Autumn in Bucharest

Autumn has arrived and it is suddenly freezing and dark outside.

Ovidiu Rom Charity Event at Ceausescu’s Palace

Guests arrive.

Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu speaks to the press. Mungiu is one of the leading filmmakers of Romania’s New Wave of the past few years. His film ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days’ won the Palme d’Or at The 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Leslie Hawke in a black wig at the cocktail hour.

300 Euro a plate dinner.

Ethan Hawke with Cristian Mungiu to the right.

The after party.

On Halloween I took photos at the annual charity event for Leslie Hawke’s NGO Ovidiu Rom which seeks to help put impoverished Romanian children in school. The gala took place in Ceausescu’s Palace and it was simply a spectacular event with beautiful people in an amazing location. I also got to meet one of my favorite actors of all time, her son Ethan. Ovidiu Rom is doing work of the first order and I was happy to be there.

Assignment for The Chronicle of Higher Education

I did a portrait assignment here in Bucharest recently for The Chronicle of Higher Education back in the US. I spent some time with Zoe Petre, a professor of Ancient History at The University of Bucharest. You can read the story about how academia has changed in Eastern Europe in the past 20 years here.

PhotoShelter Archive update

Check it out here.

Website update: Bucharest 20 Years Later (In Progress)

See it here.

Romanian Newspaper Gandul’s spread on me

I previously linked to the online version of the interview that the Romanian newspaper ‘Gandul’ did with me back in September, but above is what it looked like in print.

This Day of Change Tearsheets

In January I had the privilege of participating in a group project titled ‘This Day of Change’ organized by the magazine Courrier Japon which sent 132 photographers from around the world out to capture life on Barack Obama’s inauguration day. Both Japanese (pictured above) and English language versions of the book have been published. Check out the website devoted to the project here and my page on the site. The Japanese version can be purchased from Amazon Japan and the English version from Amazon.com. The book was recently nominated for a Lucie Award.

Romania’s Bloody Revolution: 20 Years Later

Read this piece on Romania’s Bloody Revolution: 20 Years Later.

New project in progress: Bucharest 20 Years Later (Continued)

More photos from my ongoing project about Bucharest 20 years after The Fall of Communism and The Romanian Revolution. Well dressed women are everywhere, nightclubs abound and yet remnants of the Communist era remain such as this kiosk. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the first set of pictures.

Back in Bucharest!

I got into Bucharest this afternoon and my enthusiasm for the place seems to have dissipated in the 9 days I was in the US. I am sure that with some proper sleep and a few espressos and sunnier weather things will look up for me, but the differences between the West and Romania were never starker than today. Re-entry into Ceausesculand is always a bit rough for me. Fleets of BMWs, Audis and Mercedes race the streets, everyone is paranoid of the camera and everyone stares long and hard at you. There is potential here culturally, but one has the feeling that people are following as opposed to trendsetting. Of course the globalized West also gets on my nerves. . . so one has to find a balance.

Back from The Eddie Adams Workshop

This is how I spent Saturday afternoon. . .

and this is how I spent Sunday afternoon at The Eddie Adams Workshop.

Bucharest Beauties

Twins I found this evening.

Late Night Vintage Fashion Show in Bucharest

The Clothes Next Door
fashion + vintage after party
@ LaScena
19 September 2009, Bucharest, Romania

I have the cover of the latest Bucharest In Your Pocket

This shot was too risqué though so they ended up going with another one, although the image appears on the inside.

New York Times publication

A New York Times blog twice reproduced a photograph I shot last February for Bloomberg News about the financial crisis in Bucharest, Romania to illustrate a piece about bad customer service. They make no mention of the photograph’s location and it’s interesting how readers could think it’s a photo from downtown Manhattan. See the original post here and the follow-up here after the post received more than a hundred comments.