31/365 - Don't lose your head

31/365 - Don't lose your head, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

This is the end of the first month and for me an important step to the next milestone! Having a look back and making a short summary of the last 31 days – it has been a great period for my imagination and my photographic view. I was forced to think outside the box as I have done many of the daily photos indoors and without a flash.
What next? Well I will try to do more outdoors photography and also portraits!
See you tomorrow!

30/365 - Focus on what's important

30/365 - Focus on what's important, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

I wanted to give you a short update on Evernote as I am using it daily now. To be honest - is the best app for keeping ideas that you run into on the internet, in the street or in magazines. I use it on my iphone, ipad and my windows laptop with the firefox plugin so I have easy access to save anything from anywhere. If you haven’t used their services until now I strongly recommend to give it a try. Oh, and it’s free too :)
See you tomorrow!

29/365 - Shades of grey

29/365 - Shades of grey, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

It is funny how our mind thinks and how simple it reacts to anything – it approves or disapproves in a few seconds. And I am talking about anything here from a person to a gadget to an idea.
We are living in a world where most people complain about everything - their jobs, taxes, weather, traffic, family etc…
Today I read an article that was referring to stupid vs intelligent people (schooled people). At the first glance it was funny how the writer was pointing out the fact that the worlds work on actions not on analyzing and that stupid people most of the time act while intelligent people usually make plans over plans and they give up therefore stupid people most of the time “win”. After reading the whole thing, while it had some humor and some truth in it, I could not agree with the idea. Why? Well he was stating that schooled people always have a problem with the system and treated this as defect – saying that instead of trying to change it you should ride the wave - while I don’t agree with this : all great things were made by people that were out of the systems of their times from great books to electricity, to cars, to internet, facebook & iphone .
Combining my view with his view I have ended up with the following ideas:
Action and reaction – how the world works – DO IT NOW
Sticking behind an idea – usually we are getting bored easily and we go on to the next idea – LET THE IDEA GROW (and improve it through experience)
System / Matrix / However you want to put it – with or against it – well ….it depends on you – you could be against it but use it to get to your goal by leveraging your talents/ or you could be with it and be happy like this
From my perspective the conclusion is simple – do whatever makes you happy but do something besides complaining :)
I would like to know what do you think about the “mass complaining”?

28/365 - It's a bird, it's a plane...

28/365 - It's a bird, it's a plane..., a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

So today we went deep into composition in photography school and as always when you start to learn about something you realize how little you really know. I need to read more but most important to practice more – and here enters this project!
See you tomorrow!

27/365 - One of those days...

27/365 - One of those days..., a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

One of those days... without a story... only upside down!

26/365 - Good time to...

26/365 - Good time to..., a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

It’s raining....The weather is changing from sunny to rain in a matter of minutes lately and we are not used to this… I do find rainy days nice because usually you do what you wanted to do for some time but you always postponed because you could not waste such a beautiful day in house. I am talking about activities like reading a book, watching a movie, do some cleaning, making a baby the usual stuff…
I am working on my movie list – if you have some favorites please leave a comment as I am opened to suggestions from any genre but I do prefer movies in English or Romanian .
See you tomorrow!

25/365 - Ice coffe & Fuji

25/365 - Ice coffe & Fuji, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

   I am struggling with an old laptop and I was searching for a new pc for a while – to be honest I had the money but I bought the fuji :). And I am glad that I didn’t bought the pc because I would have postponed the fuji for a good period of time and this project would have been only a dream!
   Like many photographers I am stuck between Imac and a custom pc. The apple products are expensive BUT they usually deliver. The build quality and the system that links all their products it’s just great! I am now dreaming at the new 27 inch Imac. I will buy it … I just don’t know when :)
See you tomorrow!

24/365 - Fighting shadows

24/365 - Fighting shadows, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

A new member has been introduced in our family – meet the little bonsai tree – or at least it’s shadow! No name yet!
Post an interesting name for the little tree and I will choose one in the next days!
I was so tired today and I wanted so bad to finish work in order to get some rest and I am not talking about sleeping, I am talking about “I don’t want to think about work” rest … I want to read, to go see a movie, to have time for photography, and most important to spend more time with my wife because she is the one that keeps me on the right path, she encourages me when I need it and she supports my chaotic life style :)
See you tomorrow!

23/365 - Polo addiction

23/365 - Polo addiction, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

        Today a “nice” storm hit Bucharest. It is incredible when nature shows it’s true force and it makes you feel powerless. We as a country until know are lucky regarding tornados and earthquakes as the last huge earthquake that destroyed a lot of buildings and killed a lot of people was in 1977 and hopefully we will not have another soon.
         I want to talk a little about the new flickr – It looks great and works great – I think that from a look and feel perspective they managed to do a great job, but and a big BUT this is they somehow managed to ignore and upset the paying customer. While I am not one of the bunch I do understand why others are…. When you are paying for a service you expect something better than the free account now for the average user this disappeared.
       I would like to know what is your opinion on this!
See you tomorrow!

22/365 - Me hungry!

22/365 - Me hungry!, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

         In the past days I complained that I was overwhelmed with things that I postponed or even worse I forgot. I am having moments when I remember that I needed to do something and if I don’t do them right away I forget about them again. What to in order to fix this?
          First I made a list with all the to do’s and I have made a split between different activities like pc, home, work, phone etc... after that I have searched for an app in order to manage all this crazy things…and I searched ….. and I searched a little bit more… and I found it Planner Plus app it was exactly what I was looking for (at least at the first use :) ) It has the look and feel of a normal planner so I just love this about the app. What I hate for now is the fact that I am stuck with the ipad app as it does not offer cross device support! I also started to use more the Evernote app lately – snap a picture of something bang it’s in evernote with a short description .
      I will give you a feedback after 1 month use of both apps in order to get a good impression.
See tomorrow!

21/365 - Fuji X new little brother

21/365 - Fuji X new little brother, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Again Tuesday, again photography school and less time for capturing my daily photo. My teacher has the new Fuji X100S and my colleague was getting the feel of the camera so I snapped a quick photo of him doing his thing!
Regarding the movie saw last night, after all the lately madness with Game of thrones and more recently Hannibal series I needed to see a good action movie. I don’t know why but I stopped at Seven Samurai…. Yes the black and white version. I don’t understand why action movies can’t match half the quality of the movie. It is filmed like Akiro Kurosawa was painting the idea into the viewers brain, not filming it and if you let yourself captured by the story you are rewarded with the best 180 minutes spent in front of your TV watching an action movie!
I urge all people to see how action movies should have been made for the last decade. I know that we live in an era were quantity overcome quality by far but in every domain will be people that will pay the extra money to buy, see or feel something of good quality. I am disappointed of a lot of things lately because of the low quality production.
I guess that is also what sets Fuji from their competitors with the X series cameras – by playing in another league .
See you tomorrow!

20/365 - Coffee vs tea - K.O.

20/365 - Coffee vs tea - K.O., a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

I don’t understand how but the coffee always wins against tea no matter how late it is… I will watch a movie tonight, I am not sure what movie but I am in that mood… I will tell you tomorrow what I saw and how it was! I used to watch lots of movies in the past but as time grow shorter I started to pass on opportunities… hopefully I will start again and re-watch some great movies! Any ideas ?
See you tomorrow!

19/365 - Fisherman dilemma

19/365 - Fisherman dilemma, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

We are living very close to a park that is ending with the biggest lake in Bucharest “Lacul morii” / “Morii Lake”. From here you have the greatest view to a sunset. It is usually packed with people that are jogging or just walking on the edge of the lake.
We sat down next to fisherman and what I found very funny is the fact the we saw fish hitting the edge of the lake but he didn’t manage to catch anything… I guess this is the irony of life – opportunity is always next to you but you have to open your field of view in order to benefit from it.
See you tomorrow!

18/365 - In your face!

18/365 - In your face!, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today was another beautiful day in Bucharest.
I went to the first skate-park build in Bucharest in order to get some nice pictures.
I used to come here very often when I was a teenager. It looked different and it was used different as there were no bikes only rollerblades back then. When I look at them I realize the difference of generation – we didn’t had internet- heck, most of us didn’t had pc’s back then, the information was limited on every domain to books and learning from others - now if you want to learn something you just look it up on your phone :)). But this comes with a price, like everything on this world, more kids don’t want to go out and when they do they are not socializing - they are on facebook or playing online games… this can’t be healthy at all – so I salute the ones that are doing sports and playing outside!

See you tomorrow!

17/365 - Turkish festival

17/365 - Turkish festival, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today was Turkish festival in the biggest park in Bucharest “Herastrau”. Lots of people gathered to see the show, taste the great food and socialize. I like this kind of events as people are more relaxed in being photographed. I managed to get some nice images due to the atmosphere. I usually don’t care about the surrounding and if I see an interesting picture I just frame and shoot , smile and say thank you – but I really appreciated today due to the nice people that wanted to be photographed and didn’t mind that I was pointing an obtrusive thing in their faces!
See you tomorrow!

16/365 - Life remote

16/365 - Life remote, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

I really need a life remote in order to pause some moments or ffw through others. It was a hard day at work and I am tired and hungry! I will go and eat something while I browse around to see what I can learn new today for photography!
PS: I know the movie with Adam Sandler and what happened when he used the remote - so I need one remote only with benefits

See you tomorrow!

15/365 - Sexy is a full-time job

15/365 - Sexy is a full-time job, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Guys no story today!
Go to your wife, girlfriend or whatever you call the beautiful woman next to you and give her a real kiss, the kiss that made her stay with you and tell her you love her!
No, today is no special day, it’s not Valentines day already - It’s just Wednesday :)

You can thank me tomorrow!
Cheers!

14/365 - People's Palace

14/365 - People's Palace, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today I am late with my post as I was at photography school and I camed home late! I had a very short time for my daily photo but I have managed to get to a place that I like very much.
This is Casa Poporului (People’s palace) and from my opinion is the most impressive building in Romania, not only from its stature (heaviest building in the world) but from it’s history too. It was finished just before the revolution in 1989 in Nicolae Ceausescu’s regime (communist regime). It has 20 floors from which is 12 stories tall and has 8 underground levels.
What is very odd for our times is the fact that it was mainly build with materials from Romania including marble, crystals, steel and bronze. It now houses Romania’s Chamber of Deputies & The Romanian Senate. It can also be visited! so if you do a city break in Bucharest be sure you visit this incredible monument.
You can find lots of stories over the internet regarding this building and Nicolae Ceausescu - some true, some fictionary... There is a constant local saying that it was better then (before 1989) than now. I can’t say anything on my own experience as I was too little but I do see the irony how they managed to build this and name it House of the people / People’s palace and most of the people were in lines in order to buy one bread and some milk and many were starving….
See you tomorrow!

13/365 - Arrogant swagger

13/365 - Arrogant swagger, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today is raining, the sky is pitch black although is daylight outside …. I guess we needed a little rain …so whether, please put “little” in front of rain if you could please...
Tomorrow I will start again photography school a after a short Easter break and I am not sure how I will do my daily photo because I finish work around 5:30 and I start school at 7:00 until 10:00 – 10:30. So I have 1 hour between work and school to do my best and produce a decent photo… we will see how this will go.
See you tomorrow!

12/365 - Funky Angry Bird

12/365 - Funky Angry Bird, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

We arrived late today in Bucharest! We are happy but tired and tomorrow we will start a new week with new challenges at work and at home.
I am falling behind with a lot of stuff that needed to be done. I need to better plan my time and just do stuff as I am saying to often to myself ”tomorrow”… some ideas how to do this?

See you tomorrow!

11/365 - Good morning

11/365 - Good morning, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Good morning!
This is my breakfast for today! The coffee - latte macchiato – is always in the spotlight, I wonder how the cheese and the cherry tomatoes feel :).
We are packing now as we will leave in 2 hours. I am rushing to do all the necessary so I tell you have a great day and like always see you tomorrow!

10/365

10/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today after work I visited my parents, it is very nice when you get quality time with the people that you love. Tomorrow we will leave Bucharest again in order to get to my wife’s home town as she has the high school 10 year reunion. It is odd …. we are getting older… hopefully wiser too… only life will tell!
Regarding today’s photo - I am forcing myself to look differently at the most common places for me in order to get one good shot, this is the subway exit from my parents neighborhood. I have pushed a little the camera as the lighting conditions were horrible.
Note to self: Buy flash for portraits & self-portraits
See you tomorrow!

9/365 - Clarity & Ideas are overrated

9/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

After a long day at the office I arrived home later than usual. As I don't yet own a flash I depend on the natural light so I was in a hurry to take the daily picture... after a few failures I smoked a cigarette and a light bulb lit over my head ....well you understand where I am going to with this :)

See you tomorrow!

8/365

8/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

No story for today - with my last energy I managed to make the daily photo, I am tired…. I need sleep… going to bed now…
See you tomorrow!

7/365 - Wingardium Leviosa

7/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Since the beginning of this project I feel like a magician that needs to pull a rabbit from the hat …daily!
After the first day at work I was beat and with no impulse to go outside, I guess the unnatural heat for this month contributed too… I will start to search for “models” as I have a few ideas from the fashion world! Stay tuned as more will follow!
Usually on Tuesday I am at photography school but now we have a few days off… next week I will have even less time for the daily photo and I need to get my schedule in the right place as I am packed and I need to squeeze enough time to produce a good photo, but let’s get there first :)
Until then - See you tomorrow!

6/365

6/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

I am back in Bucharest and tomorrow I will start working again after a short Easter holiday. This will be another challenge in my project as the time for photography will be very limited. I have a lot of stuff in my head regarding photo and I started to write them down digitally using Evernote. This is a great tool for remembering if you are not used to carry around a pen and paper but you have your phone.
In the picture of today I present to you the tool that captured most of my childhood. This was my father’s camera and I think that it hasn’t been used since 2002. I personally haven’t used film cameras since I was 14 but this camera feels like home, it smells like my childhood. I have great memories with my family and this camera. I need to find a shop to do a full inspection, clean and repair it if necessary and buy some film rolls as I have a small film portraits project in mind.
See you tomorrow :)

5/365

5/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

This was the day when I really was on the edge as I didn’t had my daily photo until the last minute. This is an important lesson for me to open my eyes and always “scan” because the shot above was right next to me and as soon as I saw the frame I reached for my camera. I have ended up on the floor as I needed a slower shutter speed in order to compensate the lack of light as I was already at ISO 6400 and at 1/30 the handheld results were blurry.
Meet Lusha, my in-laws dog! After 2 full days of eating and enjoying so much company she was beat and was sleeping in a small place in the kitchen stove. I saw a picture when she was only one month and she could stay in the same place raised. She loves that hole because of the warmth from the stove although that was intended for keeping wood not the dog :)
See you tomorrow!

4/365

4/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today rained almost in the whole country. I was afraid that I will be forced to take the daily shot inside but the weather was kind to me and allowed my project to carry on in the nature.
I am usually a portrait / street / fashion photographer and I rarely take photographs of landscapes but this view is simply gorgeous. This was taken from the porch of my wife’s uncle house. The little church is exactly where his garden ends and the 2 apple trees with the fallen petals made the perfect framing. Today all churches will be packed with people coming to the Easter ceremony to get “Holy Light”.
I wish you all the best and happy Easter !
See you tomorrow :)

3/365

3/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today we left Bucharest and we arrived at my wife’s parents. They live in a beautiful area at only 30 minutes to the mountains at about 200km far from our home. 
I was in a little bit of shock as in Bucharest the temperature was around 30C the last days, very warm for May but here is colder and I didn’t brought many clothes with long sleeves…hopefully it will get warmer here too…
About the picture – meet 2 baby chicks ~10 hours old, I shoot in manual focus – hand held - in order to get very close as they are very little as you can see in comparison with the grass. I love the colors produced from this camera and the sharpness of this lens.
See you tomorrow :)

2/365

2/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

Today I had a long walk through the Old City in Bucharest, I remember when I was little I used to come here with my grandfather, it was very different 15 years ago, there were a few places where you can drink a coffee and now it is packed with bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants. It is the place where you can find fun & food at 4 AM everyday.

It is also a place where you will find artists – this particular men was singing at a open pub jazz music – he sounded great.

 

1/365

1/365, a photo by Mihai Boangher on Flickr.

This is the start of my 365 days journey in photography along with my Fuji X-E1.

The idea is simple - one photo a day for a full year, not so sure of how simple will be to get through the whole year but …only time will tell…
 
I had this in mind for 2 years now, but I always found a reason for not starting it and what really motivated me was Luca’s Rossini sony nex 7 project from last year ( you can find it here http://www.lucarossini.it/category/366nex/ ) which I would like to thank for the great content that he provided and is providing in his current project!
 
Why Fuji X-E1? Well let’s put it this way - it’s a sexy camera with personality, once you shoot with it you are hooked like a junkie on drugs. I will talk more about the camera, about the ups and downs throughout the project.
 
See you tomorrow :)