Month: July 2009

A (short) break

So far the image hosting on this blog was provided by flickr which I still consider from a technical point of view the best gallery software available. But with the recent deal about the Yahoo and Microsoft partnership and my solid stance to not give any money to the evil empire at Microsoft (either directly or indirectly), I will take a break from posting any new photo on flickr and think about the possible way forward.

As an unfortunate consequence, wile I am not sure about the hosting solution I will have to take a break from blogging photos too. It may take a while, the deal was expected for quite a while and for a long time I searched for a replacement with no success.


Honeysuckle …or someone’s hand :D

After an indirect challenge from Alex I just had to take my own photos of this flower (it was helpful there is a bush hanging on the fence of my garden). And while Alex is remembering the very sweet water drops you can find inside this flower, for me the smell is perhaps what I remember the best.

Honeysuckle

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Sitting like a fly on the… fence

A warm, sunny summer morning… the fly is a being too, with full rights to enjoy the sun.

Fly under the sun

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Bucharest at the golden hour

Lifting a quote straight from Wikipedia:

"In photography, the golden hour (sometimes known as magic hour, especially in cinematography) is the first and last hour of sunlight during the day, when a specific photographic effect is achieved with the quality of the light."

As I stumbled around the city center around the golden hour a couple of days ago, I just had to take a few shots in that magic light:

Summer in the city Summer in the city

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….mmmmm, pizza! Hot pizza!

Pizza Diavolla with extra mozzarella and extra pepperoni, hot sauce and a cold beer on the side. Heaven (pun intended).

My lunch today: Pizza Diavolla

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Enache

My bad joke is like: if her name is not Enache already, it should be. Laptaria lu’ Enache. Sorry, but I think she its impressive and I believe all natural. +1.

I tried hard to get the best shot, so hard that in the end I got noticed, which reduced the "candid" impact. So is life… too many people crossing the road, not enough chanced for a clear shot.

Summer in the city

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Summer in the city

I always hated the megalomaniacal constructions in the center of the city at Piața Unirii, I think they are an ugly remaining of the dreaded communist era and are making Bucharest uglier.

Summer in the city

But passing there is a torrid summer day the large number of fountains in the middle of the crammed traffic is somewhat refreshing.

Summer in the city

And I find even more refreshing the life around those fountains, both beasts and people are enjoying the water.

Summer in the city Summer in the city

I think the dog puts in perspective the "dog day" expression and also I envy his his freedom.

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Under the bridge

A loot of my candid shots are taken on a certain bridge in the Herastrau Park (a favorite spot), just like the one below: either with people passing by or looking down at the boats below. But there is also an ugly side: last Sunday, don’t know how, I had my lens hood falling in the water… I don’t know to swim and even so, I would not swim in that water, so it lost… time to buy another one!

Park candids

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Dealing with the wind… close, but no cigar

A reader of my photography blog may already know I am trying to master the wind, with a various degree of success. Last week-end I was so close… but still no cigar.

Park candids Park candids

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Dead fish floating

Many times I talked about the beautiful parks in the city, but there is also an ugly side you don’t want to talk about very often…

Dead fish floating

And think there are people who bathe in that water…

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Firefox 3.5 release party and photos

So you are doing community stuff, being a speaker and helping with the organisation of a FLOSS event like the Firefox 3.5 Release Party, but at the same time you are a photographer, carrying the camera with you and shooting at every opportunity you get. The obvious result: some semi-candid cute environmental portraits.

FF 3.5 Release Party: the people FF 3.5 Release Party: the people

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Mmmm… apricots… tasty!

Back when I was a kid there used to be a lot of apricots around, so many my family used to to jam of them, now to get some I had to go to the market place and buy. However, this is their season, they are affordable and tasty.

Delicious apricot

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The firebug and the chicory flower

Morning after morning I pass near that shaded chicory flower and wonder about taking a better shot, but today it was a little different: a firebug (Romanian: Vaca Domnului) was walking around, offering me the opportunity for a different take (yeah, in the backgrounds are blue chicory flowers and the fence is making difficult for me to shot them).

Firebug on the fence

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A bug’s life

On the look for the snail remake, I got one day unexpected help from a street dog: he was barking at the dirt, which made me look closely and notice his "enemy", this ugly bug.

Bug

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Snail remake

Another remake for photos lost in the same accident, this time for the snails photoshot, which was somewhat easier: there are plenty of snails after a rainy night, you only need to find a way and re-capture the original enthusiasm for the shot. And that is hard.

Snail

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