Printre Bogdani

"Printre" means "amongst". Bogdani is plural for Bogdan, a Romanian name. My girl's name is Bogdana. Most of my closest friends happen to bear this name. They are the only reason why I have not yet left this country. As long as I stay here, I intend to document my life and theirs by photographing the moments we share, so that when I do leave I can have something to look back to.

People of Merit for Soros Foundation

These are some of my favourite images from a series of portraits that I took a few months ago for Soros Foundation. DoR magazine was assigned to create a brochure to celebrate 20 years since the beginning of the programs that allowed thousands of Romanian students to benefit from scholarships that the foundation has awarded in Romania. I was one of them, a long time ago.

1. Andreea Craciun
2. Stefan Cibian
3. Corina Pintea
4. Simona Manea
5. Corina Murafa
6. Simona Baciu

Dad

Can't Touch This

iPhone Photos Get POYi Award

A while back, photographer Chip Litherland wrote a blog post about how photographers are contributing to the decline in quality by overusing gimmicks such as Holgas, iPhones and similar type of imagery that "Ashton Kutcher would see as art".

Today, one of the most prestigious photojournalism competitions, POYi, has just posted a list of recent winners in this year's ongoing competition. Third place in Feature Picture Story is a series of photographs shot with an iPhone, by NYT photographer Damon Winter. You can learn more about this story on the Lens blog. Congratulations, Damon!

Long discussions are likely to ignite, so feel free to comment. What's your take on this?

Lupsa

A constant source of inspiration and contagious optimism, my friend Cristi Lupsa.

Update

Fresh from the ski trip, slightly pushed by contest deadlines, I've taken the time to update the website a little bit. You can check it out here. You'll find the story I worked on in Serbia and an improved version of the story about Vama Veche. Both with crucial editing input by the great editor Mike Davis, who was able not only to coherently sequence my chaotic selects, but also point out images I definitely would have thrown out the window.

Merry Christmas!

Here's something good to chew on over the Christmas break from Mike Davis.

Gymnastics for Esquire

These pictures are my favourites from a series that recently ran in the Romanian Esquire magazine, part of a story about the state of Romanian gymnastics. Pictured below are national team member Ana Porgras and one of our most successful coaches, Mariana Bitang.

Serbia 15. Theological Seminary

There is a theological high school in a small town next to Novi Sad. The students in the class I photographed had an exam during my short visit there. At the end of the day the whole school (boys only) went to church to sing during the evening prayer.

Serbia 14. Velika Remeta Monastery

I have been trying for a long time to get access to one of the old Serbian monasteries. It was through friends from the Radio Television of Serbia that I was finally able to visit Velika Remeta, a monastery established in late 15th century in Voivodina, the northern part of the country. These friends helped me tremendously with access and transportation. I am deeply grateful to Ljubica Lalic for her assistance.

Serbia 13. Slava.

The Slava is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the celebration of a family's own patron saint. The family celebrates the slava annually on the patron saint's feast day. I photographed two Slava celebrations. I wanted to photograph this celebration both in a city and in a village. The first pictures batch of pictures are from a Slava in Belgrade. The second one are shot in a village called Porodin, where I got access thanks to a Romanian-Serb guy called Zoran Gruic, that I met while photographing the pilgrimage in Djunis last month. I am really grateful to these people for allowing me to photograph their celebrations.

Serbia 12. 1389

1389 is the year when the battle of Kosovo took place, where the Serbian army, led by Knyaz Lazar, fought against the invading army of the Ottoman Empire. After the battle, both Knyaz Lazar and Sultan Murad I died, along with most of their soldiers. Serbian epics says that Knyaz Lazar was visited by an angel of God on the night before the clash, and offered a choice between an earthly or a heavenly kingdom. Lazar opted for the latter, which is why many Serbs believe they are heavenly people.

1389 is also the name of an organization in Serbia, often called right-wing by the media and associated with nationalistic movements and implication in anti-European actions, such as the recent gay parade protests and clashes. They are strongly strong believers and consider Orthodoxy a core element of Serbian identity. That is why I wanted to meet them. The leaders of the 1389 agreed to see me. I explained a little bit about my project and they agreed to let me tag along with some of their members for a while in New Belgrade.

Marko's Romanian Teenagers

Great work about Romanian teenagers, for the World Press Photo's See Masterclass, by my friend Marko Risovic, a great Serbian photographer.