5 a.m.

I finally managed to get all of the photos from the 52 frames project up on this blog, so to celebrate this is one of the photos that I took for the 'night' week: a blue city scene captured from my balcony at 5 a.m. Hope you like it!

Week 36 - Dreams and Fantasies

Getting out of the subway, on the escalator, I am suddenly painfully aware of my breathing. It has become fast and I cannot slow it down, closing my eyes doesn't help, I'm only making it worse, what happened, did I see something weird on the way here? am I having a heart attack? I feel sweaty and my heart is racing. Think! I can't do it, my heart is pounding in my chest, in my head, in my mind, where am I, I cannot concentrate on anything but this empty escalator! Was it always empty, I feel like there were other people around, where are they, something horrible is going to happen, I can feel it in every fiber of my body, and it's just me and this hazy world and the escalator... help!

Week 35 - Fire

Inside a church that has no electricity, a candle illuminates a spring that people believe will heal all ails. The spring is visible mostly because of the light reflected in the water, as the whole enclosure is rather dark. The icons on the walls are blue, and the small flame burns inside a blue ceramic receptacle, and the general mood of the place is something between mysticism and eeriness. I hope I managed to capture at least some of this...

Week 33 - Night Photography

This is the night sky over Viscri village, Romania, captured with a 30 second exposure. I shot with a very wide angle, so there is some perspective distortion but I decided to leave the photo as it is because it adds to the strangeness. I love the weird colours of the grass and house, achieved by a combination of street light with different colour temperatures. I also like the eerie shadows from the trees, I think all in all the shot is very mysterious.

Week 30 - Unusual

Not much to say this week... I liked the way the colours looked like behind these glass doors, so I waited for a person to pass and give me an eerie silhouette. What do you think?

Another Levitation

This is what happens when you have time to post process your work...

Week 13 - Levitation

This theme was difficult for me, as I was still on holiday and had limited time and options to set it up. My somewhat unoriginal idea was only made better by the zen feeling of my sister in law's living room and some help with post processing from my husband. A big thank you to everybody for the support!

PS. Note to self... next time use a tripod and manual settings!

Under Construction

The beach can be a melancholic but interesting scene this time of year

Week 1 - Self Portrait

This portrait is reflection in the window of my childhood room. Although I haven't lived in my home town for 13 years, I still return every Christmas. This year I am a first time mother - my daughter is 5 months old - so I find myself more nostalgic about my childhood than ever.

I had a different idea for my self portrait. I wanted to take a photo where I would stand still while a crowd of people would go about their way in the background. I borrowed a tripod from my sister-in-law and did a series of shots in the town centre, but I hated all of them. My pose was too stiff, or I had moved, I looked too fat, too plain, etc. 

I got home disappointed, then I remembered I had taken a selfie using the same curtain and Christmas lights some years back. I was still in college then, and that photo was more of a vanity shot, clear focus on my face and looking straight at the camera. I decided this second shot would be more fuzzy, so I shot my reflection, capturing the street outside as well. 

It is more 'me', as I feel right now: in two places at once, nostalgic about the time I was young and carefree and couldn't wait to leave home for college, but at the same time trying to embrace my 'true grownup' state now that I am a mother. 

As I give it more thought, a self portrait is also a good shot for a new year: 'forcing' us to think about ourselves, what we have achieved and what we want to achieve. Thinking about this I realize that I'm pretty happy with my life so far, and one can't ask for a better way to start the year. Here's to a great 2015 for everybody!

Ceva neclar

Neclar și dubios colorat și mișcat și amețitor și mai ales nu din Istanbul, că deja era ca o obsesie. Dar curând voi reveni la turci, sunt sigură, că mai am de sortat.

Suprapuneri

Dacă tot am ceva cu tramvaiele (vezi aici exemplu din București), am zis să nu trec prin Istanbul fără măcar o poză de gen.

De fapt, am făcut ceva mai multe poze cu acest tramvai, deci să nu vă mirați dacă mai apar pe-aici.

Coregrafii

Fiecare gest pe care-l facem pare desprins dintr-o ciudată coregrafie. Degetul care apasă butonul liftului e graţios. Piciorul pus pe scara autobuzului e un început de piruetă. Păşim pe un ritm ştiut numai de noi, ne răsucim, ne ţinem echilibrul, ne ridicăm pe vârfuri şi facem arabescuri. În fiecare zi, chiar fără să ne dăm seama...