Summer in Lacul Morii

Shot this a couple weeks ago.

Zen Organic Farm in the Bay Area

San Francisco was fast, efficient, clean and expensive. I liked it, but except the hills, the city seemed, in some ways, too perfect to me. Maybe because I was freaked out by the city, I ended up shooting mostly at Green Gulch Zen Center, which also runs a organic Farm, near San Francisco. Now, I'm back in Romania again. It was really nice to come back to the states.

So, i'll be wandering in San Francisco next week

I've been lazy with editting photos and busy with my second job... But, I got a call just some minutes ago. I will be heading to San Francisco for the Hearst in a few hours. I'm really glad that i'll be able to come back to America for several days. I really thank Jackie, John and David who helped me on this from the U.S..

The photo is from the Labuor day in Delta.

Caruta Trip in Delta

I procratinated again. I've been really slow these days, and I feel like I'm allowed to do so. The delta was very slow and peaceful. It was like a paradice. After the Easter, people are just resting. No work. It's so quiet, You hear only the song of the birds.
Here, I met kids in a small Lipovan village Sfistofca in Delta. From the village to a border village Periprava, there is a rough road but no bus. They were going to Perprava for drive with caruta (horse wagon), and I joined their three hours trip.

View from Balcony

I was kind of sick in the past week. Couldn't do much. But. at least, I edited the fishermen story.
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My moneymaking job is deskwork at home, and my short break is always on the balcony. The street was totally grey during the winter, and it was reminiscent of stereotypical communism-era atmosphere and made me felt like I was in adventure or something. But, as time passes, everything that was unusual to me turned rather normal - not just communism buildings but like gypsies, beggars, strays, tons of smokers and such. Same in the U.S., the empty Midwest lands, cornfields and soy fields and rednecks, as examples, become rather normal after a while four years ago. Yet, I'm still foreign, but this foreignness became normal, and people thinking I’m different becomes normal. It's same in Missouri, but it's a different kind and would be different in every country and state.
Adjustment in foreign countries is like a series of mental training. When you do weight lifting or wrestling or whatever the tough sports, it's kind of pain first, then you like it, and then you get soar again. Then after a while, it becomes normal - less pain and less excitement in a sense. But, you feel more about small daily things. Like when you realize the grey street has turned a bit green in a spring day. The photo is shot by Contax G1 - finally I got a new used contax! Though it's not aG2...

Misha and His Brothers

Misha, or Mihai Kfitaef, is a 37 year-old Lipovan fisherman in Sulina. Like Misha, there are a number of Lipovans, Russian descendants, in the Delta, and many of them work as fishermen. He and his brothers used to go fishing whenever the wind is mild. But, stricter restrictions on fishing around the Danube Delta, partly caused by Romanian's joing EU, made their life harder. Because of the new rules, the fishermen in the area have to spend certain periods just staying at home until the season starts. Misha said the life is getting harder and harder in the past years, but the government has done nothing for the fishermen. "This is my country," he said. He has a wife and two children, and because of the inflation and stricter restrictions, he barely manages it. Still, he and his brothers, like many men in the Delta, don't have other options but continue fishing. Their thick and rough hands tell you how hard their work is. People called my hands a girl's hands. In fact, their hands are like three times thicker than mine.