Trees and grass

Another one from Sibiu. It's all about the textures with this one - the bark and the grass.

Cart #4

Taken at the medieval fortress in Rasnov. This is one of those gems you find in Romania and not many other places. It was left to rot for many years and looks it, but because of that it really gives the impression of a fortress and not a prettified castle.

Wandering around I happened upon an old cart with a huge selection of cartwheels stacked up behind it. The light was good - the exposures needed almost no work to retain details in shadows and highlights - and I ended up with a series of three or four interesting compositions. Of course, you can't tell they were taken in a medieval fortress; I usually find interest in the details and not so much in the grand sweep.

Across the river

Azuga, July 2008. It's odd how you sometimes have to look at things twice to see them. I recall taking this while hoping that the sun would come around to the another part of the river bank. This looked alright, but I didn't really expect anything.

Going back over the files from Azuga, I looked at it again and looked a little more closely. I realised that inside the fairly flat colour file was a much better shot trying to get out. It didn't take too much work to get there - half an hour's tweaking and I had it.

I'm particularly fond of the contrast between the three sections of the frame - the smooth water, the sharp angularity on the rocks and the foliage.

Stump

Self-explanatory really. It was a tree stump near a river. I like the silky texture of the water in the background.

Prayer beads

Taken in the Turkish mosque in Bucharest. The varnished wood was something of a challenge being varnished. This made it difficult to control contrast and retain the detail of the grain. I'm not sure it's all that it could be, but the shine of the beads helps to lift it.

Statue, Bellu cemetery

The Bellu cemetery is in the centre of Bucharest. It is where most of Romania's great and good are buried, and features some very ornate memorial work. Many of the tombs are above-ground chalets, and many of those below ground feature striking statuary. Like much of the rest of historical Bucharest, it is for the time being rather run-down and overgrown but in many ways this adds to its attractions.

This statue is fairly typical of the monuments there. It is quite a work of art in its own right, but surrounded by the overgrown vegetation it takes on a surprising aspect. It seems to emerge from a forest, unexpected and out of sync. There are other graves around it, but you have to look pretty closely to see them. In a clean, well-maintained setting I'm not sure that it would seem as attractive as it does in this context.