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The story of this image began in the winter of 2016, between December 1, when Romania's national day is celebrated, on this occasion we had an extended weekend and together with some other photographer friends we organized a tour in an area further away from our hometown Hunedoara, namely in the Ciucas Mountains National Park in the Red Mountain area, at the Silva chalet.
We were lucky to be able to reach the cottage by car and we were not covered in snow, everything was fine and beautiful. When we arrived we each settled in and then we went out to explore the area, we had a few hours until sunset and we were excited that we are in an area where we have not been before and we made plans what we will photograph both at sunset and the next day at sunrise, but the next day our plans would change in the evening. Overnight the weather changed so that it started to snow and the wind blew hard, goodbye sunrise. Of course, this weather kept us in the cottage for a good part of the day. It was a real winter weather outside, blizzard, strong wind and snow. After several hours of looking only through the window of the cottage, I decided to go out to take pictures in these conditions, I knew that this type of weather also offers special and original photographic possibilities.
Two or three more friends took courage and decided to accompany me. I started to enter the nearby spruce forest and I started looking for compositions, frames and take pictures. I was very excited and I liked what the forest looked like in such conditions. After about an hour in the blizzard, I decided to go out to the edge of the forest and take pictures outside of the forest. The wind was still blowing at speeds over 80 km / h and scattering snow in all directions. At one point I saw this frame, with the lone tree and different from the group of spruces on the left, this lone tree was a beech. I framed and shot a few frames, the settings of the device were so that I could catch the moving snow and freeze the moment in a frame that suggested movement and blizzard, to perfectly reproduce the atmosphere on the ground and from that moment. Those settings were F 16, 1/25, ISO 400 and I photographed by hand, anyway at the blizzard that was then, it was impossible to photograph from the tripod. I knew from that moment that I managed to capture a special and unique image. I was very pleased with those moments spent in the middle of nature, in the real winter atmosphere and which offered me unique moments. We all returned to the cottage frozen but happy.
Is a unique image, it's like a pencil drawing but still is a digital photograph. This image shows me a real winter scene in which you seem to feel the cold grip you and enter your bones, but at the same time it gives me a feeling of calm. It's a strange feeling.
The image was awarded at different international photo competitions:
Honorable mention at International Photography Awards (IPA) 2019
Honorable mention at The Perfect Moment Photo Contest 2019 organized by Our World in Focus
2nd place at Photo Contest organized by F64 - theme - Forest 2019
The Snow and Ice Award at International Landscape Photographer of The Year 2017
Bronze Award at The EPSON International Pano Awards 2017
Finalist at TransNatura International Photo Contest 2017
Finalist at Milvus Nature Photography Competition 2016
The Ciucas Mountains is a mountain range in Romania.
The highest peak is Varful Ciucas (Ciucas Peak), at 1,954 meters. The headwaters of the Buzau River, the Teleajen River, the Tarlung River and many others are located there.
In Romania, the Ciucas Mountains are considered part of the Curvature Carpathians. Geologically, according to the divisions of the Carpathians, the range is part of the Moldavian-Muntenian Carpathians, of the larger group of the Outer Eastern Carpathians.
The Cheia village is close to the mountain.
This image is available as an NFT, you can find it here: https://foundation.app/@cosminstan/bofn/1
