Disco at sub-zero level: Nuage

More from the Christmas set: the Nuage disco band singing at sub-zero temperature at Piata Unirii in Bucharest. Probably not the best place and time for their music, but I guess that place and time were not very good for any kind of music (unless you visited, like me, a nearby stand for a big glass of hot boiled wine):





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Toys (Epic Battle)

You can have an epic battle, an ample fight of mythical proportions, two ways: as Good versus Evil or as Evil versus Good. Set the mood with focus, characters, colors and lights. But in the end it is just a play with the toys.





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Another Christmas try

After a couple of failures I tried another photoshoot. Being closer to the Christmas, this time the event was better organized, the place more crowded and this time the weather was friendlier with the photographer.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Books

"Digital Photography", volumes 1 and 2 in a boxed set, my latest purchase purchase: at the first sight, those books look good for beginners (I consider myself a beginner) they are a collection of tips, one on each page, illustrated with useful photos. And I think the price was good, 26.99$ plus transport (another 8$).



And this is a good recipe to make people happy: when I made the purchase on Amazon, the estimated delivery was 24 December, the next day when I received the shipping confirmation, the estimate moved to 29 December. I received the package on 15 December so I am happy (and very positive towards the postal service, which I used to curse at other times).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Cristmas Lights

A week ago, returning from the urban offroad shooting, I spend some time in the city shooting the newly installed Christmas city lights. I have not insisted very much, as I planned another, more focused, session.



So this week-end, despite the completely adverse weather (cold rain, cold wind blowing), I decided to get out and try something. I was unsuccessful, you can't to good photos with water on your lenses.



Maybe next week-end I will have more luck, until then the city administration may even have some time to get the decorations better.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Store them all...

When shooting a lot of photos and finding hard to delete to much, you quickly build a massive amount and your drive fills up, so you have to increase the storage. This is what I did, by purchasing an external hard drive (USB), an Western Digital My Book Essential, which seems works very well on my Fedora desktop. The DVDs and the usb thumb drive are included in the photo for size comparison.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Fingerless cimbalom (țambal) player in the tram

A night photo made with the on-camera flash on a moving tram is nothing you can be proud of but I found the idea powerful. And the way he hold the sticks...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Urban offroad

A marketing gimmick from Ursus to launch a crappy alcohol free beer (thus the "Alcohol Free Track" name) was to organize a so-called "Urban offroad" competition... I guess the miserable Bucharest it perfect for the job.

It had some acrobatic demos on bikes, the main event, the car competition, prizes, girls and at the end a Parazitii concert (very few photos from the concert as it is hip-hop so I left early).









This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

No longer a Pro or FY MS or FY flickr

My "Pro" account of flickr just expired, it was not bough by me but a gift. I used it intensely and liked, now I am back at the basic level and missing a lot of the features. At about 25$ is not a big deal, I could easily renew it but I don't want that: there are a lot of news everywhere about Yahoo willing to sell to Microsoft and Microsoft willing to buy Yahoo, I don't endorse such a deal, I don't want to give any of my money directly or indirectly to Microsoft and I don't want my photos to end in Microsoft's yard - I consider Microsoft the worst thing that happened to the computing industry.

Currently I am looking for a self hosted solution (advices appreciated), to run my own gallery, on my own hosting under my own domain, integrated with my other websites. I will keep my flickr account and using it until the deal with MS is closed since I have a lot of friends there and want to stay in touch with them.

What can I say more? Shame on you flickr, shame on you Yahoo: in little more than 3 months I was a "Pro" I brought you a 6 digits number of page views, if you can't monetize that, maybe you deserve this faith.

Fashion Show

A Luxury Show is a big event, including a lot of activities, from classical presentation of luxury products to bikini action and to fashion shows. So I used the opportunity and shoot the fashion show.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Blonde + Bikini + Hot Tub = Photoshot

Such thing just happens: you are at a Luxury Show shooting the preparations for a fashion show when you see right behind you a gorgeous blonde wearing a small bikini in a hot tub. Of course you turn around and start clicking on your camera...

Update: some 3 years later, I revisited one pic from this set and experienced with new photo editing.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Luxury Show in Bucharest

The admission price is a bit high at 60 RON, but overall I think those were well spent money, it was a great opportunity for some nice photos, mostly portraits (but there are more coming)







PS: there are more things coming from that event.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Sweets for everybody

Last wee-end, at the "Dulciuri pentru toti" ("Sweets for everybody") fair in Bucharest, is worse than porn: more addictive, triggering an instantaneous body reaction (mouth watering, hunger) and politically incorrect (for diabetic people). But is fun, enjoy.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

December 1st: Military Parade

I do not like at all the military parades and this isn't because I am a huge pacifist (I am not) or because I am ashamed by "our" army being and invasion force in various parts of the world (I am ashamed by that), my big problem is they are a fakery. I served in the army back when the military service used to be compulsory and I saw the real truth: the Romanian army is not something glorious, to be proud of... al those parades are just a show.

But I went anyway (for the first time in my life), trying to catch some photos. And there were a lot of goodies: shiny military uniforms, tanks and cavalry. And girls in military uniforms (probably also fakes, secretaries clothed in uniforms and displayed for the show).










This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Fedora 10 Release Party

As announced on my main blog, we had yesterday a Fedora release party in Bucharest. Of course the photos I took the are nothing close to art, but it is fun (ALL the editing of my photos is made under Linux).



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Half-winter sunset at the lake

Not very happy with the photo session at the Gaudeamus book fair, I tried to "save" the fay: only a few steps away is the Herăstrău Park, the place where I took most of my nature shots.

It was very cold, last days of November with a weather just like snow-less winter so the place looked deserted, a lot of crows, dead leaves, few people and a drowned lake. And the sunset photos are taken from the opposite direction, with the sun on my back: the horizon was covered by trees and buildings and I had to use a reflection.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Notes

What to do when you encounter a corkboard full of post-it notes pinned to it? Take out your camera and get some photos, of course. This has interesting stock photography potential.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

By the book

Trying to take some photos at the "Gaudeamus" book fair is not an easy task: the place was crowded with no much room for the photographer and the interesting stands were lighted poorly, so you don't have much success with telephoto lenses either. I am not that happy with the session.







This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.