Getting settled in to Bucharest

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...

Charles de Gaulle

A few more views from the bus...

Time to play catch-up!

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

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: