Free shoot part 2

Here we were, shooting again like crazy blokes. This time it was in the IOR park nearby… I must say, I haven’t seen so many brides in one park before. It looked like a jar with brides and grooms was cracked in the middle of the park I am sure that they could have found something more beautiful, but I guess it was their choice.

Anyways, we were hoping to shoot more portraits. We did, but only by swapping our cameras/lenses and taking pictures of ourselves. I was pretty amazed at what my lenses could do. I didn’t expect some of the results, that’s for sure. We even photographed this vertical leaf. The poor leaf was kind of raped by our lenses

To sum up, two awesome days. My cousin left this morning. Pictures below.

Free shoot part 1

Well….yeah. A lot of pictures taken yesterday. I can definitely say that it was fun. I went with my cousin in the city and decided to shoot anything and anyone (if possible). From cats to dogs, cars to motorcycles, rusty cars to new cars, big cars to small cars (the TNT car and its reflection was my idea, it kinda looked funny), from day till night fall….it was great.

We met at 4 and ended up coming home at half past 9. I bet anything that he slept as comfortable as I did. We started from Piata Victoriei and ended up at Casa Poporului. I know it might sound like cliche spots to take photographs, but I think in the end it turned out pretty neat and special. We were waiting for night to fall, most of all, but we managed to take some pics at sunset too. I love the ones with the leaves most. I have a soft spot for autumn leaves, what can I do? We found this rusty car, all worn out and abandoned, so we immediately jumped on it. Not actually jump on it, but….yeah. At some point, I forgot to re-set my camera’s settings and those cool pictures with the leaves came out.

I had to take my tripod with me, cause we were longing for some long exposures. At Pasajul Victoriei we were kind of sad cause the cars wouldn’t come by at some point and we needed a lot of movement in the picture. Anyway, we waited and took some shots. At Casa Poporului we even got some attention from the police but in the end it was ok. I even thought we would get arrested or something, but the policewoman was really nice. She even laughed when she saw we were only taking some pictures of the building. My attempts at HDR failed miserably, as you can see in the last picture. I mean, it doesn’t look anywhere near an HDR… Ah well, at least I’m satisfied. Tomorrow we’ll try some portraits.

P.s. My shoulder hurts. A lot. Thank God that I have a smaller camera than my cousin’s. But I guess it’s the tripod’s fault.

Renault roadshow

It was nothing as surprising as I thought it would be. Being a F1 fan, not necessarily of Renault, I was anxious to see the cars. Indeed they all looked fast and furious, but in the 20 minutes or so that I managed to stay put, I didn’t see so much action. Some ‘donuts’ and that’s it. Not to mention about the marketing aspect, when some Renault city cars appeared on the track. I mean, common, how lame is that?

I was accompanied by three boys, if  you can imagine. We left one there to keep watching the show and me, together with Stefan and his best buddy, went for some shopping. I must say, it’s been an awesome day. It was very great fun to shop with these guys, especially since I wasn’t looking for anything and I didn’t have money either, so I just sticked to giving advice here and there and opinions most of the time We laughed a lot and they laughed at me most of the time. Unfortunately, the weather sucked big time, mainly due to the damn wind.

Otherwise, awesome time spent with the guys. It’s kinda freaky actually, to get along so well with them. And none of them being my boyfriend. Yet….

P.s. Took the wrong lens from home, too. But the pictures are lame anyway.

Barbecue time

Since is almost the end of the holidays, a friend of mine decided to have a barbecue at her place. She lives in Dragomiresti, close to Bucharest. She’s a mutual friend of mine’s and my best friend’s. We got there on time, although we had to switch from subway to maxi-taxi It was quite the experience to leave the city, even if it was for a couple of kilometers. We were four of us, cause we also took Alex and Cami, a couple me and Anca are proud to have been part of uniting. So the time spent on the road was fun, also because we began to play Fazan Children’s game, I know, but we couldn’t help it.

Anyways, like I said, we were there on time and our host, Cristina, was super mega hyper happy to see us there first. We got first to open the bottles Kidding, I at least, didn’t touch the alcohol and neither my friends. You never know when you need to drive back home.

People started to show up like half an hour later, mainly because some of our friends got lost on their way. They were driving their own cars and it was difficult cause I don’t think they’ve been to Cristina’s house with their cars before. Once these 2 couples arrived, the boys started setting up the fire and such. I must say, kuddos for them, they spent 3 hours without even sitting, just to get the barbecue done. Of course, we had to buy TOO MUCH meat, cause it was obvious once they started to cook it. Luckily, the drinks were enough.

It was a great day, “mici” included, not to mention the great people around the table. Cheers for Cristina and her mom, and her wonderful house and whatever. I got home pretty easily, cause a friend drove us in her Fiat Punto. Nice car….  Hmm…. Pictures below and this time with top notch quality. Enjoy!

It’s been a long time…

Awww, I like the Hollywood-ian look of this picture. Yes, it’s been a while since I last saw the city of Brasov and yes, it’s been a while since you last heard from me.

Well, not pretty much going on, I guess, otherwise I would have been more active around here. I haven’t taken out my camera in a while and I’m ashamed of myself. There is little to photograph during the summer, unless you get to see some foreign land or go on specific photo shoots.

Yesterday I woke up at 5.30 a.m. just to get a train to Brasov and have my moment of peace and quiet. Actually, there was no peace and quiet during the trip, come to think of it. My dad wouldn’t let me go unless I had someone else with me in the train so I managed to corrupt two of my best friends into coming We had a blast on the train, playing cards and listening to music (MJ all the way lol). We were stuck in Comarnic for 40 minutes so we were late.

I was supposed to meet my ex, Stefan, at the train station in Brasov, but he couldn’t wake up on time. Geez… So we decided to go and eat something near Piata Sfatului, the central square of the city. I was finally going to see him after a long time, 6 months to be more exact, time during which we kept talking and stuff. Actually, during the last few weeks, it wasn’t a day in which we didn’t chat. And I suddenly felt the need to see his face again. Don’t know why yet. So here I was. The girls and I split, so that I could chat with him alone. Turned out that he had made an appointment at this hairdresser’s and we went there and I got a new haircut. Short one. It was such a feeling to give up all that hair, I tell you. But I guess I needed the change. It was becoming a bother to wash so it is a new beginning for me.

I had a great time until 5, when we had the return train. The girls loved the new me and Stefan was even proud of himself . All in all, lovely trip and I MUST say this: I wish I had more courage and I wish we had more time….

Photos below, taken with 5MP camera on my mobile phone.

Souvenir…se souvenir

Can’t really say this is an artistic picture. Just wanted to share with you my souvenirs from the trip.

So, there are those 2 books, “A brief history of Britain’s kings and queens” and “Les trois musquetaires”. Some Skittles left in there….(if you find some around Europe, think of me and buy some for me too:P). I love London key chain. Paris bracelet. An iPod silicon protection (the iPod itself is not a souvenir but I recommend it for those of you who want to make an investment…). A Swatch watch. A “mind the gap” teddy bear key chain. And of course, Bertie Botts every flavour beans. Still have some of those. Dad ran into a chilli flavoured one, so I don’t expect to run out of beans any time soon.

On another subject, yours truly got her driving licence today. After many months of turmoil, I can say. Luckily, I got it from my first attempt, otherwise I would have had to start all over again, with the studying and such. The policeman who supervised me was super cool and really gave us a chance to prove what we knew. I was witness for two guys and believe me, no one was born with the driving skill in their blood. So for all the girls out there, men aren’t so good as they say.

Super extra happy.

Day 11 – Paris, Versailles

Last day of the trip. Couldn’t believe it was actually there.

First of all, we got to see a Pantheon in the middle of Paris. It looked pretty Roman to me, nothing to do with the city itself. It was like, from another world. Anyway, it had this pendulum in the middle, which shows the exact hour, depending on the meridian it is situated. It showed the people from the past that the Earth is moving. Cool.

We saw the University of Sorbonne, from the outside, because the school year was over so we couldn’t go inside just like that. Nothing interesting, I was expecting something more thrilling.

The driver really took his time in finding a place where to park the coach, near the Notre Dame. Finally, he managed to, and we could arrive in time to witness mass and to visit the cathedral. Lots of Romanian gipsies, of course. The cathedral is pretty impressive on the inside, something I really didn’t suspect, if you were to look at the outside.

We left Paris and headed for Versailles. I myself am a fan of the French monarchs of the past, including all the Ludovics, although I am not at all pleased with their way of living (like, they brought their lovers at the same table with their wife!!!) so I was a bit anxious to get there. To see the palace where these people ruled in luxury and had no worry in the entire world. We stood for an hour in line to get tickets. I got a free entrance (oh, the advantage of being young, many from our group said that they arrived too late in France ) so I didn’t mind it too much. The Palace was cool on the inside, but again too many people, especially my “friends” the Chinese. We didn’t have time to see the Gardens of Versailles too, but I managed to get some shots from inside the Palace. It was an amazing view, better than the one from the ground I suppose.

All in all, great day and thank God it was the last.

Conclusions: Never again I’m going on a trip like this with my parents, mainly because we can’t cope with each other for so much time. No offense, I love them, but I simply can’t stand their problems for so many days in a row. So we agreed on never to do this again unless necessary. Also, next time I’ll try to visit places outside the peak periods. Too many people in England and France that could be avoided if going there in fall, winter or spring. The group wasn’t too united, we were too many I guess, too varied in age and personality. I agree to the fact that we can’t choose who we go with, but still…. I missed my people, if you know what I mean. Of course, the girls were okay, but they weren’t that talkative, we couldn’t exchange information pretty much, it was like conversation for the sake of conversation. I don’t need that. I need feeling. And they were too…. self-centered or whatever.

To wrap it up, it was okay but could have been better.

Day 10 – Paris

Decided not to go with the group, so instead we went on our own to see the Louvre Museum. Got there by underground (absolutely loved it) and we were amazed by everything. Those pyramids looked gorgeous. Wish I could have taken them home.

I was the only one who entered in the museum, although I was feeling horrible by the time we got to the entrance. I said, what the heck, once in a lifetime you come to Louvre, why not go inside? It was also a free entrance for people under 25 so there was my chance. I had only entered to get a glimpse of Mona Lisa, to be honest, but in the meantime I passed through so many coridors and hallways, that I couldn’t help myself not to look at some of the paintings there. You might just skip Mona Lisa by mistake, cause there is a special room for it, and you might just pass without even noticing. Lucky me, I was on the lookout. Even took some decent pictures without flash, cause it wasn’t permitted. I got out soon afterwards, I was getting even more sick. The heat combined with my stomack combined with the huge mass of Chinese guys really wasn’t a nice picture.

Outside the scenery was wonderful. It’s a shame I didn’t get to see the Tuileries Gardens, they were right there next to the Louvre. But I couldn’t stand it anymore and went to the hotel with dad, while mum went shopping (by herself) in Paris. Imagine that. She also bought me some stuff. Nice stuff.

Day 9 – Brussels, Waterloo, Paris

We couldn’t leave Brussels without seeing much more, including Manneken Pis, the statue of the little boy who is surely taking his time to take a piss. He’s been doing it for quite a while. We also saw the Royal Palace, did some shopping, bought a Swatch watch .

Before we arrived in the so awaited city of Paris, we had to make a stop in Waterloo. This is the place where Napoleon was defeated (finally someone did) by Wellington and another dude I can’t remember the name of. There was this lion on top of the hill and you had to climb 200 and something steps to get there. Of course, yours truly had nothing better to do than to go up all the way there. You can see me, very small, in a picture below. And it was awesome at the top. Nice view. And I didn’t even take my camera with me. Dumb. The old ladies from our group thought that Waterloo was in England somewhere, due to the British resonance of the name. Come to think of it, I thought so too.

So, here we were finally heading for Paris. We got there at 7 in the evening and we had to make a stop at the Eiffel Tower, so that everyone gets to have a picture with the iron bunch. Honestly, if the Romanian people would put their butts to some effort, they might as well build something similar and turn it into a masterpiece and tourist attraction. Imagine the money it would bring if it were very good. The Arch of Triumph doesn’t look any different, although we just saw it from the coach. The hotel was worth its 2 star classification, that’s for sure.

Day 8 – Brussels

Last night I had a midnight session of fitness with the girls from our group. Our hotel had a fitness room and free too. There were all kinds of machines there, but I resumed to running. The girls seemed okay, some more quiet, others more talkative. But I was like…. okay, are we going to start bonding today? With only a few days left? It was okay I guess, also because I was missing my people from Bucharest so much, that I said, what the heck? These girls might as well replace a bit of what I was used to in my country. We laughed a lot, listened to Michael Jackson (one of them was a huge fan, reminded me of my best friend) and did some exercise.

We had a free day in Brussels, because almost everyone gave up on Luxembourg. So we walked through the city for some hours and did some shopping. Not too many pictures, because we were to see Brussels the next day too.

I must say I had lots of headaches during this trip, due to some nerve wracking situations. Don’t imagine eveything went so smooth all the time. But I guess I am the person who forgives eveything to everyone, so what did it matter?