Stair hallways

Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2019-2020
Olympus OM2n, Kodak Portra 100 & Fuji C200

Two shots that I took in 2015 shortly after my returning from Berlin. I went to Bucharest to pick up my bachelor license from the University and while doing this I visited the city where I lived for 4 years.

It was May-June and I met Crina, an old friend and colleague from the University. She studied ceramics and had her atelier and home in this eastern neighborhood, close to the exit on the highway to the Black Sea. I really should visit Bucharest more often, I think to myself now when because of a virus outbreak that went pandemic I cannot even go out for a walk in the park.

I took these two shots at a wide aperture, one with the focus on the poppies, the other with the focus on the buildings from the background, just because I didn't knew exactly which one would I like better. So here is a GIF with both of them.

Kodak Ektar, Pentax Spotmatic F, Bucharest, 2015

A nice surprise with this film, it aged beautifully. Actually just these 3 frames from a Fuji Superia 800 that I shot in 2016 and re-scanned a few weeks ago, transformed into something unexpected. I don't know exactly why, but at this point it doesn't even really matter, only if I would like to try and replicate the effect. Which I might want.

What happened is that the colors metamorphosed and the emulsion looks like burned from place to place, so the images are becoming dreamy and fairy-like-milky. Which is even more surprising since the days when I shot these images were by themselves different, either covered in a thick fog or nicely contoured by the mellow sun of autumn, but anyway both wrapped in mystery. So it's all a nice big coincidence, but so is the Universe.

Shot on Fuji Superia 800, Olympus Mju

Călimănești, Căciulata & Viscri, Romania, 2016

Cluj-Napoca
February 2020

Portra 400
Olympus OM2n

From the archive

I rescanned all my negatives, since most of the scans got lost throughout the years on different hard drives. This is how I found these images on a Kodak Profoto 100 from 2006. It was my everyday film back then, cheap and easy to find. Here, from the balcony of my parent's flat, I was trying to catch the lightnings on a summer storm. I was unsuccessful, and I immediately rejected these images, considering them worthless.

However, seeing this archaic version of my hometown, with empty streets and the old facade of this communist shopping center (just take a look at the design of those lightning poles!!), I feel the necessity of making sure that I save these shots, as I understand now that the place has changed allot in less then 15 years since that rainy afternoon.

So here is a GIF with 7 frames.

Postcards from Berlin ll

   Berlin, October 2019. I lived here between 2011 and 2015 and it definitely shaped my way of being. After so many years and I still have - to my surprise, dreams where I find myself still living there. This didn't happened when I left home at 18, nor when I left Bucharest after 4 years. Berlin has a special place in my heart, its memory is vivid and complex, as I can still remember the smell of burned coal and coffee floating over the streets of Neukölln.

    This is a series through which I am looking to somehow recreate these memories into images. In the same way that Mr. Bean was sending greeting cards on Christmas to himself, in the same way I will revisit the city from time to time and create my own postcards as souvenirs. You can find the original post here.

 Pentax Spotmatic F on Portra 160.

harvest (II)

Last year I decided to start "Harvest", a series of images about autumn, ripe garden stuff and reconnecting with the family. This year I haven't got so many pictures, but I would still say that the year was good.

I will see where this takes me from here.

The last image however is from a village which I sometimes pass through, on my way to my hometown, a journey that is roughly 400 km. 

I first noticed the place last spring on my way back. I was speeding, and before deciding to stop and take a picture, I convinced myself that I am actually in a hurry, that the journey is already long and there is no time to do it. I actually find myself often in this situation where I see something but at the slightest inconvenience I begin to persuade myself that maybe that's not the "perfect time" to shoot.

So I drove through, but somehow the writing font and the meaning (something that I actually don't know how to translate without loosing it's substance) got stuck on my mind.

After a few months I took the same route and stayed alert. It was a late Saturday afternoon. People from the village were enjoying a drink or probably more. I got out of the car, I bought a Cola from the shop and snapped a few shots. It was a quiet, warm September evening and the people sitting in front of the shop were not speaking, just calmly observing me. 

I wished them a good day and went back to my car.

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Pentax Spotmatic F

Super Takumar 1.8/55

Fujicolor C200

Romania, 2019

every weekend go somewhere

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Romania & Bulgaria, 2019
Kodak Portra 160, Olympus OM2n, Zuyko 50mm

a trip with revue 400se (I)

Last winter I was looking for a camera to use when traveling, something lighter than an SLR, but that can still be used in manual mode. So I remembered the Revue 400se I had on the shelf.  I bought it about 10 years ago mostly because I liked the look of it, shot 2 films and I must confess, kind of abandoned it shortly after.

So took it off the shelf, clean the thick layer of dust on top of it, clean the lens, and decided to try to finish the roll was inside of it. Which was actually a bad idea, because the film was stuck inside the roll, the camera gear sprockets broke the film, so I was actually shooting blank.

Even though I noticed that the little yellow spot inside the viewfinder that is used to focus was acting a bit weird, once again I ignored the signs, loaded a roll of Kodak Tmax 400, and over the course of one month or so, used it every time I got out of the city. In this time I visited friends and family in different places of the country, so it was easy to find interesting things to shoot.

Of course that shortly after the first roll, the little camera started to make weird sounds when loading the film. It was only then that I decided to give it a CLA (clean/lubricate/adjust). Now I would strongly advise that before using an old camera that was sitting on the shelf for a while, take it for a CLA.

Anyway I was nicely impressed with the Revue 400SE. It has few strengths such as the size, the weight, the silent leaf shutter that also prevents the camera from vibrating when using longer exposure times. This will allow you to shoot from hand with 1/8, even 1/4 and still get a clear image. The lens is good and it seems to me that it has a certain softness that I actually enjoy. The focusing race is really short, this allowing one to focus quite fast.

Because a rangefinder - it is not so easy to frame, but also not a big problem. The view however it is quite foggy and not really enjoyable. The loading mechanism feels like plastic, which I believe it's made of.

All in all it is was fun to use, and because of the size and the leaf shutter easier than an SLR. Also, winter is coming again, so I decided to make a stock of b&w film and be prepared for monochrome stories. Kodak TMax looks nice but since everybody praises the Ilford HP5 I decided to check it out.

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Romania, Ianuary 2019
Revue 400SE
Kodak TMAX 400

new in town

    I'm in a new city for a while already. I was a visitor many years ago, and I can see how it changed.
     I like changing places I guess, it gives me the feeling of new possibilities, changing perspective, and a taste of traveling.

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     Olympus OM 2n, Zuiko 50 f1.8, Kodak portra 160, Fujifilm C200, Cluj-Napoca, April-May 2019

ber-cj

      In 2014 (if I am not wrong), while wondering the streets of Berlin, I found a film case on a bench. I was almost sure it has already been exposed, yet I decided to grab it and figure it out later what am I going to do about it. 

      

      So I kept it for a while and then totally forgot about it, then found it again and decided to shoot it anyway. If unused, my luck, if not, we will see the results. So I loaded it up into my Pentax Spotmatic F and this time went to wonder the streets of Cluj-Napoca, taking random shots.

     I don't know who exposed the roll in the first place, I only know that my shots were pretty dull, and from what I have seen as well hers / his, but the results are something at least intriguing. Therefore if you know you lost a roll of film in Berlin and also recognize the pictures, then I'm sorry for ruining your film but then again, you shouldn't have lost it in the first place.

   Berlin - Cluj, 2014/2018

   Pentax Spotmatic F

   Asahi Takumar 55/1.8