice, you can access "the time window".. it will be opened the following day.. take the leap