Leica 24 (nov.-dec. 2009)
I mixed some of the films and I`m to lazy to fix that now. This roll was supposed to go before the one with Cosmin.
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Teach me tonight - Roots
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This concert took place at the Romanian Cultural Institute and was part of Harry Tavitian`s Teach me Tonight series, and had the sole purpose of enlightening the audience with a little bit of jazz and blues history.
Although Harry talked about the roots of blues for about 15-20min at the beginning, I`m glad he did `cause I learned some new things. Some got bored pretty fast and even shouted "Let`s get on with the music..." but clearly the concert was not for them.
Harry had two guest players Vali "Sir Blues" Racila (slide guitar, delta blues) and Marcian Petrescu (harmonica) and they were both amazing.
I actually know Vali Racila for almost 11 years now. He used to come to my home town (Bacau) collaborating with the FSC (a non-profit organization created to support the people in need). And through common friends he got to know my father, who later brought me to Vali`s "friends-only" 1h concerts at a cup of tea. I remember one day he brought me two CD`s. The first one was an Emerson, Lake and Palmer album (can`t remember precisely the name) and the other one was Buddy Guy and Junior Well Live in Chicago (1993). I listened to them both and I chose to follow the Buddy Guy way. Since then I`m a blues fan, and in 2007 when I was in Chicago, I met him at his bar. I ran and bought the exact album (The 1993 Chicago concert) and had him sign it. Only God knows were`s that album now, but I sure have the pictures to remember about it.
But I digress. Since then I tried to be at all of Vali`s concerts. Missed a few.
Marcian Petrescu is one of the best Romanian harmonica players. I actually wanted to start studying harmonica with him but I never found the time. He is the lead singer of "Trenul de Noapte" (Midnight Train) band and had the pleasure of opening Sugar Blue`s Romanian tour concerts, last year.
The whole performance ended just under 2.5h and it was brilliant. The only spice missing from all these ingredients was "more Harry at the piano", I mean, it was great, but you just can`t have enough piano.
More info about the event @ Harry Tavitian`s Blog -> Here and here
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Alex Galmeanu`s "Contact Lenses" Photography Exhibition
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I don`t want to say bad things about the expo `cause he might kick my ass, but I just can`t resist:
- the space was to small thus overcrowded.
- most of the pictures were wonderful, but a few of them ... "what was he thinkin` showing these next to the really good ones?" (this is my opinion and does not reflect a majority)
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Late ride home
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I snapped this one waiting for the metro one night. Dristor station 11:00 PM.
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Help Portrait – Cosmin (dec.2009)
I dedicated 12/12/2009 to the Help Portrait movement.
-basically you take your camera and use it to put a smile on someones face. Take their picture, print it and deliver it. No strings attached.
Out of everybody Cosmin moved me the most.
- He`s a single child.
- He thinks he can play basketball.
- He said he played in his high-school`s team as a pivot.
- He said he had an accident and can`t play anymore.
- When the cellphone dropped from his jacket, he almost freaked out. I asked him why and he replayed "This phone was my mom`s and she game it to me as a present for my 18th birthday. I must not break it"
- He doesn`t really understand the concept of guarding an opponent or dribbling. He just likes to shoot hoops.
- His friends call him "Smecheru`" (I`m having a hard time translating this in English) or "Sageata" (as in Arrow).
These ar just quick facts. I played some basketball with him (mostly as his ball retriever). Stayed there on the court for about 1h. after 25min a kid came by with his grand`ma to play football at the other end of the playground. Boy, that kid missed the goal from 3ft away, but when he hit the ball in our direction, he struck Cosmin in the back of the head from more than 20ft. That very moment I wanted to be Kyle and score a home-run with that kid.
When I got there I just wanted to shoot some hoops. When I left, I had a story and a new friend.
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Lisbon (nov.2009) – Part Two (the outtakes)
As I said a long time ago, this entry`s purpose is to shine some light on some of the lesser photos of my Portugal trip.
Out of ~900 pictures (not counting the panoramas and the HDRs) I chose to show you 25, but there were ~60-70 pictures selected to tell the story.
I can`t post the remaining 40+ pictures but I think you can handle 10 more. (actually 9 decent ones and a dud!)
Enjoy.
(P.S. I`m trying as hard as I can to make room in my schedule to stitch those panoramas I`m blabbering about so "keep your pants on"!)
And this is how we roll ... when we`re outside the country.
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Lisbon (Nov.2009)
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Or Lisboa, as they spell it.
I chose to celebrate my 23 birthday in Lisbon because Jo was there for studies and I thought "why not?". The target was "travel light" so I did! My backpack had my D200 + just 2 lenses (11-16/2.8 and the 50mm/1.4 AF-S), 6 t-shirts, 6 pairs of socks and enough underwear to last me a week. And o course the heavy stuff was on me: a jacket, a pair of pants, a pair of shoes and a long sleeved top. Money and passport in my wallet and I was ready to go.
Yes, no Leica! I had to shoot digital, `cause it`s just like ... if you don`t use it , you lose it.
When I left home for the airport it was freaking cold and raining cats and dogs, and by the time I got there I was soaking wet. I had to go through check in, and the guy there saw me like that, and he said "dude, keep your shoes on, don`t bother, I trust you".
And after 2h in the airport, 4h on the plane, I hopped of @ Lisbon and it was like 30*C...
The next few days flew by very quickly.
Snapped 1300 pictures (most of them are panoramas so don`t freak out. When I got back home I had to keep up with school so I ended up emptying my memory card about 4 days ago and it was then when I had the time to take a look at my photos. So in a way, I bet I would have seen my pictures faster if I would have shot film.
Ok, out of these I have selected around 60+ pictures worth a second look, and out of those I squeezed out 22, but I like "round numbers" and instead of 20 I figured 25 pictures should do the trick.
P.S. Because I don`t want to write long entrys anymore, the one with the panoramas will follow after this one. And maybe I`ll write one with "out-takes" after that.
Netherlands
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And, with almost 11 days overdue, I present to you the Netherlands entry.
We took the Thalys train from Paris with the destination: Rotterdam. "Lucky" for us, they were working on the railroads those days so we hopped of at Utrecht, then we took a train straight to Hague. `Cause that`s were Pinka and Srj are living now. You`ll see pictures of their neighborhood at the end. And yes ... they live in a red MVRDV house.
In the 5 days remaining of our trip we visited Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft and Hague. (if I forgot something, just let me know)
Given the fact that I`m not in a "writing allot of stuff" mood I`ll let you enjoy the pictures.
Don`t be shy and write a few words yourself ... and yes, you can send this link to other people. 
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![[Group 1]-30K_8409_30K_8413-5 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-1-30K_8409_30K_8413-5-images.jpg)
![[Group 3]-30K_8521_30K_8528-8 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-3-30K_8521_30K_8528-8-images.jpg)
![[Group 4]-30K_8536_30K_8543-8 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-4-30K_8536_30K_8543-8-images.jpg)
![[Group 5]-30K_8571_30K_8583-13 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-5-30K_8571_30K_8583-13-images.jpg)
![[Group 6]-30K_8648_30K_8659-12 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-6-30K_8648_30K_8659-12-images.jpg)
![[Group 1]-DSC_10K_1454_DSC_10K_1475-14 images](http://vladdodan.ro/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Group-1-DSC_10K_1454_DSC_10K_1475-14-images.jpg)
P.S. The song is Red House played by Jimi Hendrix. I wanted to put another song but I can`t really get a hold of it so this one is just as good. Mainly because we stayed at our friends in a red house in Hague and as a side reason: it`s 12 bar blues and Razvan is trying to get the hang of it right now. Bro, I could only wish I could play 10% of what is Jimi doing by the time you get it together, but you`re getting it wright faster than I can learn how to improv...
