Valea Viilor (“Wurmloch” in German, “Nagybaromlak” in Hungarian) is a village in Sibiu County, Transilvania, in a region known for its wine production during medieval times. Its name is translated in English as “The Valley of the Vineyards”. It is first mentioned in written documents in 1263 as “posessio Barwmlak”.

The church in this Saxon village was first built in the 14th century (see source). Its ruins can be seen beneath the floor of the sacristy. In 1414 a new church was erected over it. In turn, most of that later structure was then demolished or modified during the years 1500-1528, as the church was enlarged and fortified walls were built around it, making it a fortified church (see source).

Unlike a lot of other Saxon fortified churches in Transilvania, this structure received attention from later generations, and underwent needed repairs in 1738, 1782, 1826, 1969, 1987, 1996 and in recent years as well.

When we visited it back in April of 2011, the gates were locked and no gatekeeper was to be found, so we walked around its defensive walls, admiring the solid medieval architecture that has stood the test of time. Enjoy the photographs!

Fortified church, Valea Viilor, Transilvania, Romania

Places

The fortified church in Valea Viilor

It was still spring (26th of May) and a soothing spring rain had just fallen over our town. Raindrops were hanging on flower petals, leaves and blades of grass. The air had been freshened up and any breeze flowing through the garden made you shudder, now that the air and the earth had cooled off. You just wanted to curl up with a nice cup of coffee — which is just what I did after I took these photos. Enjoy the gallery!

A three-frame focus stack

A two-frame focus stack

A two-frame focus stack

A four-frame focus stack

A three-frame focus stack

A four-frame focus stack

Pinna is the name for the little fern leaflets

A four-frame focus stack

Droplets on a sycamore leaf, seen from underneath. A focus stack.

Also a three-frame focus stack

Places

A rainy day in the garden

Today is the International Day of the Romanian Blouse, and it is also the first day of an exhibition of a part of Ligia’s collection of traditional, authentic Romanian costumes (blouses, skirts and more). About twenty costumes are currently on display at the Museum of Natural Gas in Medias and can be seen there during normal business hours through the end of this week (the 29th of June). Admittance is free.

Some time ago, the two of us decided to call Ligia’s collection “Straie Alese“, because it includes authentic, rare, vintage, hand-woven and loom-woven articles of clothing from all parts of Romania. Most pieces are 50-70 years old and some are more than a century old. For those who have already asked, most are not for sale. A select few of the costumes are sometimes offered for sale.

The launch of the exhibition was held earlier today. You can see the photo gallery below. Now, an exhibition at a museum does not happen by itself. There were a tight-knit group of women who keep the tradition alive in our city and who were glad to find out about Ligia’s collection and they worked with Ligia to organize the showing, so we’d like to thank them here for their guidance and invaluable assistance. The exhibition would not have happened without them! 👏🙌🌻

We’re glad this first event happened right here in our city, which, situated as it is in the geographical heart of Romania and in the bosom of Transilvania, seems especially favored by fate to be a good starting place for a project that can reach far and wide. We are of course open to collaborations with other museums, here in Romania and abroad.

Enjoy the photographs!

Ziua Internationala a Iei, 24 iunie 2018, Muzeul Gazelor, Medias, Transilvania, Romania

Ziua Internationala a Iei, 24 iunie 2018, Muzeul Gazelor, Medias, Transilvania, Romania

Events

An exhibition of Ligia’s traditional Romanian costumes

Events

On the evening of the summer solstice

It was the summer solstice a couple of days ago. On that longest day of the year, I thought it might be interesting to take photographs in our garden, just as the day drew to a close. I was especially interested in capturing the evening primroses, because we have so many of them this year, and because I was curious to see whether they’d open up sooner or just as dark fell, as is their custom.

Well, they didn’t open up sooner, I still had to wait until it was almost dark, but I found out something new; having never watched them open up before, I had a wonderful surprise in store for me. As it turns out, the blossoms open at a pace that can be observed live, without the aid of time lapse photography. It’s not as fast as a mimosa pudica’s reaction, but it’s fast enough for a person to stand (or sit) there and watch it open. Nature is wonderful!

I hope you enjoy this set of photographs. I took them with my PEN E-P3, whose IBIS mechanism was recently repaired by Olympus Czechia and is now working so well, it’s tempting to use it as my main camera. I plan to use it a lot more than before, that’s for sure. By the way, my setup included the M.Zuiko 25mm f1.8 lens and the lovely and inexpensive MCON-P02 Macro Adapter. It works with several more lenses from Olympus and it’s small and lightweight, so it even fits in your pocket.

On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018

$Leaf fractal$

On the evening of the summer solstice, 21st of June 2018

Places

Late spring in our garden

Summer doesn’t officially start until the solstice on June 21, so even though it feels very much like summer outside, we can still call it spring. Here is a gallery of photographs taken recently in our garden (on the 9th) with my PEN E-P2 and the 12-50mm lens, which does double duty as a macro when you need it. I’m so glad I bought this camera. It came out in 2010 and even now, in 2018, I can’t call it outdated when I can take photographs like these with it. Look at the colors, at the details, at the clarity and the bokeh. It’s so good 😍. I know I shouldn’t praise my own photos and I’m not, I just really like this camera. I love all my PEN cameras, they’re awesome little beasts.