Pencil-mole 2
2
Meet my friend, H…. S.H.
I’ve met him a while ago… I believe I was in high school when we first saw each other. I had a subscription for the British Council and for the first time, I jumped on the idea of reading in English. There was a time when I preferred English over my own language. I had no idea that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had written him. I was a fan of “The Lost World” on TV, but who would have known I would meet Sherlock later on? Read most of his cases. Was surprised by his wit. He’s the cleverest man I know. Or rather… was. Or rather… the cleverest man I ever knew in a book.
Work time: around one hour. I was inspired by a drawing I found on tumblr.
Date: 30th of May, 14:00-ish.
Equipment: Moleskine, pencil, pen for the fill and eraser.
Like this:
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143/366 Cum vedem batranetea e alegerea noastra. Fie asteptam sa se intample ceva, fie traim pentru ceva.
144/366 Credinta e inconjurata de pereti de beton. Sa nu cumva sa scape.
145/366 Dar nu se mai opreste odata ploaia asta? Sau macar sa ploua mai incet? Sau in reprize, sa poata omul scoate piciorul pe asfalt? Oare norii pot sa scrie cereri de concediu?
146/366 Imi place cand setez balansul de alb pe “cloudy”. Un lucru ce l-am invatat la cursul de foto. Fotografiile ies mai calde. Inauntru, insa, nu prea mi-am dat seama cat poate sa modifice o poza. Plus ca ISO era undeva foarte sus… a rezultat o fotografie mai vintage. I-am schimbat WB in Photoshop si l-am pus pe Auto. Ca asa imi place mie, sa ma joc. Ne-a vorbit astazi ambasadorul Japoniei la Bucuresti, in deschiderea Festivalului Filmului Japonez de la Cinemateca Eforie. Un discurs pregatit de dinainte, insa cu mult bun simt. Asta ne diferentiaza de cultura japoneza. Bunul simt. In toate. Tema festivalului din acest an: “dragostea si tineretea, reflectate in diferite epoci”. Doua fete m-au confundat, se pare, cu o japoneza/straina, avand in vedere ca m-au intrebat “Can we sit here?”. Dragut…. but it’s wrong!
147/366 Ziua doi de festival. Inainte de film, am tras o fuga la Libraria Engleza. Aveam cu mine o carte de lasat la schimb, dar nu m-a tentat nimic din ce aveau ei pus de o parte. In schimb, am pus ochii pe aranjamentul asta dragut de la intrare. Cand am venit, era si un tip asezat. Cand am iesit, nu mai era acolo. Dar mi-a placut oricum. Ca si cum scaunele asteapta… Eu as fi luat vaza cu flori si as fi fugit de acolo. Scaunele erau prea greu de carat. Pacat, ar fi dat bine la bunica in curte.
148/366 Ziua trei de festival. Plimbari pe Calea Victoriei. Reflexii, reflectii… Si somn.
Like this:
Morning drop-ing
(WordPress messed up with the clarity of my photos in this post. Check Facebook page for, hopefully, a better version).
In casa am o floare, recent achizitionata de ai mei. Nu i-am dat atentie pana astazi de dimineata. O singura picatura statea in echilibru la capatul unei frunze. Fugi ca vantul si ia-ti camera, sa nu cumva sa cada! Mi l-am luat “pe ala micu” dar, avand 35mm montat pe el, nu puteam sa ma apropii la mai putin de 0,26m cum zice manualul. Asa ca fugi iarasi si ia-l “pe ala mare” care avea 18-55mm montat. Asa mai merge. Si prinsei picatura.
(Aparatul a stat la o sensibilitate foarte mare, undeva in jurul lui ISO 1600.)
Si am mai prins-o odata…
Si am observat ca erau mai multe picaturi adunate la varfurile frunzelor si florilor…
Planta asta transpira. o.O
Si uite asa, am descoperit o ciudatenie. Mi-a atras atentia o picatura si am ajuns sa fotografiez mai multe. Niciuna din cele de mai sus nu vor intra in proiectul 366 din motive pur personale. Pentru astazi pregatesc alta fotografie.
Like this:
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137/366 The sky was beautiful today. It’s a shame this photograph doesn’t do it justice. The dark building is my university. Applied warm filter at 100% in Photoshop and increased contrast.
138/366 Toast with jam. My cousin’s jam. Strawberry and vanilla. Really liked the depth of field, the focus being somewhere near the corner of the toast. I also like the way the focus drops also on the purple mat that sits under the plate. There is a nice geometry in the photo as well, two round shapes and one cornered. Not to mention the frame of the picture, also cornered. Applied warm filter at 100% in Photoshop and increased to full contrast.
139/366 My Moleskine has eaten my pen. If I talked so much about creativity lately, I couldn’t forget about the side of me who likes to write. I regret not having started sooner, maybe I would have seen things clearer in the past. It helps me understand my feelings, I let everything out on paper. Because I know it cannot reply and it won’t try to judge me, as people do. In the photo above, focus is on the tip of the pen. Added warm filter in Photoshop and increased to full contrast. The Moleskine above is just a planner, I don’t write much in it, except for appointments and phone numbers, but yesterday I watched this movie called “Invictus” and I felt the need to write some quotes from it and the first which came to hand was the planner, which now has a small page already full with two quotes. Ruined the space for the whole weekend, but at least I keep my quotes somewhere, to not forget them.
140/366 Noaptea scurtelor iubiri eterne. Cam asa.
141/366 The smile that hides so many things. Evening out with the girls. I think each of us three needed this meeting. To talk about stuff, to let it all out. And what was planned, failed. What was not planned, succeeded wonderfully. If there is still something left unsaid, then it’s in the deepest corner of our hearts. And there it will remain. Unspoken, unheard, unintended.
Increased contrast, decreased saturation, added warm filter.
142/366 In nocturna. Ma agat de tot. Un film prost, o porecla…. Cum iese “licurici” din “Niculescu”? De abia ma abtin sa nu inchid ochii. Dar inima mi-e deschisa.
Vreau un vis.
Hai sa o luam de la zero. Pe mine ma cheama Ioana. Tu… cine esti?
Like this:
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131/366 Not in focus. Obviously. It’s a pretty huge crop. And a lot of noise in it. But today wasn’t a good day for science, like they say.
132/366 How would it be like to look at yourself in the mirror and see the reflection only in shades of black and white? Would you be frightened to see you look mostly black?
133/366 I pass by this corner almost everyday, except the days I don’t go out. I don’t know if any new graffiti has been added recently, but I like the aspect. And the fact that it says “Fred” so clearly. Usually, graffiti is not so easily understood. Picture taken with phone.
134/366 I admit I didn’t know the name of this flower in English. And when I translated online, it turned out it is called “peony”. Sounds like “pony” to me. Well, to make it clear for my Romanian readers, it’s “bujor”. Grandma has these in her garden and apparently it’s their season right now. These two are pretty small buds, not completely bloomed. Light comes from my desk lamp.
135/366 Work in progress. This is what the drawing from the post below looked like at some point in time. You can see the original next to it.
136/366 Awful day for everything that was planned. Ruined the whole day between police, university and again the police. Theater got cancelled, bugger. All the formalities for getting a new ID are postponed for next week, cause apparently the chief of the family has to accompany the poor little lamb who doesn’t know which way to go in life. Next thing you know, they’ll be asking for the whole family to attend to the formalities… To calm myself down, I WALKED all the way home. Don’t know how many kilometers, but I needed that walk. The sun was at times hiding behind the clouds and it was a nice atmosphere. The kind just before a storm/rain. (Now it’s raining, for example.) And I passed by my park, as I like to call it. Everybody calls it IOR (although now it’s officially Alexandru Ioan Cuza), but I like to call it my park. Gives me a sense of peace. And maybe because I like it very much, I tend to make a lot of publicity over it.
I’m gonna post another photo, of one of the entrances to the park. It has the statue of the guy it is named after. There’s also a row of fountains leading to a round patch of roses.
Like this:
Pencil-mole 1
I think I’m going to start featuring some of my future drawings. It’s not going to be a high frequency, so no worries if you don’t fancy this type of art. But since it’s my blog, why not?
This one is a female nude, by Edward Weston, 1936. It is actually his partner and model, Charis Wilson.
Work time: around 1 h and a half.
Date: today, the 14th of May, 21.30-ish.
Equipment: Moleskine, 0.9 pencil and eraser.
pagina 7
18 aprilie
Cateodata te uiti la mine ca si cum ai vrea ceva. Dar nu stiu ce vrei. Nu pot sa-ti citesc gandurile, probabil m-as speria de ce as auzi. Ori asta, ori m-as bucura enorm, m-as simti flatata sau nu stiu… M-ar mira de ce nu mi-ai zis lucrurile in fata…
Credeam ca ochii sunt oglinda sufletului. Acum nu mai stiu ce sa cred. Poate ascund atatea lucruri, incat nu mai sunt o oglinda, ci un fel de abis in care sa te arunci sperand ca jos nu te vei lovi de pamant, ci va fi ceva care iti va atenua caderea. Poate o saltea, o perna imensa de aer sau ceva in genul.
Si in timp ce cazi in gol, pe langa tine trec imagini, ganduri, sentimente… Si ajungi sa crezi ca poti cunoaste omul respectiv numai vazand lucrurile acestea.
Dar cand ajungi la capat, iti dai seama ca e doar o iluzie. Nu poti cunoaste un om dupa ochi. Trebuie sa ajungi la sufletul lui. Acolo nu e un hau. Acolo se afla ceea ce trebuie descoperit.
Yo aveces te miro y me dan ganas de besarte, o llevarte en mis brasos. Sentarme a lado tuyo, cerca, para sentir tu perfume, tu respiration, tu cuerpo. Tal vez, te tomaria la mano en la mia y la agarraria muy fuerte. Te pondria mi alma en la mano, para que no lo busques mas. Y seria paz entre nosotros, o por lo menos esto queria pensar…
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125/366 4+2.
126/366 Apparently, the moon was quite big this evening. Didn’t look like that to me. Had to crop it and increase contrast to get the above. Oh, and adjusted the exposure in RAW.
127/366 Out of a common picture, I tried to make something nice… I like the way the colors turned out after increasing contrast and decreasing saturation. A feeling of old, right?
128/366 Remember the jar from Day 11? These are the things inside it. I keep it near my bed, but I don’t always look at it. Maybe that’s why some days I feel different. Because I forget what I wrote in there. Lucky me, I have the same things written in a note on my phone, so when I feel like it I read them there. Besides, these little papers would be too difficult to untie and tie back again. My dreams, wishes and motivations.
129/366 Have I told you how much I like to draw? I do like it, very much. Looks like the artist in me doesn’t want to stick only to photography, it wants to try other arts as well. I used to enjoy painting when I was in secondary school. The teacher even suggested me going to an arts high school. I wish photography had caught me then, maybe she would have seen it in me and would have suggested something different. After all, photography is painting with light, right? Anyway, I don’t particularly remember when I started drawing, probably it was around the same time with the painting spree, whenever the teacher said that we should start sketching first, and then filling everything with color. Then it sort of came back to me when I was in Italy and I bought this Moleskine pocket notebook at a super sale, for only 5 euro. They are usually pretty expensive piece of …. papers :D. So imagine me, looking at this small notebook with thick papers, just sitting there, thrown in a corner, with only 5 euro. So I got it. Money well spent. Don’t want to finish it too soon, maybe that’s why i’m taking my time with drawing in it. It’s mostly for reproducing other works of art, especially photographs taken by famous people. You may ask, how can you draw after a photograph? Easy. I only choose photos that are either in black and white or have an increased contrast that can help me transform them into grey drawings. Want to see some examples? There’s one here, another one here, the first attempt here, and an early attempt here as well. To wrap everything with a red ribbon, the above picture is a kind of tribute to my pencils. I don’t believe I used them, like I said I only do grey stuff. In fact, I bought them for photographic purposes, if you remember…
130/366 It’s raining. I wish I had a 300mm in my zoom, to catch one drop of water on a leaf. Not the whole picture, just that drop and the leaf it stands on. Of course, you may argue and go for a crop, but I don’t want to do that. Macro is macro, not cropping and saying it’s macro. Not when it’s about water drops.
Like this:
pagina 6
Si cand credeam ca exista numai lucruri pozitive pe lumea asta si ca inima simte numai de bine…
Mi-au iesit doua ziduri in fata.
Unul inalt… si gros… si care parca striga “Stai, e pacat…” Si, pe care daca-l sar, probabil o sa fie ori o mare jignire, ori o mare dezamagire, ori o mare despartire. Nu vreau sa gandesc asa, dar zidul nu-mi da de ales. Si fir-ar el de zid, il cunosc de zeci de ani…si totusi e o surpriza ca mi s-a pus in cale. Ceva pozitiv nu cred ca poate rezulta din saltul peste. Dar tare as vrea sa pot modela zidul asta. Sa-i schimb culoarea, inaltimea si grosimea. Sa-l fac sa “ingenuncheze” in fata mea.
Un alt zid… deocamdata nu e unul mare. E un zid pe care am crezut ca l-am depasit acum cateva zile. Chiar imi aduc aminte ca ma gandeam: “Ce bine ca nu mai simt asta!” Aiurea. La primul semn, mi-a rasarit in cale. Din nou. Si incerc sa sar peste el, nu e asa de inalt, e probabil o chestie de vointa. Dar nu e vorba ca nu vreau. E vorba ca…. sunt prea multe ocazii. Daca nu ar aparea atatea ocazii…probabil zidul ar disparea in timp. Pentru ca e un zid facut de mine.
Candva…cineva imi spunea de demoni. Dar nu in sensul propriu al cuvantului. Demonii mei presupun ca sunt zidurile astea. Unul rasarit de cateva saptamani… celalalt de mai mult timp.
Dincolo de ele… e ceea ce vreau sa ating. Si cred ca ar fi apogeul. Acolo m-as dezvalui cu adevarat.
Si pana acolo, e de munca. Trebuie sa invat sa sar. Si sa ma catar. Si sa strang din dinti. Si sa-mi rup unghiile.
Lasati-ma sa-l….!
