Sighiṣoara is a town in central Romania with a colourful past. Its strategic location, which had been used by the Romans in ancient times, is one of several used as garrisons in the region. Initially a border town the King of Hungary had built up for strategic reasons, the town soon flourished and now is one of the best kept middle age towns I've been to on my travels.
One of the town's most arresting views is that of the Clock Tower as you climb up to the citadel through one of its southern entrances.
This photo took some work. It's a 3 frame panorama shot in landscape, but each of those 3 shots are made of several more so that I could remove the people walking up and down the pathway. What has resulted is a tourist attraction without tourists :)
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
Tags: square panorama romania Sighiṣoara sighisoara Schäßburg Segesvár city clock tower citadel f:ultrawide Canon1740mm camera:canon_5d2
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Another shot taken in the Romanian citadel town of Sighișoara. On the opposite side of all the grand fortresses and churches there are colourful streets where the people live.
We were on out way to visit the more photographed churches and towers of the citadel, but on passing the mouth of this street it caught my eye. The sun was in the right position to lighten the houses but not be in the frame. I liked how the colours and angular lines of the houses contrasted with the grey and rounded cobbles.
This is a manually despherized panorama of 13 frames shot at 17mm.
Sighișoara, Romania, 2012
Canon 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
Tags: Romania ROU square sighișoara citadel streets colourful vanishing line panorama f:ultra_wide Canon1740mm camera:canon_5d2
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A young girl plays with a windfan by a small window in Bran Castle, Transylvania.
We spent the majority of the day walking around Bran Castle, also known as Dracula's castle. The link to the Dracula legend seemed rather tenuous to me, but the castle does a good job of making the link believable. There's far more to see here than the vampire-related lore with the spectacular setting and rich history of the region.
It was quite a contrast when I turned around from reading yet another morbid plaque about the terrible things Vlad III did to see this little girl. She was in a vivid red dress, leaning into a frustrum of light and giggling each time a breeze drifted up from the surrounding forest to tickle her winfdan into motion.
No matter the transgressions of our forefathers, our future -- our children -- ia a clean slate upon which we can sketch a new world. Our future is renewable.
Transylvania, Romania, 2012
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L
Tags: ROU dracula bran castle vampires renewable wind power europe girl window light frustrum Canon1740mm camera:canon_5d2
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In Brasov, the walls are painted so brightly that they share their colour with the dark grey paving stones on a sunny day.
Walking through this town I kept wishing I had two cameras. Some photos of the streets begged for an ultrawide and then others, such as this one, really made sense when zoomed in.
For this shot, I squatted down to get a good amount of compression of the foreground cobbles as well as the walls. Zooming in meant that the arch at the end of the street was large enough to be an active element in the composition.
Brasov, Romania, 2012
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS
Tags: Romania ROU square citadel streets colourful vanishing line panorama f:long brasov camera:canon_5d2
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Along the northern reaches Ialomița river in Romania there is a vast cave complex which has been used for centuries as a site of a monastery.
After a short drive up from Sinaia through mountainous scenery, we reached the moth of Ialomiţa Cave. The entrance to the 500m long gave is guarded by an impressive gate and through it sitting adjacent to the cave mouth is this small structure.
Initially built in the 16th century, it has burnt down four times in the past 500 years. The structures that currently stand were built relatively recently in the early 90s. The monastery was initially built in a region that was difficult to access (as most monasteries are) but in the past few decades the local government has improved accessibility to the monastery and caves and they are slowly becoming more and more of a tourist attraction.
Ialomița, Romania, 2012
Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 14-40mm f/4L
Tags: cave Romania church monastery Ialomita f:ultrawide Ialomița square christianity canyon camera:canon_5d2
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