Beyond being totally creepy (oh, those empty eyes!) as a statue and beyond the need for some kids to get a life, I kind of admire the dedication of building this unusual snowman, the snowcarnation of Michael “the king of pop”. Maybe I should take a detour to take another photo a few days later, it wad warm and rainy, he should look disfigured and even creepier.
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Playing the Pan flute is pretty much a highlight of the local folklore (you know, titans like Zamfir) so when you encounter a Christmas concert in the park, even if the singer is pretty much a kid, what she’s playing is not bad at all (there is also a video with her solo play of O, brad frumos/O Tannenbaum).
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Yesterday, 22 December 2009 it was the 20 years anniversary of what we like to call the “revolution”, the fall of the communist dictatorship in Romania, which was violent: over 1000 people died, some fighting for freedom, some on duty, some by accident and some due to stupidity.
The celebration was lame and uneventful, proving once again we are ready to easily trade the freedom for a bit or promised “tranquillity”: a solemn session on the parliament where nobody was interested (they have those every year), some documentaries and talk shows on TV and that was about all.
Passing trough the city center, I noticed something that fired my interest: in the passage below Piața Universității (the square where many people died – tanks, guns – it much worse than Tienanmen) they had a photo gallery, open for all the people walking: photos from the last days of the dictatorship, from the revolution days and from the aftermath.
On one hand, I was jealous as a photographer, those are times when you can capture the reality and even a snapshot can become “gold” from an artistic point of view. On the other hand, people died and you don’t want people to die only to have subjects for your photos.
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You surely know Santa, that big, fat, old bearded guy, who is useless by himself, he can’t do stuff without his helpers. So I present you, close and personal, the Santa’s helpers:
Note: I pretty much messed-up this photoshot, it was so clod, my fingers almost frozen so I didn’t concentrated well enough for the best exposure… too bad, the girls deserved better.
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With this snow all over us and no handy access to some beautiful landscape out of the city, I decided for a week-end walk in the park, trying to capture the moment:
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The Christmas lights are lame this year, but is cold and the snow abundant, so a combination of the two is interesting:
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A couple of days ago Bucharest was assaulted by the first real snow of this winter and it was beautiful, like in fairy tales, with large and thick snowflakes and a bit of wind to animate them. Frustrating to be trapped in the city, at work and not free of a field for beautiful, expressive shooting of the season. Now is freezing cold…
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Back in the hot and sunny winter days I used to walk around the parks and take photos of people skating (roller skating, that’s is). Now in cold winter days, what I am supposed to to? Right! Walk around the parks and take photos of people skating (ice skating, of course). And this is not hard to to, since there are quite a few skating places in the city.
Nice enough, right? But now the question is, what you like better, summer or winter?
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I complained a few days ago about our incompetent city mayor and the late firing-up of the city lights for Christmas, the city center is a major disappointment: for the first time they are using exactly the same lights as the last year, only fewer (some were probably broken).
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Suddenly, it seems the Kiseleff Parc became fashionable this year (I guess is close to the city mayor’s house or something like that) so a big Christmas Fair is held here for the first time. And it was a first time for me, when I went into shooting mode with my new pocket video camera (is my first, so forget the amateurish style, it was a learning experience).
Of course I also used the DSLR, taking a fer snapshots:
Not that is a Romanian Christmas: plenty of food (pork), plenty of drinks (wine and țuică), lot of people.
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Failing to shoot the Christmas city lights, I had the opportunity to stumble upon another interesting thing: people in the street, protesting about the possible communist restoration in the upcoming presidential elections, against the censorship and manipulation in mass-media and fighting for freedom and future. Unfortunately I wasn’t prepared at all, had with me only the camera with normal (not fast) lenses, on-camera (not external) flash, no tripod, nothing. But bad photos are better than no photos…
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Knowing the old tradition of having the Christmas lights to be started in the city for the December 1st, I planned a shooting expedition in that evening, with the tripod, cable release and everything, but after freezing in the morning at the military parade, I didn’t feel like it, and postponed for a later day. Next day I felt bad about losing an opportunity, so after work did a short walk in the city with only the camera, no additional gear: surprise! the lights were still off, thanks to our incompetent city mayor, so my original decision wasn’t that bad.
At least the failure was not epic: I found a boulevard with some lights (not the city center, just a more civilised district with probably a better mayor) and, and this will be cubject of another post, people in the street protesting about the possible communist restoration in the upcoming presidential elections.
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What a bummer! After a couple of sunny weeks the morning of the national day, with its traditional military parade, was cloudy and misty. Bad for photography, bad for the photographer, so the photos are not much better than last year, in yet another cold, cloudy and misty winter morning. Click to enlarge.
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From the “posted elsewhere” category, with a full HOWTO of the process on my other blog. Enjoy.
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A year ago I had a beautiful experience in a warm sunny weekend with the opportunity to take some great shots of bees and chrysanthemums in my garden. This year my garden is in a much worse shape (I totally suck as a gardener) but still a nice couple of days, some flowers and a few bees… and this look like the start of a tradition.
![[chrysanthemums and bees]](https://nicubunu.ro/pictures/photoblog/img_2020.jpg)
![[chrysanthemums and bees]](https://nicubunu.ro/pictures/photoblog/img_2054.jpg)
![[chrysanthemums and bees]](https://nicubunu.ro/pictures/photoblog/img_2046.jpg)
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