Claudia Curici Photography
Exploring my passion for photography
Bonjour Bucarest
Bucharest is the city of contrasts: you either love it, either hate it. I am luckily part of the first category, and always happy to go back. These pictures were taken during my trip last week, while strolling around and enjoying the beautiful autumn weather and light. Today my friends posted pictures with the first snow (weird!), so I’m rushing to post these photos before the landscape changes totally. All the pictures are taken with my Fuji X100S.
Sunset portraits series: Dana
And finally a face 🙂
I find doing portraits, or just photographing people, intimidating – the final result should be a fine balance between how a person sees themselves, how you see them and how the camera captures them; and getting that balance is hard. This was not an organised photoshoot, my friend Dana hasn’t dressed in any special way or put any special makeup, it was just a simple walk in the park, at sunset, with a friend who has one camera (actually two as I was carrying both my Fuji and my Nikon). Here I played with some presets in Lightroom to get a soft, warm but intriguing feeling to reflect Dana’s special beauty and her artist soul – she is a painter in search of many answers :). The first image is captured with my 40mm Nikon and the other four with the Fuji x100S.
PS I love the sunset light and I hate complicated settings, so I decided to start a series called ‘Sunset portraits’. I would appreciate any feedback, advise, comment.
Autumn details
I was so excited about my trip to Romania during the autumn season, that I took way too many photos. Now I’m really struggling to select the best ones and to group them in themes. All the pictures below are taken with my Fuji x100S, which I carried with me everywhere. I used the auto ISO feature and a Velvia/Vivid film simulation, so I haven’t edited them too much. The auto ISO feature proved to be a handy one since in some of the places I went the level of light was varying a lot; in some it was so dark that the camera selected a ISO of 6400 (the maximum I set the bracket on). So I would totally use this in the future, however I would be more careful with checking the value the camera has picked for each photo. That being said, this little camera lives up to its reputation.
PS These pictures were taken in areas near Targu Jiu, in Gorj county, in the Sohodol River Valley and at Tismana Monastery.
But first let me take the cuteness out of the way
I just came back from holidays in Romania, hence my long break from the blog. My headline is pretty self explanatory; I have lots of GB of images to process, and I can’t start properly until I take this fluffiness out of my way. I never got to meet so many cats in one trip, and never took a picture of a cat, so here it is, I tried my hand at it (everything happens for a reason right?). Ladies and gentlemen, I present you Blacky, Tiger (at least that’s how I baptised him, he just doesn’t know his name yet) and three other kittens that have no names yet. All of the photos are taken with my Fuji x100S except the last one, taken with my Nikon, 40mm lenses (all at pretty high ISO).
Sun, sand, silence and a mighty little Fuji X100S
Yesterday was a public holiday due to Eid Al Adha celebrations in the muslim world and the city was loud and crowded, I wanted to escape in a more quiet place. Sun, desert, faded sand, fixed lens. Can anyone imagine a more challenging situation for a photographer? I read many articles about how limitations make us better photographers, but I hadn’t felt it on my own skin until yesterday, when I went out for another test with my new Fuji X100S. Â The sun was so strong I could’t even see the pictures I was taken on the camera screen (btw, did you know that if you press long on Q you can switch your screen to a brighter display for situations like this?). So what happened was that I was really ‘forced’ to work hard on composition, since I had no other option. These are some of the photos I came back with.
I am the happy owner of a Fuji x100S
I did it. After reading all the possible reviews about this camera I decided to make the step and get it; let’s say an early Christmas present :). One of the main reasons I wanted this camera is the size. During the week I have no time at all to take photographs, mainly because I only get to leave the office after dark. I tried few times to take my camera (Nikon D5300 with 40mm lenses) with me but it’s just too heavy and big to be carried around. There is another important reason which I will discuss at a later stage, when I’ll (maybe) write about street photography. I bought the x100S yesterday, so I only had a day to figure out the menu; although not as difficult as I expected, not easy. A big THANK YOU to all the photographers out there in the blogosphere who make it easier for people like me to get more familiar with the camera. With the last extreme summer days being very humid and hot, I didn’t have many opportunities to test it today, but managed to get some shots.
The first three photos are taken at sunset in Dubai, the last three were taken in Abu Dhabi, during a visit to Qasr Al Husn Exhibition (a permanent museum situated next to the oldest building in Abu Dhabi, a fort built in 1793).
ISO 200 / f/11, 1/250 sec
ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/500 sec
ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec
ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/125 sec
ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/250 sec
ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/125 sec
Long exposure. Night photography
Something I’ve been procrastinating for long time is trying long exposure and night photography; the main reason for that being that I kind of avoid using the tripod as much as I can. Oh well, this weekend I was actually not only inspired to try all this, but also to try it with both my lenses and see the difference. I am definitely not a geek and I have a hard time understanding how the different lenses work, so these kind of exercises help me to understand, in my own way, how to best use the equipment I own. I don’t have a conclusion yet, but I feel like I would rather use the wide angle lenses for city landscapes like this. However, if I have to judge from the flare of the street lamps, I’d prefer the 40mm. Anyone can help with some advise, directions? PS The photos are taken in two different nights, the 40mm first and then the 18/22mm, from almost the same location.
ISO100 / 40mm / f14 / 30 sec
ISO100 / 22mm / f10 / 30 sec
ISO100 / 40mm / f14 / 30 sec
ISO 100, f/10, 18mm, 30 sec
Autoportrait
Not much to say about this one. It is my reflection on my mini iPad’s screen, the closest to an autoportrait I got so far. What I love the most is how conveniently the camera is hiding my face 🙂
A little bit of mystery
Bastakiyah is a little warm, magical place in a city made out of cold concrete. Not only it has a special place in the city’s history and art scene, but it is a personal landmark too. I could only take few pictures before my camera stopped working – I am not sure this was the reason, but I blame it on the extreme heat (it just came back to life after a while, after I took the battery out). The galleries and cafes have courtyards usually covered with some kind of detachable roof, that beautifully filters the harsh sunlight of the summer. The down side is that you need a high ISO to compensate for the low light. Although most of the pictures I took were underexposed, there are few I could work a little bit on and keep. I love the warm temperature and the dreamy, mysterious atmosphere.
Summer in the city
Take the camera out in a city where the temperature reaches over 45 degrees Celsius in the summer, pray it won’t be very humid, or sandy, and try to take some pictures. That’s me in Dubai. I try my best not to get demotivated by the unfriendly weather and I have to say, limitations are an excellent way to learn. Voila, some of Dubai this summer.
Claudia Curici Photography 