Serenity

Posted in Beautiful Romania with tags , , , , , , on 1 December 2011 by Watcher Romano

Just what I needed. This has been an incredible difficult year until now, and with winter coming, there’s no way  I can imagine it getting any better :) . That is why I dug out this photo, taken just after the Cupa T44 offroad event, organized by our club. That was an incredibly taxing period, and once it was over and everybody had gone home, I got the first moment of rest and calmness after some months.

The water running into the pool was just a perfect add-on to the quietness and solitude of the shot…

Relaxation after Cupa T44

Relaxation after Cupa T44

If you appreciate colorful photos from beautiful places around Romania or the world, I suggest you take a deeper look around here.

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Talking Watermelons

Posted in Life Beats Film with tags , , , , , on 31 August 2011 by Watcher Romano

There is little one can do in the fruit market to differentiate one’s offer. I think this is a nice catchy idea:

I am sweet at heart

I am sweet at heart

Take Me Home !

Take Me Home !

These photos belong to the “life beats film” category. Feel free to check around here for more posts like this.

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Bucovina Offroad Challenge 2011 (BORC)

Posted in LifeStyle with tags , , , , , , , on 28 May 2011 by Watcher Romano

Last weekend I was supposed to compete in the first stage of the National Offroad Championship. Unfortunately, in order to be able to start in the race, a team needs to present at the start line the following: 1 (one) pilot, 1 (one) copilot and 1(one) vehicle. In my case, when the start time came, I was 1 pilot and 1 car short :)

Therefore, I can only show photos like any other member of the press:

If you like offroad, this blog is a good resource of photos. Take a look around. Also, there is more to it, including travel photos from all around the world, not just Romanian muddy forests :) . If you like what you see, make sure that you have the wonders of technology  ( RSS and  email ) deliver new posts directly to you the minute they become available!

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Athens by Night

Posted in Travel with tags , , , , , , , on 18 April 2011 by Watcher Romano

We’re approaching the end of the Greece series, shot in December 2010. The Syntagma area is the center of Athens, housing the Parliament, the change of guard and a few neoclassical buildings. There’s something about these buildings that just inspires elegance, knowledge and forward thinking :

Syntagma Square at dawn, Athens, Greece

Syntagma Square at dawn, Athens, Greece

Parliament Building in Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

Parliament Building in Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece

Classical Greek Architecture

Classical Greek Architecture

Classical Greek Architecture

Classical Greek Architecture

If you like the Greece series, I suggest you also take a look at other beautiful places I shot during my trips around the world.  There are some free services that automatically deliver new blog posts to you :  RSS and  email . Try them out if you like my photos!

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Red Italian Cars Rule

Posted in LifeStyle, Travel with tags , , , , , , on 11 April 2011 by Watcher Romano

So what if it is and old, uncomfortable clunker? It will always turn heads, and the Abarth sign makes you think “racing” immediately.

This I think is a beautiful example of a well kept classic car:

Red Fiat 124 Abarth

Red Fiat 124 Abarth in Piraeus Marina, Greece

Red Fiat 124 Abarth in Piraeus Marina, Greece

Red Fiat 124 Abarth in Piraeus Marina, Greece

This red gem was shot in the Piraeus Marina, in Piraeus Greece, during the NYE trip to Athens. There are more colorful photos in this series. Chem them out, as well as the colorful photos from other beautiful places around the world.

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The broken Oracle of Delphi

Posted in Travel with tags , , , , , , , , on 4 April 2011 by Watcher Romano

Delphi is one of the attractions of Greece, with one day guided trips organized everyday. I for one arrived there on December 31st. It was a sunny day and it was (a step in ) the realization of a dream : being able to wear short sleeves on NYE. There is still more to go in this direction, but I’m satisfied with this beginning:

12degrees@NYE

12degrees@NYE

The Delphi archaeological site is very well kept:

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

and geographically placed in a impressive location, overseeing a valley:

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

Delphi - Former Oracle Home

The museum has some interesting treats including this statue of Apollo , which to me looks kinda Buddhist

Phytian (indian??) Apollo

Phytian (indian??) Apollo

as well as this incredible display of imagination.  Imagine that you find these pieces of rock and then you say to yourself: ooh, I see, these 8 small pieces of rock are actually a two-horse drawn chariot steered by a victorious athlete…

Incredible Imagination

Incredible Imagination

An important part of the site (of the original town) were the public display / show areas, like the stadium and the amphitheater:

Delphi Stadium

Delphi Stadium

Delphi Amphitheater

Delphi Amphitheater (HD)

In the vicinity of Delphi one can find a lively touristic village, Arahova. Guided tours will always make a stop for you there. Like everything else in Greece it is small, cramped, narrow but with a certain charm:

Arahova

Arahova

Arahova

Arahova

I will conclude this post  with this HD panorama from Delphi to end with a bang:

Delphi Panorama

Delphi Panorama (HD)

This post belongs to the Greece series, shot in December 2010, on a New Years Eve trip to Athens and Greece. Check out more posts from the series and be sure to subscribe via RSS feed or email to get new posts automatically delivered to you.

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Slanic Offroad, track finding day

Posted in LifeStyle on 3 April 2011 by Watcher Romano

As many of you probably already know, on the 1st of May, my club has a traditional offroad meeting in Slanic Prahova. This year I have decided to be more involved in the track choice, so on Saturday we were off to Slanic to join some locals in an attempt to find some nice tracks. I think that with navigation involved this is going to be quite a nice offroad day, and if it rains it’s going to be a memorable one.

Ravine ascent

Ravine ascent

There are ravines, ascents, descents, rivers, a lot of lateral inclines, and some very effing narrow places, even hunchback hills, where the left wheels hang on one side of the hill and the right wheels are on the other side of the hill.

There is also a swamp crossing between two yards :O, which is a perfect place to take up pottery classes:

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

 

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

Pottery Class

We also had a few opportunities to poke fun at English cars:

English Offroad

English Offroad

English Offroad

English Offroad

of course, this only because nothing serious happened ;)

In the end it was a beautiful day outdoors, a good way to recharge the batteries for a new ugly week of controls, enemies and other BS:

Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day

If you like offroading, check out other posts here on Watcher.ro If you like what you see, I suggest you subscribe to this blog (via RSS or email ), because I constantly add posts on this subject.

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Bran – Moeciu Winter Day

Posted in Beautiful Romania, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on 7 March 2011 by Watcher Romano

I have just returned from a very relaxing weekend spent with my family in the Bran – Moeciu area, in Brasov county. This area is very well known and publicized so I always try hard to go to places and do things that most other tourists won’t do. This time, I think what saved me was Schitul Bran, in the small village of Simon.

At the time it was unfortunately closed, but were it open, I still could not have shown you photos of it’s inside, since photography was forbidden. On the other hand, I think the beauty of the day and of the surroundings still comes out pretty strongly from these photos:

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

Schitul Bran, Simon, Brasov

The surroundings also provided some good photo opportunities :

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

Forest Winterscape, HD

I will conclude this post with some practical advice: In Moeciu there is a famous ‘resort’ – Cheile Gradistei which has recently opened a second, more remote version, the “Fundata”. I have tried to identify the road that appears on the map from Cheile Gradistei to Fundata (which is a village in the area), road  which appears to be closed by some guy planting a door across it (the same like on Strategica) . So after trying to find the passage, we gave up and stopped for lunch in the new resort, which was fatal for our day. I felt like at the seaside, in the proverbial times: everybody literally competing for the distinction of “worst services”. Keep away from this place:

Don't Go There

Don't Go There

If you are new to this blog and enjoy colorful pictures of beautiful places, here are some more from Romania, and here are some more from around the world.  Want even more? Have the RSS feed or email subscription get posts automatically delivered to you!

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Pestera si Manastirea Sf Ioan Casian – Monastery and Cave

Posted in Beautiful Romania with tags , , , , , , , , , , on 17 February 2011 by Watcher Romano

Saturday February 12th I was inspired enough to take part in JCI Constanta’s JCI Play 4×4 event. It was announced as a softroad expedition combined with outdoor activities and networking. It turned out everything we had hoped for and then some.  I will not post photos from the offroad part, because we just put on a bit of a show to entertain the audience, and there were enough photographers concentrating on that. What I will show you are some photos I managed to grab at the final point of our trip, the Sf Ioan Casian Monastery.

The monastery is still under construction (being quite a young monastery) but it features a cave, the original cave where St Ioan Casian used to live. In order to get from the monastery yard to the actual cave, we did need to put our navigation skills to test, because the signs are confusing, to say the least and an autumn rain was starting to pour over us:

Descent on the hill to the entrance into the cave

Descent on the hill to the entrance into the cave

when we finished the descent we found out that we then needed to climb back a part of our descent, but this time on a much steeper approach:

St Casian Cave Entrance

St Casian Cave Entrance

On the “inside” there is a small praying area and a claustrophobic “room” that can only be accessed with a bit of crawling …

St Casian Cave - Inside

St Casian Cave - Inside

As it happens, by the time we got back down on the fragile-equilibrium cast-iron ladder and the back up on the improvised stairway, everybody else was already finishing their lunch. We thanked the organizers, shook some hands and took back to Constanta with this warm image making it’s way into the memories vault:

Sunset at Casian Monastery - HD

Sunset at Casian Monastery - HD

As you will find out by taking a look around, there are numerous posts on this blog about beautiful things to see in Romania and around the world. Check back frequently or use the RSS feed  or the  email digest options in order to get informed automatically whenever I post new stuff.

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(Don’t) Play with Fire ?

Posted in Street photography, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , on 7 February 2011 by Watcher Romano

Wandering at night on the streets of Athens i found this street artist that was disrespecting the very first thing that we are taught as children:

Street artist juggles with torches, Athens, Greece

Street artist juggles with torches, Athens, Greece

 

This  Greece series, shot in December 2010,  is already at the third installment, and we have enough juice to keep it running for quite a few weeks now :) . Check back frequently, or, even better, have the RSS feed or email subscription get posts automatically delivered to you!

Before you go away, take a look at a few other beautiful places I shot colorful pictures of.

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