Claudia Curici Photography
Exploring my passion for photography
How do you stay different?
Yesterday I read an article about the stages all the photographers go through – and it was pretty accurate in my case, just with a different dynamic. Not to brag, but I only spent one day in Auto mode, and I read the manual from the beginning (the article was suggesting that we spend quite a long time shooting in auto mode and we only read the manual way ahead into our journey). And I am usually not a personal who would typically read a manual. That was about 3.5 years ago, when I decided I need to upgrade from taking pictures with my iPhone and I got my first DSLR (a Nikon D5300) – one that was on offer with a 18 – 140 lens. It is just few weeks ago I sold all my Nikon gear – which was not easy as it had some kind of sentimental value to me. I am left now with my Fujifilm gear, a X-T1 with an amazing 56mm/1.2 lens and a 18-55 kit lens which I kind of regret I was was let myself convinced to purchase (the sales people!). The images below are made with this lens – which is ok for personal projects – but not amazing. Recently I came across an offer on Amazon for a XF 14mm at almost half price (new) – I saw Adorama, Best Buy and B&H had the same – and I ordered it. I also have my reliable and sturdy X-100S which I use most of the time for my urban explorations.
Ok, I started about being different and I ended up talking about gear. 🙂 The point is, speaking about stages, I am at a point where I ask myself – in a world overloaded with photography – how do I stay different, how to find my voice and how to be unique? There are many things I haven’t figured out but every time I press the shutter, I first ask myself: is this something most people see? I really wanted to make a decent image of Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, and I knew I still have time (before the summer comes) to see the reflections of the bridge in Trinity River. I walked around in the area for about one hour until I found this particular spot where not only I had the reflections of the bridge, but also long shadows of another structure nearby. It was about 30 mins before sunset.
This post is way to long for what I was planning, but I’ll let it be. 🙂
One year in America
It was’t really planned but we happened to take our first trip to Austin in the weekend we marked our one year since we moved to Dallas / Texas / US (from Dubai). It was also my first time ever being in the US, so for me in particular was a very exciting year, full of discoveries. I had a blast exploring Texas – Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Galveston, Austin, many small towns in the DFW area and North Texas, and one of the highlights of my year, a road trip to Marfa, in West Texas. I’ve been to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Atlanta and did a road trip in California, on Highway 1 (on the Pacific Coast), from Los Angeles to San Francisco. And in between had the opportunity to go back to Dubai and Romania, which was perfect since US is at the other end of the world. There is so much more I want to see, but I am so grateful for what I’ve already had the change to do. Texas coast, Big Bend National Park, New Mexico, San Diego, New Orleans, Utah, Colorado, Montana…. Boston, Cape Cod…. and the list can go on and on. US is the paradise if you have itchy feet – easy to travel and plenty to see. Not always affordable, but travel is my priority number one, to me is the best spent money.
Besides travel, I’ve published a book – “Marfa State of Mind. How a road trip became a soul trip”, and I’ve officially started my photography business. More print is in my plans and I’ve already put together and ordered a test photography book – magazine style – featuring a selection of images from my trips.
This is in a nutshell my first year in the US. ❤
And few shots from Austin.
Silver linings
Making these images made me think (again) about what is a good image and how much technical perfection has to play in making a good image. I was in the driver’s seat while my husband was driving back to Dallas from Austin on Highway 67. From about mid distance we could see these huge clouds forming above Dallas and the neighboring counties, and I was dying to capture them. Stopping on a highway was not really a viable option, and finding a good visibility spot to stop near a town was unsuccessful too. In the end, when we got really closed and we had the sun setting on the opposite side, I took few shots from the car, through the glass. The color versions are not bad, but the only thing I was interested in was the shape of the clouds, and the silhouettes formed against them, so turning them in dramatic black and white images seemed like the perfect way to finish these images.
And back to the opening idea, you could just not capture something when you don’t have the perfect conditions, or just do it and get the best out of it.
Life in Texas. Granbury.
Seen in Granbury, Texas, yesterday.
24 hours in Atlanta. Grateful.
Lidya, my Uber driver to the airport, said she loves Atlanta for the trees. It makes sense. Although Dallas is green enough, the trees here look like miniatures compared to those in Atlanta. I haven’t seen much of the city, but 24h were enough to feel its vibe and want to go back. Lidya also reminded me Atlanta is famous for ‘Gone with the wind’ – how could have I even forgotten that?
On a different note, Atlanta was about people. People I feel so grateful I have in my life. Also about things coming full circle, about the power of giving. ❤
Joy. The many murals of Deep Ellum and one beautiful soul.
It’s been almost one year since I moved to Dallas, and no doubt my favorite place to be in Dallas is Deep Ellum. This old revived neighborhood is an outdoor art gallery, best to explore early mornings, when the murals are not yet covered with parked cars. This weekend I had the pleasure to spend some time with this beautiful girl who wanted to take her yoga practice on the streets, and what better place for that than Deep Ellum. We produced many beautiful images, but I just wanted to show a selection of backgrounds we explored – and this is just five percent of them. If you find yourself in Dallas, go visit this neighborhood (on an early morning for an unobstructed view). 🙂
My first Haiku
I’ve had an interest in haikus for some time now, but never bother to do anything about it. Yesterday I saw a post from Lenore of Explore Newness (see post here) and something clicked. I wanted to write a haiku. Not only because haikus are beautiful, but because I think they are a great exercise for the brain (especially an unfocused and loud one like mine) and they will help me improve my observation skills, which will eventually lead to better writing and photography. Besides Lenore, there is another person who contributed to my curiosity about haikus, a Romanian photographer I love, Andrei Baciu, who has a series of photographs called “Winterly Haiku” (basically visual haikus – if that’s something). You can see the gallery here.
And finally, my first haiku, inspired by the below scene, from Marfa, Texas. What we can see in the photo is the beautiful golden light wrapping Elena (Houston based writer and artist Maria Elena Sandovici, my travel companion to Marfa), but what we cannot see, because we didn’t have the chance to photograph them, is dozens of hawks flying in front of us, above the empty road. So here it is:
Above hawks gliding
Deserted road ahead us
Her thoughts turn golden.
About printing
‘Are the pictures from California ready? When we were kids, we were taking 24 or 48 pictures during each holiday, and my parents organized a family event after developing them, where all of us sat together, looked at the pictures and remembered moments of the trip. Now we take one thousand pictures (instead of enjoying the trip) and we never look at them’.
This is what my husband said frustrated that two weeks after we came back from our California trip, he still hasn’t seen the pictures (and I took more than one thousand!).
I totally get where he is coming from. It means enjoy the moment, slow down and take less pictures, create something tangible out of it at the end and make an experience from sharing it with others.
I’ve been thinking a lot about printing lately and as a matter of fact I created and printed my first book. It is a travel story about my first trip to Marfa, Texas, with my photography and a text by my travel companion, Elena Sandovici (a friend writer based in Houston, Texas and a fellow Romanian).
Marfa State of Mind. The book can be previewed and purchased at Blurb’s bookstore: http://www.blurb.com/b/7007129-marfa-state-of-mind
If you think of it, my first encounter with professional photography happened while in university, when I took a photography course, and this will reveal how old I am actually :), and I had to go out with a film camera, take one good shot, and come back and develop it. I remember exactly how the photo looked like, it was the (b/w) portrait of an old man dressed in Romanian traditional clothes, sitting, in a public square. I don’t have that print anymore, but I don’t know if I would have such a vivid memory of this photo if it wasn’t a print. Since then I owned and changed many computers, with different storage systems, and most of them failed me. My digital archive only goes back 5 to 7 years ago, the rest of the pictures are on a digital drive that now is not compatible with any computer and is faulted (and it will cost me a little fortune to recover what I have on it). So really, the only pictures I have and I keep checking regularly are the ones that are printed.
I printed the Marfa book with Blurb, and my experience with them was great: the editing tool was easy to use, the website is user friendly and intuitive, the whole platform is so flexible and there are options for a variety of needs. Of course, there is a cost for all this, but quality printing on demand – especially for photography – is not something that will ever be cheap – I guess. And it doesn’t have to be.
At the moment I’m exploring different ways of having my best photos printed, and the most difficult thing is the selection process. How do you choose the photos to be printed, other than the technical quality? Usually the pictures I choose to process mean something to me, regardless of their technical quality, and they are too many. For me this is the hardest part, the selection. Marfa came naturally because it was quite concentrated, but I’d like to print a zine for my one year anniversary in Dallas. I have thousands of pictures. How do I choose what deserves to be printed?
I know it will come, by working on it, but if anyone reached this point of the blog post and has any recommendations and tips I’d love to hear them. Also, I’d love to hear your thoughts on printing or see printing projects you have done.
If you are planning to do a book with Blurb and have any questions, I’d be happy to help, just let me know.
Claudia Curici Photography 