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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
  • SINGLES
  • CONTACT
  • MY BOOKS
  • MY VIDEOS
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
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Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines

 

In our world of digital photography and high speed Internet, photojournalists can quickly and easily send large numbers of high-res photos to the other side of the globe. Things weren’t always so convenient.

Thanks to some amazing events, in January 1990, my life changed in just one day and I became photographer correspondent of AFP for Romania. The most beautiful and creative years followed, a celebrating of the newfound freedom after the fall of the communist regime in Romania.

As a “news” photographer, I and the colleagues from Reuters and AP were “the wire” photographers – the first ones on the scene when news breaks. Our value was our speed, and speed also determined our content. Because the transmission of a single image took from 10 to 30 minutes, we were trained to take shots that summed up the event in just one single image rather than in a series of images that collectively told a story.

But in 1990, the transmission of a photo to the wire services wasn’t an easy job. After shoot the image on film, take an hour or so to process and dry the film, then go into the darkroom to edit and print the image,  type the caption on a typewriter, attach the caption to the side of the image. The print was wrapped around the cylinder on the sending machine – an obsolete combination of a scanner and a fax machine. The machine had to be connected to a telephone device by means of plugs that were attached to the microphone terminals. The drum rotates while a scanning beam moves slowly across the photo, scanning one line at a time. It was needed 5-10 minutes per B&W image, 15-45 minutes for color, once each through red, green and blue filters. A single little “hit” in the telephone line and you had to start all over again, because there was no way to correct the image.

This is a selection of images made in 1990 as they were transmitted to AFP Desk in Paris. They are 18×24 prints, handmade in the makeshift darkroom of the InterContinental’s #220 room, the place where AFP are opened its first office in Romania.

 

 

 

Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines

 

In our world of digital photography and high speed Internet, photojournalists can quickly and easily send large numbers of high-res photos to the other side of the globe. Things weren’t always so convenient.

Thanks to some amazing events, in January 1990, my life changed in just one day and I became photographer correspondent of AFP for Romania. The most beautiful and creative years followed, a celebrating of the newfound freedom after the fall of the communist regime in Romania.

As a “news” photographer, I and the colleagues from Reuters and AP were “the wire” photographers – the first ones on the scene when news breaks. Our value was our speed, and speed also determined our content. Because the transmission of a single image took from 10 to 30 minutes, we were trained to take shots that summed up the event in just one single image rather than in a series of images that collectively told a story.

But in 1990, the transmission of a photo to the wire services wasn’t an easy job. After shoot the image on film, take an hour or so to process and dry the film, then go into the darkroom to edit and print the image,  type the caption on a typewriter, attach the caption to the side of the image. The print was wrapped around the cylinder on the sending machine – an obsolete combination of a scanner and a fax machine. The machine had to be connected to a telephone device by means of plugs that were attached to the microphone terminals. The drum rotates while a scanning beam moves slowly across the photo, scanning one line at a time. It was needed 5-10 minutes per B&W image, 15-45 minutes for color, once each through red, green and blue filters. A single little “hit” in the telephone line and you had to start all over again, because there was no way to correct the image.

This is a selection of images made in 1990 as they were transmitted to AFP Desk in Paris. They are 18×24 prints, handmade in the makeshift darkroom of the InterContinental’s #220 room, the place where AFP are opened its first office in Romania.

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