Saturday, August 20, 2022
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All posts by Mugur G.
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed many of the trips I wanted to take this year. Europe is still banning travelers from the USA, so the Old Continent is off-limits for the time being. There are some benefits to this forced grounding – I found the time to process some of the photos I’ve taken over the years that were waiting for… my retirement, probably, before seeing the light of a computer screen.
I am starting a series of posts showcasing these images. I hope you will like them – and maybe they will entice you to travel there when the pandemic is over.
The first posts are images from Burano – a small island in the Venice Lagoon renowned for its colored buildings and the famous Burano lace. Photos from May 2018. Enjoy!
This photos have been taken with an “obsolete” 8MP camera, over 10 years old, that was converted to increase its sensitivity to the infrared spectrum. Some of the images are IR HDR. I hope you like them.
For 14 years, the Kansas City Fringe Festival has brought together aspiring and established artists to create a Babel Tower of picturesque, loud, funny and uncensored art. I have been one of the festival’s many volunteer photographers for the past eight years, and I have enjoyed recording this unbelievable art scene that takes over the city for two weeks in July. I created the “Fantastic Fringe” series from some of my artists’ photos, using image manipulation to create a visual extension of their performances, as I perceive it. The images are part of the Visual Arts Exhibition at Union Station in KCMO, which runs from July 15 to July 29, 2018. Enjoy!
I was about five years old when I learned for the first time about Venice. I remember because it was right after my father spent a year in Italy getting an advanced degree at the University of Padova. I recall looking at photos and travel guides and being curious about the canals, the palaces, and the gondolas…
It is interesting how a kid’s imagination can drive the quest of an adult, and how it can morph both expectations and reality. For me, Venice felt like meeting a cousin that I haven’t seen in many years. It was new, but also familiar. Intriguing. It is a city that the camera loves, although it doesn’t really love cameras…. or tourists. Day tourists, that’s it. To really enjoy the city spending a few nights there is mandatory.
From opulent palaces to very narrow streets, it is hard for me to pinpoint what I liked most in this city built on wood pillars driven in the lagoon’s mud. Probably the “spritz,” but that has nothing to do with architecture. One of the most interesting finds was that canals are really the back alleys of Venice. Some even have graffiti, half washed by the lagoon’s waters. Oh, and that gondolas are built crooked and float tilted to the right.
The mess, noise and craziness that is Venice during the day vanishes when the night falls and the hordes of tourists return to their cruise ships, or pack the restaurants, osterias and tavernas. As one day ends and another begins, the city seems to go back in time and is breathing a moment of respite. Venice at peace.
Enjoy the photos!
Small doors.
Clean streets.
Waking up at 2 in the morning to go see some dead fish being sold.
Sushi for breakfast. Noodles for lunch. Sushi for dinner.
People. Lots and lots of people. Polite people.
Police cars that look like they just descended from an anime movie.
French pastries tastier than those in Paris. Perfect cappuccino.
Walking. All day.
Interesting mélange between modern and traditional.
Almost nobody speaks English.
Google translate saves the day. Sometimes.
Learning to eat noodles and rice as locals do. We can’t slurp that loud.
New tastes, new smells, new sights.
Signs and advertisements everywhere. Handwritten. Printed. Photographs.
Somehow, it feels like Istanbul. The smell of the sea is the same. The smell of the city… much better.
Cash, must have cash.
Bento box.
Hello Kitty!
Metal snakes running at 200 mph.
Kon’nichiwa Tokyo!
I first encountered the name Rapa Nui when I was 12 years old and I read Thor Heyerdahl’s “Kon-Tiki.” It was one of the readings which defined my teenage years and which, together with Jules Verne’s books, Jack London and Radu Tudoran’s novels and Mihai Tican’s stories fueled my desire to travel and explore the world. When I had the chance to visit Chile in November 2014, I couldn’t help but book a local flight and spend two days in Easter Island. I hope you will enjoy these images from the most isolated place in the world.
The spring came early this year. Not only that, but it was a “confused” spring, with warm and cold days alternating in almost random patterns. People, as well as plants, seem not able to find their natural rhythm… When I learned that my visit to Washington, DC will coincide with the apogee of the cherry blossoms, I started to look forward to those moments. But Mother Nature had other plans and the peak of the cherry blossoms arrived a week earlier. Nevertheless, I went in search of the flowers – these are some of the images from my quest (Fujifilm X-E2 with 27mm 2.8 lens).
World Trade One building in New York
New York as it is viewed from the observation deck at the 104 floor of the World Trade One building. A magnificent view that you can enjoy by installing Microsoft’s Research HDView software for your browser. It will allow you to zoom in and pan in all directions.
I created this panorama by stitching together 39 high resolution images taken with my Fujifilm X-E2. Make sure you view it on full screen for an immersive experience (click on the icon on top right corner of the frame).
Have fun – and please leave a comment.
New York Gigapanorama – HDViewer:
Note: BEST VIEWED WITH FIREFOX. Google’s Chrome ver.47(current) has issues installing the HD Viewer from MS.
Copyright 2015 Mugur Geana
New York is like a living organism. Its streets are the veins and arteries through which biped cells move, collide and interact. There is an endless stream of photo opportunities for the street artist as well as for the occasional photographer who is only experimenting with this art form. The photos below are some of the results of my own experiments on these ever changing streets of New York. Enjoy!
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- Alo, alo!
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- Stones
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- 50 shades
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- Girl with candels
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- Jersey Boys
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- Radio cab
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- Remember the past – Ellis Island
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- The rebel mannequin
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- Stealing a smoke
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- Bike in a bag
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- No hands
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- Nautilus
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- Selfie time
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- Waiting for the light to change
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- “LOVE IS ON”
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- Beauty and the phone
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- The professionals
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- Damaged
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- Mobile selfie
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- On the job
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- Shoe parade
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- Modern contrasts
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- The harmonica player
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- “No, he doesn’t like carrots.”
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- On top of the world
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- Lights reaching for the sky
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- DIsmemberment
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- Mirror and shoes
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- The fastest driver on the street
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- Fighting the tilt
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- Searching for the trail
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- Aliens of New York
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- Lunch break
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- NY Monks
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- The voyeur
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- Waiting for time to pass
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- Infinite subway
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- Cupid’s bullets
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- Two amigas
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- No texting, just text
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- Headless style
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- Distracted cycling
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- Silhouettes on the 104 floor
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- Sean and Chestnut
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- Frozen