Monday, September 30, 2013

Sinaia reloaded: Vertigo and the lost Milka

I know that it took me too long to post new photos and that September in general has been a bit lazy, but the last days I was working heavily on creating two videos about the events in Domeniul Greaca (see previous posts).

The second day in Sinaia we decided to go high on the mountain and take the telegondola to take us even higher and see the world from 1400 meters. The telegondola (or teleferic) is that little box which travels upwards or downwards on a line. It's like those creepy chairs that the skiers use to go to the top, only that it's closed and it feels safer. Although still scary! But it was a huge relief to find it and finally sit after all this walking upwards. From around 500 meters that is the altitude of Sinaia, we walked to 1000 meters, following the road which is made for the cars. Long story short, it was quite tiring.

So, this is the line, this is the little pink box and I admit that it feels a bit creepy at first. Until you get down. Then you feel great again.
Of course, if you want to go back down, the fastest way is the little pink box again. By the way, do you see the tiny houses? That is Sinaia. We walked from there until the beginning of the line. Upwards. I assure you, it's a lot. And we are in bad shape. This counts too.
After we returned down and while we were waiting for the mini bus to return to town, I saw this. They have various tools for bicycles there and apparently many bikers use the telegondolas to go to 1400 meters and explore the mountain with their bikes.
But my inexcusable eyes, slaves to my stomach which has most of my brain cells, fell on these delicious 535 calories. Someone had left them there. To tempt me? To confuse me? To tease me? Maybe they just forgot it there. Anyway, I did my duty. Click on it, so that you can see it better. Go ahead, click on the photo of the purple beauty. You will see it bigger. Probably you will feel the need to go and buy one. It will be my fault. I have no regrets for that.
So, we took the mini bus. But we went to the Peleș museum. It was a house of Nicolae Ceaușescu who, as every dictator who respects (only) himself, thought that it was fair for him to have many nice things but the rest of the people not.
Of course, like many dictators, he didn't have a very nice end. Even though I was very little in 1989 when the revolution took place and the dictator with his wife were executed via a firing squad in live broadcast, I still remember intensely the feelings of these days.
Now Peleș is a museum and there were many visitors, even from the USA. The old days are a bad memory (shown in black and white) and the sky around the place is blue.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A little trip to Sinaia

Today we took the train and after about 120 km, we arrived at Sinaia, on the mountains of Romania. It's a beautiful small touristic town and, even it it's quite colder than Bucharest, it's still very nice. Let's see what the first day had to offer us.

Mountains everywhere, yes. An interesting view of the boulevard Carol I.
As usual, editing helps the photo look even better.
This looks more like something from a temple, but I think it is a house. In any case, I wanted to take a photo of it!
Look at this. Very nice image. Lots of green everywhere. And interesting houses, built with their roofs inclining in order to not keep lots of snow, I think. It snows a lot around here and a flat roof could be damaged under the weight of too much snow.
Nice landscapes, but this is my favourite photo for today. These four siblings were receiving the travellers outside the train station, on the stairs that lead to the boulevard Carol I. So squeezable that it hurts! Look at these faces!
Look how they are posing! I give you my word, I didn't touch them! They sat like this by themselves! I wanted to stay there and play with them for the rest of the day!
You know how there are dog persons and cat persons, based on which animal they like more? I think I'm both. But for today, with those faces, I am a dog person!

Monday, September 23, 2013

More from EFUCA executive board

I took more than 1200 photos these four days. About one out of six or seven is quite good, which means that we have more than 100 good photos to show! Another four of them are presented here, today.

The mornings had a lot of presentations and discussions by individuals who are active members of a world community, trying hard to improve the lives of people everywhere.
This is from the first evening, the arrival.
In front of the entrance of Domeniul Greaca. A nice view behind us. In front of me, actually, since I was behind the camera, but you get my point.
The night photos gave me the opportunity to capture beautiful colours and very interesting light effects. Behind there is a fire and the lines are little sparks and the movement as it was captured in the 2 second exposure. I tortured many people forcing them to stay still for 2 seconds. It's much harder than it sounds. Personally, I didn't manage to stay still in my photos!

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Executive board EFUCA, Greaca, September 2013

So, From 18 to 22 of September, we were in the exceptional Domeniul Greaca hotel, in the deep south or Romania (5 km from the borders with Bulgaria) for the executive board of the European Federation of UNESCO Clubs and Associations. Important decisions were taken and the next meeting will take place in March 2014 in New York.

I had the chance to take more than 1200 photos in these days, some of them I will present you right here, right now. It was a great experience with some great people and I'm looking forward to the next meeting. To the photos now!

The weather was nice and we had the chance to capture many nice moments. Here, you can see myself as well, right after I used the remote controller. Good that I had it with me, otherwise I wouldn't be in any photos!
I think that this is my absolute favourite. Everyone is smiling or laughing after my request to say "cheese"in their respective native languages. So, you could hear "queso", "brânză", "τυρί", "formaggio", etc. I was a fun moment.
This was from the last evening, after all the thanks were given to everyone who helped for this event to take place.
The evening of a tiring day is finding us all smiling.
Remember to click on the photos in order to see them larger!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

In the countryside in Romania

These days we are in Greaca, around 65km far from Bucharest, Romania, for a UNESCO action. I've had the chance to take a few hundred photos and I'm glad to present you three of them here, tonight (it's almost midnight in Romania at the time I started writing this).

Impressive colours, even with absolutely no editing. Many photos on the hill of the hotel Domeniul Greaca where we are guests, have this kind of beauty, thanks to the sun's contribution.
And this is what happens after a bit of editing. My little struggling netbook did very well and didn't get stuck in the process! Go ahead, click on the photo to see the slideshow. Come on, do I have to remind you every time?
I did pat myself on the back for this one. "Nice job, dude", I told me before stretching a bit, because patting yourself on the back is a bit hard. It needs flexibility.
What happened here? Just some editing happened. Editing takes a great photo and makes it even better. Check the intensity of the colours. I like this one very much, in case it wasn't undestood.
This is at the entrance of Lumina university, in Bucharest. These tiny boxes with the balconies that are closed and have become another room, are something very common in Bucharest.
Say what you want, but I prefer to live in these boxes in the city than in the countryside.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

A rainy day at Trocadero (Eiffel Tower special)

So, today I found myself at Trocadero for a photo shoot that didn't last much but it gave us some quality photos. I got there a bit early, so I took advantage of my time and I got some photos. You know how people go to the Eiffel Tower and take photos mainly of the Eiffel Tower? So did I, but I took some other aspects of the area, which I will prefer to give you today. Behold:

I'm ashamed to admit that I have no idea about the protest that took place today at Trocadero. There were many people and some bikers from all around Europe.
On the background, the base of the Eiffel Tower. You may recognize this area from many photos taken by tourists.
Here you can see some people on the second level. Or not? Some times I think that this blog doesn't exactly provide a lot of information, does it?
I know that you cannot see any details here, but you may click on the photos and see them bigger on a slideshow.
So, everywhere exist barbarians that show no respect to monuments. This is a great example.
As you can see, in the previous photo the Eiffel Tower is imitating the one of Pisa. So, I had to do some cropping and bring it back straight. As a phallic symbol should be.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Stains

I think that I've made it pretty clear that I hate any kind of weather that is not summer. Being able to walk in the streets wearing just a T-shirt is one of the simple things that I enjoy very much. And stupid September is here to take it away. At least in Paris. So many nice things in this city, why the weather has to be like that? Anyway, today I took a few rainy photos today.

This is the photo that gives the title to this post. Notice how the rain drops look like stains.
A click on the photo will show you more details. 27 mm, f./4, ISO 800, 1/800 sec. That's why we can see the drops as drops instead of lines.
This is the banister on the balcony. Little round drops float on the surface of the water.
Here you can see it bigger and with better lighting maybe. Although even the 1/500 sec is not enough to catch the detail correctly.
With 1/60 sec, we can see clearly the raindrops as lines.
By the way, that thing on the right corner is not a heart. Oh, now you cannot unsee it, can you? Well, it could be a very ironic one. According to the weather. Something like 'I '<3' rain!!!!!11!!'
And here, the same photo, in a more miserable editing. With lots of contrast. And sorrow.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Spiders! (+video)

So, while yesterday and today I was working on my first photo shoot (more on that soon) and I wasn't planning to post something, I took out the garbage (it wasn't my initiative but I have a tendency not to take such initiatives and someone had to) and I saw them there. I couldn't miss the chance. I went back upstairs and took the camera. They were still there, waiting for me. Or maybe they were just there because they wanted to, who knows?

In any case, here they are. Beautiful!

Too bad that I couldn't take their front sides without entering the garden, which is kind of prohibited.
Editing! Colours! Watermark! Check the web! DSLR photography is awesome!
This is another one. The photo was a bit underexposed, because I was experimenting in manual mode, trying to make the spider visible on camera.
But I made it. These photos of spiders and insects in general are very popular and I can see why. They are impressive. Click on the photos for the slideshow. 
The first spider from a different angle. Just awesome.
And the editing, of course. Great things, I'm telling you.
And, especially for today, a video! This will show you how a spider can become actually invisible in front of the lens, unless there are some manual changes. You can forget autofocus here!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Zoo reloaded VIII - Vultures edition

Summer has ended, at least on the calendar. The fall is here and, like a vulture, is trying to feed its sickly body with the flesh a still moving summer, celebrating its temporary victory. Well, fuck fall, fuck winter. They'll come and they go again. Like always. But, seriously, fuck them.

Vultures today, my friends. These majestic creatures that symbolize death in a way. The beauty of those magnificent birds against the ugliness of autumn and winter. Once again, fuck autumn and fuck winter. Off we go with the photos.

They get well fed every day. And they share their lunch with swallows mostly, that can enter the cages. The pigeons are a bit too big to pass through.
Check this face better. Under this strange orange thing that looks like a leather towel, you can hear it whispering "death..." Come on closer. Don't be afraid. It won't bite...
A white one. Doesn't look like a vulture in the way we are used to, but believe me, it is.
See it better and edited. You find his haircut funny? I hope that you'll be laughing when its beak is searching through your warm flesh for edible pieces.
Look at those black eyes. This stare. This one will suck out your soul as a first plate before showing you the hard way that, no matter who or what you are, you can still become a delicious vulture meal.
And it won't wait for you to die before starting, no. Vultures don't like to eat alone.