Village Café “Fagaras”
Romania 2012
My first photography class was taught by a man who revered the masters: Stieglitz, Strand, Cartier-Bresson and others. He tried to mold us in their image, an impossible task. We’d go on field trips to museums where we’d wander by ourselves and try to imbibe some of their genius.
Sometimes we’d go on what are now called “photo walks”. I’d remember the photographs we’d seen in the museums and galleries and I’d try to replicate them. Never mind that I couldn’t discern what made those photos great, we had an insurmountable disadvantage because we trolled the streets of west Los Angeles. No winding streets or stone steps. No stone houses from the last century. No men in black berets, or old women in kerchiefs.
Later, in the darkroom, one of my classmates showed the teacher her photo of some windows in an abandoned house. The teacher gently dismissed her effort, “We keep trying those shots, but they never work.”
What we needed were the right windows! Look at my café. It has everything a window shot could ask for: smudged door handle, handwritten sign, beautiful lace curtains tied with a red ribbon and even a dab of sunlight in the right-hand corner. It took me twenty-five years, but I got it!
Find your own perfect window shot with Daniel Gheorghita at www.covinnus.com