Alyssa Cwanger Photography In Romania

Bulgaria, Scenes from the Train

2008-06-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

Tanjaua de pe Mara, Hoteni Village

2008-05-19T02:13:00.001-07:00

Castel Film Studios, Romania

2008-05-04T08:39:00.000-07:00

Cold Mountain Movie Set

Purim, Bucharest

2008-05-04T08:38:00.001-07:00

Outside Gigi Becali's House

2008-05-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

Paste Fericit!

2008-04-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

Trip to Targoviste

2008-04-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

Pre-Easter Visit for Patients in Bucharest, Romania

2008-04-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

A group of volunteers from the International Women's Association of Bucharest (IWA) goes to Fundeni Hospital every week to play with the children and hand out toys and donated clothing. This week, the volunteers gave out Easter gifts and toys to the children and their family members prior to the Romanian Orthodox Easter, which will be celebrated on April 27. Dodo the Clown of "Vitamina Vesela" also paid the children a visit and delighted them with balloon animals and magic tricks.

Iasi, Romania and Countryside

2008-04-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Casa Ioana, Bucharest- A Visit Through Images

2008-03-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Casa Ioana is a Romanian non-governmental organization that was established in 1995 to combat homelessness in Romania. The goal of this organization is to make a positive difference in the lives of homeless people by providing them with temporary accommodations and easy access to innovative community-based social services.

The following is some of the photography and multimedia work that I have been doing for a new website for this organization.

The current website in English is: http://www.casaioana.org/index.php?lang=en
The Romanian version is at: http://www.casaioana.org/index.php?lang=ro

*Please Click On The Previous Image to See A Multimedia Presentation*

Viennese Ball, Bucharest

2008-03-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

Views of Bucharest from Above

2008-03-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Trip to London

2008-03-03T04:13:00.001-08:00

Fulbright Orientation II

2008-02-28T06:37:00.001-08:00

"Flight for Life" Patient Follow-Up

2008-02-23T03:23:00.000-08:00

A patient who had heart surgery during Gift of Life International's "Flight for Life" medical exchange to Bucharest in 2002 is doing well following a second procedure this week.

2008 at age 8....

2002 at age 3...

Scenes from a Train Ride to Cluj

2008-01-30T11:56:00.001-08:00

Street Scenes, Bucuresti

2008-01-23T06:46:00.001-08:00

Universitatea

2008-01-07T14:57:00.001-08:00

Waiting at the Bus Stop, Piata Unirii

2008-01-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

Bucharest Subway

2008-01-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

Unirii and Lipscani at Night

2007-12-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

Portraits at Muzeul Ţăranului Român

2007-12-26T17:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Fundeni Hospital, Bucharest

2007-12-20T14:54:00.001-08:00

Titan and Obor in the Snow

2007-12-17T14:48:00.000-08:00

National Day

2007-12-06T14:49:00.001-08:00

Romania celebrates National Day or Union Day on December 1st. This national holiday commemorates the 1918 unification of the Romanian Kingdom with Transylvania, Bessarabia, Southern Dobruja, and Bukovina. A military parade organized by the Ministry of Defense began in Piata Arcului de Triumf and made its way down Soseaua Kisseleff.

Tea at Palatul Becali

2007-12-02T16:18:00.000-08:00

Romanian politician, businessman, and owner of the Steaua football club Gigi Becali, hosted tea for the women of the International Women's Association at his palace in Bucharest...

Prayer Service for the Sick at Fundeni Hospital

2007-11-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

This church on the grounds of Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest, is scheduled to be closed down in December, as a result of the hospital's expansion project. Every Wednesday evening, the church holds this healing prayer service for the patients and staff at the hospital. Fundeni Hospital, the main hospital in Bucharest, is the primary location for terminally ill patients in Romania.

Targul de Cafea si Ciocolata

2007-11-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

Unirii in the Rain

2007-11-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Basarab

2007-11-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

Halloween Charity Ball

2007-10-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few images from the 3rd Halloween Charity Ball held at the "People's Palace" in Bucharest this past Saturday evening. This was a benefit to support the work of Ovidiu Rom that helps Romanian children and families rise out of poverty. The mission of Ovidiu Rom is "to promote self-sufficiency among the poorest members of Romanian society through education, job training, community development, and public awareness."

The organization began when Peace Corps Volunteer Leslie Hawke and Maria Gheorghiu obtained a USAID grant to start a program for fifteen impoverished mothers and an education program for children who begged on the street in 2001. This took place while they were in Bacau, Romania. In 2004, they founded the Asociatia Ovidiu Rom.

Here is a link to their website that includes more of the history of the organization and information about its programs:
http://www.ovid.ro/

A Historic Moment in Bucharest

2007-10-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Today in Bucharest, Romanian President Traian Basescu honored three Roma-ethnic survivors of the Holocaust. 101 year-old Traian Grancea, Ion Minutescu, and Dumitru Tranca received one of Romania's highest honors, The 'Serviciul Credincios' (Faithful Service Award). This took place during a ceremony at the Cotroceni Palace, the Romanian Presidency headquarters, in Bucharest. The International Committee for the Study of the Holocaust, a panel of historians led by Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel, said that the wartime Romanian regime was responsible for the deportation of over 25,000 Roma people. More than 11,000 of them and over 300,000 Jews from Romania were killed during the Holocaust.

International Women's Association of Bucharest

2007-10-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

This past week, I attended an International Women's Association (IWA) morning coffee at the Diplomatic Club in Bucharest. At this meeting, the other women and I were treated to a music & dance performance by the Arabesc dance company from Palatul Copiilor. Here are a few images of the dancers' preparation as well as their performance...

Construction

2007-10-15T05:46:00.001-07:00

The construction of Bucharest is happening right outside my window...

Getting settled in to Bucharest

2007-10-14T03:35:00.000-07:00

A scene any photographer around the world can appreciate...

Evening Bus Ride along Calea Dorobanti...

Hitchhikers outside of the city...

Going back in time a little...

2007-10-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

Charles de Gaulle

A few more views from the bus...

2007-10-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

Time to play catch-up!

2007-10-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

After finishing up my staff photojournalism position at The Courier Times and saying "goodbye" to their very talented staff (who I miss already) last Friday and Saturday, I packed for Romania in two days and boarded an Air France flight to Paris this past Tuesday, September 25th. After a brief two-hour stop in Paris, where I ate a croissant and cheese sandwich I ordered in French at a French cafe at the airport, I boarded a Tarom Romania (Romania's official airline) flight from Paris to Romania.

The flight landed at Otopeni International Airport at 4:30p.m. the following afternoon. I collected my bags (they all arrived on time!) at the airport and met Daniel, who held a "Fulbright" sign among the crowd waiting at the exit. Daniel helped me with my bags and took me to the Academica hotel at the University of Bucharest, where I stayed throughout the next few days for the Fulbright Orientation.

The following morning, I met the Fulbright group at the Fulbright Commission located at Str. Ing. Nicolae Costinescu. We listened to presentations, including talks from the U.S. Ambassador to Romania, the Minister of Education, the Secretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the President of the Romanian Association of American, as well as briefings with American Embassy Representatives. We met Mr. Mihai Moroiu, American Program Director of the Fulbright Commission and Dr. Barbara Nelson, the Executive Director. Following the presentations, we were treated to a lovely reception offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fulbright Commission at Hotel Marshal, where we had a chance to socialize with the other Fulbright Grant recipients and alumni.

The following morning, we left on an incredible trip through the mountains, where we witnessed breathtaking views in Bran, Brashov, Sibiu, and Sinaia. We stopped at Bran (Dracula's) Castle and ate in traditional Romanian restaurants along the way.

Here are a few selected photographs from our trip. I will add more images as soon as I finish editing through a few hundred of them!

Bishop Grigore speaks to the Fulbright Group at Cozia Monastery. Cozia Monastery was built by Mircea cel Bătrân in 1388. It is one of the most valuable monuments of national medieval art and architecture in Romania. Inside, it contains well-preserved indoor frescoes...

The Fulbright Group looks through the inside of Sambata Monastery...

Walking through Sibiu...

Sibiu...

A view from the bus...

Bran...

Preparation

2007-09-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

I am currently preparing to embark on a trip to Bucharest, Romania, with a Fulbright Scholarship I was recently awarded in photography. My trip to Romania is a follow-up to a 2002 trip I made with Gift of Life International's “Flight for Life,” a volunteer team of United States cardiac specialists, doctors and nurses, using the latest in surgical procedures and recovery care techniques. Surgery began on May 7, 2002, and continued for multiple days at The Institute of Cardiovascular Disease at the Fundeni Clinical Hospital in Bucharest. The goal was to help save babies and children in Romania with the most serious and complicated heart defects, who would have died without immediate treatment

I will travel back to Romania to create a photo essay of Fundeni Hospital patients who have undergone heart surgery. I will illustrate how the lives of the Romanian children and families have changed as a result of the procedures. My completed project will tell stories through pictures about Romania, its medicine, and its people at a very personal level to an audience back in the United States. The medium of photography is ideal in that the pictures and people they portray transcend linguistic and cultural barriers.

Here are some images from my previous trip to Romania: