pig kill

Light

I visited the families again. The only one of the three rooms has light, but tonight it was broken. I couldn't stay ther for a long time, but here is a picture shows a situation a bit. The man is trying to read something with the light from the tv. They have a tv, they probably don't have running water either...

no title - yet

I made another visit to the families. Well, I found out that there are three families in the small three room house.

Snow

It's getting cold...

first shoot at Nelu's family's place

One of street kids i've been photographing allowed me to go to his place with him. In fact, his family is pretty friendly. I came back with a camera and stayed for a short period of time.

Lost in Tramvais

Sunt în România de trei luni. N-am facut nimic. Dar, acum vorbesc Româna mai bine... I've been in Bucharet for three months. I haven't done anything. But, now I speak Romania better... Anyway, I photographed some stuff from tramvais and also some street kids again.

Unidetified street musician at Piata Unrii

Potential Stories...

In the past two weekends, I traveled outside Bucharest. I didn't have enough time to make stories or essay in any of the places, but I will probably be able to go back to those places. But, I'm a bit indicisive which one I should be doing.

Story 1: Comunie - In a mining town Petrila, there is a remain of a communal life which was brought by Ceaucescu. Those people were relocated from other areas and have been living in the area for a long time. One of the residents said they don't have money but enjoy their simple life. They often have activities together. The community has about 50 -100 people.




Story 2: Mining town - Petrila, Petrosan, Lupeni are all mining towns located the central west of Romania. Access is a bit limited, but may be possible to work on a story there.




Story 3: Azil - Here in Azil, old people with mental disablities live quietly. Petrila is one of a few towns to be able to afford such facilities.



Story 4: Horse Shoe Roma - There is a gypsy community that makes horse shoes for living. They live about 30-40 minutes away from Pitesti. You hear the sound of horse shoe making every where in the community. It's got nice rhythm and like music.





Story 5: Tuica place - Several old men in a village near Pitesti make țuica in a small den .. Each person has 12 hour shift, and the operation is supposed to last 24 hours to make the alcohol. People bring fruits to make țuica and woods for the fire by horses. It's a nice a little place.




Story 6: No picture yet but... - a story on people struggling in a rural area. I've visited a family in a village. She has one year downsyndrome child and live with her little boyand husband. Her house doesn't run electricity, but she tries hard to raise the children. Another story I heard was that there is also a mother and her disabled kid living under the bridge in a village. I haven't met them, but it sounds like a story to tell...

Universitate 2

Unidentified man performs at Piata Universitate's underground area.

StreetKids3

This was the third time I spent time with them. Then, they disappeared and came back to the same place today. Seems like most Romanians are tired of those because the foreign media cover only gypsies, homeless and street kids. Still, it's shocking and
makes me curious about this issue...

Street Kids 2

I thought it would be fair to have the last picture. They are very cool kids, at least to me, but they don't have much to do. If teenagers don't have any guidance and are left alone on sthreet, what could you expect them to do? I've never seen things like this in Japan or America, but again this doesn't seem to be an unusual thing in the rest of the world.
I haven't seen the kids in the past few days, and I'm a bit worried. Seems like police are getting stricter. I wonder where police would send them if the kids get caught...

Armando, 8, smokes in front of the subway station, after he received a cigarette from a pedestrian.


Nelu and Rolanda inhale the cheap drug from the plastic bag.


Nelu, 18, Rolanda, 13, Vasile, 14, photographed at Armata Poporului.

Nelu & Armando

my neighbors. Nelu, 18, inhales glue from the plastic bag while Armando, 8, right, lit the cigarette at Metrou Armata Poporului in Bucharest. They live with Rolanda, 13, and Vasile, 14, on the street. They are very friendly and harmless. Kids like them are still not very unusual, which is a bit cultural shock for me...

Militari 1

It's been almost two months since I came to this wonderful, beautiful and insightful country (i'm not being sarcastic, I really think so). It took for a while to settle and figure out what's going on here and what I will be doing. Well, I'm still in transition, but I finally feel like shooting more and more. There are lots of stories around the country, but it's hard to focus. It also takes time to get contats with potential subjects due to language and cultural barrier. Also, being Asian freaks out people here sometime because they generally haven't interect with Asians. But, I think that would be pretty much similar if working in different countries. Each country would give photographers hard time in defferent ways, I think. Shooting here is kind of like a street fight, as opposed to doing an MMA or boxing in the ring with tons of rules and cares. I've heard many times fighters get injured outside of the ring for some careless reasons, and I know those guys wouldn't be the same if they are on the street. I heard some pro guys getting beaten up on the street, as well.
I've finally found something thematic to work on. My neighborhood Militari has a lot of working class people, and in some sense, it's more real. The subways and subway stations in the area are pretty interesting to me. There are also many interesting people around other subway stations in Bucharest. So, I will be posting pictures more often hopefully...

Caption: Vlădescu Constantin performs in the subway in Militari, Bucharest on Oct. 21, 2007.

strays

Strays rest in front of a casino near piața universității.

Piața Unirii 2

after work

Contax

photographed at Piata Unirii in Bucuresti with Contax G2, ISO 400,

New Patriarch

The enthronement of the new Romanian Orthodox Church patriarch Daniel Metropolitan. There were a lot of people like the president's appearance at Piata Universitate.

An old woman pray while the entronement takes place inside the church.

Basescu Night

Romanian president Traian Basescu appears at Piața Universitate. There were tons of people, and I was pushing and pushed by security guys and spectators. It was kind of like covering presidential campaigns in the States.

An old woman waits on the appearanec of the president.

Security guy grabs the balloon while the president gets interviewed by a TV reporter.

Taking pictures.

He seemed tired.

President talks to an old woman before he leaves.