Claudia Curici Photography
Exploring my passion for photography
Life at the theatre (#viatalateatru)
Last month while I was visiting Bucharest, I participated to my first Worldwide Instameet, which was held at the newly renovated Bucharest National Theatre. The pictures below are from the theatre.
Random observation, I lately realised how much I love shooting in the sun and how I prefer to change a lot of my pictures in monochrome.
Dramatic landscape
I usually don’t over process photos, but if it is to create a mood like from another planet, why not? Maybe some movie director will get inspired by it :). Actually the place will probably look rather beautiful in few weeks, when the spring will finally get to these mountains in Romania.
The Arabian desert
Probably the entire world knows that Dubai (the UAE and the region) were engulfed by a terrible sandstorm last Thursday, and although it ended up earlier that everyone thought, today the sky was mostly covered by a thick layer of dust (acting as a solar filter too). This didn’t stop me to spend a beautiful and quiet day in the desert. The following pictures were taken about 30 – 40 minutes before sunset, on the way back, with my Fuji X100S. The colour scheme is exactly what I could see with the naked eye.
Dentelle in the sky
I don’t know about other photographers, but when I walk, I look up, a lot 🙂 These are captured in Bucharest, in beautiful afternoon light, with my Fuji X100S and they are published exactly how they came out of the camera, in jpg version.
Short story
There was no need for her to say a word.
Her eyes were telling the story
Of her sadness,
her dreams,
her loves,
her hopes.
A White March in Romania
When I left on holiday to Romania I was mostly hoping I’ll find some blossom, but instead it looks like snow is following me everywhere 🙂 I don’t have a computer with me and I was not planning to post anything while on holiday, but then I realized I can easily share some photos taken with my iPhone6 and edited with Tap and Go app. The first two pictures are taken on the way to a ski resort close to my parents’ town, Targu-Jiu. The last two pictured are taken on the way back to Bucharest; this is a fence made of skis that was on my list to photograph, only I had no idea I would be so lucky to have a snowy background to go with it. 
Energy
I believe everything is energy. The past few days I was reminded twice, in two different ways, how much the energy of a space matters. One was when I had lunch in a restaurant which had a negative energy – after which I got food poisoning; and the other few days later, in a yoga and lifestyle centre – where I felt transported in a another world the second I saw the entrance. I spent a couple of hours there and I felt light and happy. This picture is taken in this place (Life’N One Centre in Jumeirah 1, Dubai) and I feel it sends a little bit of the positive vibes I felt.
Soft pastels
Eureka! Finally I’ve managed to create my own preset for soft pastels. Until today I couldn’t figure out how to get this look for some of my photos but a simple goole research shed some light on what settings I needed to play with. I’m not going to get into too much details, but for those who have the same problem this is pretty much what needs to be played with (I’m not gonna say the values as each has their own preference): increase (plus values) exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, blacks. Decrease (minus value) clarity, vibrance, saturation. In Split Toning, slightly increase hue and saturation for highlights (below the mid value), and increase hue and saturation for shadows (above the mid value). Tone Curve, slightly increase shadows (this one I still need to work a little bit with). I noticed there are many Lightroom presets available to buy online, but I feel like I’d make it too easy if I’d buy them ready.
Few of the photos I applied the soft pastels preset on:
Solitude
Sometimes you just feel like this…
Is perfection overrated?
When you start to discover the art of photography, all the focus is on creating technically perfect images. But as you go along and you learn the rules, breaking them will actually give the uniqueness of your art. If one year ago I wouldn’t even try taking a nature macro while windy, now I’m actually excited to use the movement in my advantage. Low, light, high ISO, low clarity, out of focus? I don’t care, I love the painting like effect. Rule of thirds? Sometimes is just better to break it. Imperfection is beautiful 🙂
Claudia Curici Photography 