Out to sea

I don't really know what to say about this one, which is just as well, since I don't much feel like writing anything today. So maybe this once, it'll just be the photo:

Splendor in the grass

I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to share something in color for a change, so I'd like everyone to meet my mother's unnamed pseudo-bonsai tree:



Also, wouldn't you know it, it's voting time again for the Photo Friday challenge. This week's theme is 'Monochrome', and I've submitted The Street as my entry. So if you have a minute and happen to like that particular photo, be a dear and head on to the voting stall, and cast a vote for entry #305.

I didn't make it to the final pick from last week's challenge, but you know what they say - if at first you don't succeed, pester them till you do. Cheers!

Rollin' on a river...

Well... not actually a river and not really rollin', but you get the picture. Apparently I'm continuing the black and white streak with another oldie from Bulgaria, reminding me just how much I miss the sea. Hell, how much I miss being on holiday... anywhere. Either way - boats on a break:



In other news (wow, a lot of "other news" lately), I'm seriously considering a major make-over, along with moving to WordPress, since Blogger is becoming quite limiting, so if anyone has any wisdom to impart in that area, don't hesitate to hit the comments button. Oh, and thanks a bunch to whomever took the time to vote for my entry in the Photo Friday Challenge!

Voting time!

As promised, I'm back with the voting link for those of you who have a minute to spare to make this blogger's day. So here's where you can cast your vote. Scroll through the entries on the left down to #143 - W.A.T.M.C, and hit the "cast your vote" link on the top frame.

So thanks a bunch and see you tomorrow, probably, with a new photo.

Vintage II

I'm back with the second installment of my small "Vintage" series, another detail shot - that is, until I manage to find myself a decent matte white background, so I can afford the luxury of stepping away from my subject before pressing the magic button.



In other news, my last post, Vintage I, has been polished and prettified and sent off to the photo blog equivalent of a beauty pageant over at Photo Friday, so if anyone happened to like it, has a minute to spare over the course of next Friday and Saturday (June 12th and 13th), and would care to be a total sweetheart (man, that's a lot of conditions), then pop on over to your favorite blogger's entry (no, silly, I mean me) and click the magic vote button. Voting is only open during those two days, so I can't give you an exact link until then, but I'll post one as soon as it becomes available, this being only the heads-up. So thanks a bunch in advance to whomever fits the above criteria.

Vintage

I was digging through some "old stuff", so to speak, a couple of days ago, and happened to stumble upon what is probably my dad's most treasured possession - my grandfather's old camera, a vintage Zeiss Ikon acquired circa 1948, that got to witness and immortalize pretty much all my dad's holidays while growing up. After being somewhat afraid at first to even touch something so precious, it occurred to me what a fabulous subject it would make, so I got around to playing quite a lot with it. Here's the first shot in what I hope to be a small series...

Goodies galore

Soon enough it's going to be exam season again, which, from my standpoint, can only mean more blog maintenance, since it's such a noble cause for which to procrastinate. And during my many recent travels throughout "I'll start studying tomorrow. I swear!" - land, I've discovered some very yummy treats for my many, many readers (enter the cricket sound). And when I say treats, I mean neither sugary goodies, nor doggy biscuits. What I did, however, find is a couple of truly inspiring photography blogs and/or online galleries, and what a sight for sore eyes they are, which is why I thought I'd share. So without further ado...

• Perspective Images - This is the online gallery of photographer Will Williams, which is so far my personal favorite among my recent findings, and on which I must've spent around two or three hours simply because I couldn't stop clicking that darned "Previous" button. As the title description succinctly mentions, the theme is "Travel and Nature Photography", but this seems somewhat generic to do it any justice. I suppose that what I most love about the style of these photos is the clean, elegant simplicity and the impression you get that each and every item, from an entire mountain to a speck of dust, has its exact place, making for some flawlessly balanced photos (in my humble opinion, obviously). And then, of course, there's those charming black and white Holga photos, that may very well be my favorite from the whole package.

• John Marquess Photography - I've found this to be a gallery equally impressive, though in an entirely different style. As with the previous gallery, this also consists mainly of landscape photography, but where "Perspective Images" is about serene, almost Zen-like photos with zero clutter, these are all about motion and dramatic contrast, with plenty of raging waves, dark cloudy skies, both mostly in black and white, making for a much more intense viewing experience. Of course, that's not to say that all images fall within this specific category. There's also a number of considerably calmer ones, either in natural color, or in a very charming old photo tone, vignette included. All in all, a spectacular portfolio.

That's it for now (actually there's more, but I can't even remember the last time I wrote a post this long, if ever, and I have my lazy writer reputation to think of), so I'll be back next time I don't feel like doing homework.

Discarded Sunset

I thought I'd take a small break from all the snow (although I seriously wouldn't mind some right now) and show you a quickie I took quite a while ago and completely forgot about.



This was taken in the tiny seaside resort of Balchik, Bulgaria, the day after New Year's. The entire day was unbelievably warm and sunny, and I especially liked the warm sunset light flooding this empty terrace.

Sunny Side

Here's that same place, from a different perspective.

Which Way?

I'd like to start a short series of photos I took during my last hiking trip, up to the Malaiesti cabin, in the Bucegi mountains. The track itself was a tad too tricky to stop for photos, not to mention the fact that I obviously didn't have my tripod with me for those long exposure night shots. Oops... I didn't mention we left Busteni at 10 p.m. and got there at 5:30 a.m., did I? Good thing my parents don't read this...

However, once we got there, I was fortunate enough to get this glorious picture perfect weather that morning (after a couple of hours of sleep, that is), so I figured I'd share what I have to show for it.

Silhouette

I happened to find this little fellow sitting right outside my window one fine evening. It proved to be my most cooperative live subject so far.

House of Wine

Footsteps

In Vino Veritas

Come One, Come All...

...Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, watch and be amazed!

I was quite literally stunned a couple of days ago to find a real-live Ferris wheel just sitting there all bright and pretty, right next to, of all things, a shopping mall. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me at the moment (indeed, shame on me, I should know better by now), but I did manage to right the wrong earlier this evening. Armed with all necessary things, I returned to immortalize it in all its picturesque beauty. And get a bird's eye view of... the mall parking lot.



Not surprisingly, even parked cars look pretty when viewed from the top of a Ferris wheel.

P.S. As always, click the image to view full size.

Four bottles of the Apocalypse

For some strange inexplicable reason, I've always been fascinated by the grungy, chaotic scenery of urban decay, and this town provides plenty of it, as long as you know where to look. The problem, however, is that you're usually likely to find more than just good photo opportunities in such places, and the expensive camera and dorky look don't do much for one's safety.

Which is why I was beyond delighted earlier this evening to find something along those lines, hiding in plain sight. If anyone has any doubts as to the integrity of the scene, I assure you the empty bottles were there to begin with. I found the entire decor simply too priceless to meddle with it.

So without further ado, I give you Urban Decay... with a twist.



As a side note, I have now officially vandalized the first public place with one of my infamous stickers. I kept it decent enough, though, no harm done.

Jingle bells, Batman smells, Sylvester laid an egg...

Being in much higher spirits than the last time I dropped by, and actually quite jolly, I'll take the opportunity to wish the merriest of Christmases to whomever finds a moment to visit this place on this lovely day.

On the other hand... On any other day, I'd be delighted to be paid a visit, but it is Christmas, and you should have better things to do than to sit at your computer and StumbleUpon anonymous blogs.

Either way, have the jolliest of holidays, however you wish to spend it! Having said that, and if you'll excuse me, I'll now proceed to nibble on yet another gingerbread cookie dipped in wine. Yummy!

Jaded...

Despite finally being on holiday, after two or three weeks where my life just seemed like one giant homework, I'm still finding it a bit hard to enjoy the Christmas cheer that goes with the season. I was in a profoundly jolly "if I were to put in my two weeks' notice tomorrow, would anyone give a rat's behind?" sort of mood earlier today, so I suppose I should be thankful I'm now in that slightly more cheerful state of numbness where you manage to drop a sock into the turtle tank and find it mildly amusing.

Normally, I'd dismiss that sort of thing saying nobody wanted to hear about that, but my turtle glared at me as if wanting to express how deeply un-amusing he found the incident. It was probably at that point that it occurred to me how I still was yet to offer him center stage in my strange little corner of online space. It seemed like a good way to make up for the sock incident and all...



So that would be Mitica, in all his algae-prone, thermometer killing splendor.

In other news, the stickers I was talking about last time I dropped by are printed and all nice and shiny and ready to vandalize buses and park benches all over town.

Critiques and news galore

Once again, I find myself apologizing for having fallen off the face of the Earth. And again, due to homework, exams, and all that. Soon enough I shall begin to sound like a broken record.

But now that I'm back here (eventually), we might as well get down to business. In this week's news... I've been getting some new critique, mainly on the soap-bubble photo and the wire photographer (Note to self: Do start naming your photographs). And sadly, I don't really know what to make of it, considering how mixed the opinions were. Some liked them with great enthusiasm - even amusement, in the case of "the photographer", some found them bland, uninspiring, and downright bad. So either I'm smack in the middle of the fuzzy line between sublime and ridiculous, or one "side of the fence" is biased - "which one?" being the million dollar question here. Which brings us to a bit of a dilemma. Although I can't help but agree with some of the points made (on "soap-bubbles", for instance - too much noise, the bubbles should have been actual bubbles, instead of light trails), I wouldn't go so far as to name either of the two photos "pointless", and they have been named so. But then again, I would be the very definition of "biased" in this situation, so I suppose I'll just have to wait for the scales to tip in one direction or the other.

And now, having concluded this week's equivalent of handing over one's report card to one's parents, I'll proceed to the "In other news" section.
So in other news...

A couple of days ago I received my first actual post comment. Which - being proof that some are kind enough to stop and read for a second, and not just hit the StumbleUpon button again - naturally caused a most childishly giddy reaction in yours truly. Reaction that I will refrain from describing, for the sake of my dignity.

Also in other news, I've been spending the little spare time I've had lately, on designing some stickers to promote this place. Once I've come up with a draft I'm happy with, I'll shamelessly resort to sticking these around town - hopefully, not so shamelessly that it'll be called vandalizing public property. I should find some charitable and morally impeccable soul to drag around with me, just for the occasional reality check. But more on that in next week's "other news".

And last, but simply not least, I have just yesterday received a darling little present that I'm really excited about, in the shape and size of an ant farm. Which can only mean that over the course of the following couple of weeks or so, one will have the opportunity to observe a dorky little person with a big camera around her neck, going around chasing ants and slapping "home-brewed" stickers on ant hills. Twist my arm hard enough and I might even let you know how that turned out.

I am a bad person

I must be. How often can you hear a normal, decent person say they single-handedly reduced to silence a highly frequented forum thread of one hundred and forty-six pages, with one post? I should take note and refrain from having my critique requests unleash further death and destruction upon the world.

Then again, at times, I briefly think to myself that maybe my photos were so inspiring, that everyone was too much in awe basking in their glow, to actually reply. Because I'm confident, like that.

No matter, the show must go on. (I feel I've said that somewhere before. Either that, or I'm suffering from deja-vu syndrome, which sounds so glamorous, I couldn't help but see a silver lining in it all.)

Fearful as I may be of the consequences, I dare present to you my latest weapon of mass forum destruction...



As you may suspect, this was also taken sometime this summer, and I hate my then self with a vengeance for being in a warm sunny place, with glorious mountains to gaze upon and not a care in the world. I also hate my future self for being not just cold, but at the very least snowed upon.

However, it has come to my attention that I am beginning to make less and less sense, which can only be a clear indication of the fact that I am now too sleepy to be coherent. I shall now bid you good night, before I start quoting limericks in a shakespearean tongue.