Freezing cold

At -9°C is way far from the worst keen frost I saw, but believe me, is a really cold morning in this end-of-year day, witness the ice powder on those trees. I want, no, I need warmth. Now.

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From Santa with love...

I found this old picture made with a crappy camera... I may not look exactly like it now, but that's how I feel inside, so here is a season greetings from the Evil Santa: "choke on your Festivus, have a bloody Xmas and a fucking New Year!"


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Misery

It was about the time for me to choose the next week topic for Project 9449, so I started developing ideas, the first of them was "Misery", then "Season of Joy" and a few others, but then I got a better one (to be announced at the right time). Since I had "Misery" on a corner of my mind and also a potential implementation for it, when I saw the opportunity on the street I shoot it. It also helped those days I feel myself a lot like this hobo...

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Love/Hate64

I have solid reasons to hate F64 but at the same time I must continue doing business with them, since on many photography areas they are the only source in town (there are a few other smaller stores with good goods, but not everything you need), so yesterday I had to give them a visit for a few of accessories (filters, belt, adapter). It was a nice surprise to receive, as any other customer, a small Christmas gift some small trinkets: stickers, odorizer, strap and ginger bread. Know what? I am stupid enough that my first thought was at someone else who would have been even more happier with such a gift...

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Mici and bere at Curtea Berarilor

For a while we practically moved the headquarter of the FLOSS meetings at Curtea Berarilor (Brewer's Court) in Bucharest and since then I wanted to take a photo with their most popular (and a modern Romanian tradition) menu: mici, fries, mustard, pickles and, of course, plenty of beer. Every time people were hungry and I missed the opportunity. Until now...

Or in other words: I am Mitica :)

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Fairy tale fabric

This is the stuff the fairy tales are made of:

And looking closely you can see its crystalline texture:

To bad life is not a fairy tale...

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E.M.M.A., Santa, and the Ghost Nicu

Sunday I participated with Organizatia E.M.M.A. as a photographer to a charity action, where a group of people from this NGO donated all kings of things, from food to toys and sweets to a children center. It was an opportunity for we to depart from my glamour or depressive styles and try something more like photojournalism.

Still... I am not myself much than a little kid in a huge (and hairy) body, so from the normal photographer - subject interaction, it was not far to get into full play, we could resonate. They were in need for affection, happy to get it and to give back when receiving. Pretty much like me. And all of us cursed in the end.

The photo above is, obviously, not made by me, so credit where it's due, it was "stolen" from Bogdan's gallery.

I am again in the sucky world, so didn't have the energy to go in-depth with photo processing and publishing, so for now here is just a big photo dump from the event.

The season of what?

The season of joy? Yes, it came, the city lights were turned on a couple of days ago. However... don't expect much joy this Christmas... it definitely be a lonely one.



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Inertia + Glass = ...

These days I am so low, that I continue to exist and function mostly from inertia... and how the plan to buy some new glass was made long ago, when I had the money for it I followed the inertia and got it. At a focal range of 11-16 mm, it is something one would call ultra-wide and all can say is the world seen trough it is different.

Still, people who know me know my interest in cold buildings or landscapes (strong points for such a camera) is limited, my heart is to photos with people and it will allow for interesting effects, like perspective deformation, impossibly long legs, shooting someone head-to-toes from maybe 1 meter away and such so obviously need to play with it. The problem is... right now I don't want to be around people, except one single, special person, who do everything to keep me away. Inertia got me stuck to a wall.

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The season of joy

The city administration is preparing for the winter holidays, I can only look with a bitter smile, looking forward to what I expect to be, from a personal point of view, a strong candidate for the saddest season ever.

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Last rose? Yes.

It was an incredibly warm November so far (it won't last, according with he forecast) so I had a last opportunity for a sunny morning with a lone rose in my garden.

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9449 kilometers

My friend talked me into joining this project called 9449 kilometers (the title is the distance from Caracas, Venezuela to Bucharest, Romania) where we choose a topic, take each other a photo and put the results side by side. We just started the project, last week the topic was "office supplies" (but we evolved it in "notes"), this week was "stairs", next week is supposed to be "alone" and so forth. Enjoy.

Vengeance? I'll pass

I am not a religious person but if I was I could easily categorize this as divine justice or such... back when a clueless manager had one video I made at a weddings fair removed from YouTube, not realising this is publicity for him and his artists, my only reaction was to complain on my photography blog and stop posting pictures with his starlets.

Well, the faith turned and pretty much by accident I managed to snap by chance a really embarrassing picture from an on-stage performance. I half-smile observing the "divine justice" and process to doing nothing. I won't give them any publicity. And I don't feel the need for vengeance on those people.

Of bees and flowers

The last breath of the flowers, I had the opportunity to capture some classic close-ups with bees, which was a good opportunity, a first test of the macro capabilities of my new lens.

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Tufanele/Crizanteme = Chrysanthemums

In some parts of the country they call those "tufănele" (especially when the flowers are smaller), the dictionary says "crizanteme", English is "Chrysanthemums" and in the last few autumns I made a habit to capture a few pictures from my garden. It seems however this will be the last year, the poor flowers are rarer and rarer, dying due to my lack of attention. I have moments of shame for that.



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Gratuitous Hugs

It looks like a favorite sport of many participants at this year's Nijikon was giving hugs for free, this made me remember about the hugs I wanted to offer and were denied... because they here not gratuitous.



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New glass, so what? Too little, too late. Miss the blue.

I lost faith on many things those days, including in ever getting F64 to ever fix my lens, so in the end I followed my my friend's advice and bought a new, better lens - even if I still disagree with her, you can't buy happiness with money... well, unless is an enormous sum, like 1,000,000€ or such...

And if you know me, you know I'm following the principle "or la bal or la spital" (translation from Romanian: "either at the dance, or at the hospital") so I went for f/2.8 and a weight that will break my back. Middle way is not an option.

My biggest regret is losing the opportunity to use this gear to capture one of the most beautiful blue eyes I ever saw, every time my gear was incomplete, I missed the opportunity and tried to do the best with what I had available. Not what I wanted. I am sorry.

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My world

My friend asked for a series of photos showing my world, true and real, just as it is, with ugly parts and beautiful parts. So I am doing it.

As you can see, now the world is sad, dark, dirty and lacking any hope. Welcome to the reality.

To complete the mood, let me share a poem written by one famous Romanian artist:

Lacustine
by George Bacovia

So many nights I've heard the rain,
Have heard matter weeping ...
I am alone, my mind is drawn
Towards lacustrine dwellings.

As though I slept on wet boards,
A wave will slap me in the back -
I start from sleep, and it seems
I haven't drawn the bridge from the bank.

A void of history extends,
I find myself in the same times ...
And sense how through so much rain
The heavy timber stilts are tumbling.

So many nights I've heard the rain,
Always starting, always waiting ...
I am alone, my mind is drawn
Towards lacustrine dwellings ...

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Stupid stuff from keyord searches

My lens is still broken, I am still broken, I can't do productive stuff, have to wait and see. But since someone lured me into that, and I need to pass some time, I'll go to the classic posting of funny keyword searches that made people visit my blog (together with my smart-ass comments), maybe this will bring a smile to the face of one or two persons. Have fun.

The Bridal Department

• bride panties - I swear, I don't know anything about that :)
• bride with no panties photos - hmmm.... we can start talking...
• brides show their panties - where? let me bring the camera...
• the bride erotic - lucky you?
• drunk mariaj - don't do that! just don't.

The Panties Department

• are you looking at my knickers - I don't know, should I?
• are you looking at my panties - can't deny nor acknowledge.
• do you want to look at my panties - thanks for the invitation.
• i want to show you my panties - I can't disappoint a lady, sure.
• he was looking at my panties - she complains now?
• my man in my panties photos - i have a feeling that may hurt...

The Beauty Department

• perfect 10 blonde blue eyes 33 - yes please.
• show me girls close eyes photo - someone got my weakness...
• beautiful contact lenses - if you ask me, naturals are better.

The Me Department

• model from hell - i don't do that often, but from time to time people do use me as a model

The Naughty Department

• a picture of a girl not wearing any clothes - again, yes please.
• ero shou - leanr to spell.
• hookers in bucharest - maybe at the above mentioned "shou"?
• where to find a girl in cluj - last time I visited the city of Cluj Napoca, there were a lot of girls there. Oh, do you want a nice one, or an available one? Sorry.
• focus girls sexy college girl - should be they from Cluj or Bucharest?
• most beautiful and sexy porn stars photos - certainly, you are on the right blog.
• blonde bikini filterui:imagesize-large - surely you want the imagesize to be large? Not other things?

The WTF Department

• you tub - me tub?
• comics strips love story - a girl, a boy, maybe another boy, plenty of broken hearts.
• baldur's gate sexy portraits - OK, I am sold.
• fbl goth - methinks he's watching too much TV.

The Linux Department

• fedora sexy woman$ - uh, Fedora is Free as in Freedom, do you know something about the "$"?
• fedora linux sexy hot wallpapers - yes, in Fedora 14 we have waterfalls, lakes, skies, forests and so on...
• sexy linux girl fedora tattoo - hmmm.... he knows something...

The Better World Department

• nicu fundraising campaigns - sure, I can use some new, better lens.
• cum sa faci aparate de bani - nope, the money aren't supposed to be fake.
• mititei la grill - at least that... Don't forget the beer.

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Adventures in Piatra

Over the last week-end I was in a trip to Piatra Neamț, if I recall correctly it was my first time in that city. The trip was planned long before so I went, even if I was too sad for it (being hit by the thing called "life").

It was not all drinking, I took some photos too, but between the before mentioned sadness and still lacking lenses the results are far from great.

There was a statue of Fane Babanu':

A plaza with an old air in the city center:

I also saw a poster with one of the scariest foods ever (didn't dare to try it):


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Zurich

A few days in Zurich for FUDCon, I was on the conference most of the time but still caught a few moments in the city, doing some photography. Unfortunately, not having my lens, they didn't came as I wanted and I didn't took so many... didn't got the time yet for editing, just dumped some of them in a small gallery.

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Hide and Seek

Is she here or is not? You never know for real... too bad for those beautiful big blue eyes to stay hidden.

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