Some of those who already know me understand my affinity for old cities, the usual locations where reenactment festivals take place. I have  created an entire  collection of characters photographed during such events.

So, it is not surprising that during my times in Romania, right after living in Japan, I had a special interest in exploring one of the “jewel cities” of Romania, Sighișoara. In one of those visits, after walking non-stop in the city dodging several rounds of rain, I stopped at a restaurant terrace to catch my breath before embarking in the return trip home, a 400 km car drive. The sky was quite threatening and the dusk was creeping in.

The Old Clock Tower, Sighisoara, Romania.

The color combination between the gray clouds, the dusk light and the angle from which, seated at the table, I was watching the scene,  made me take the camera and shoot this picture of the old tower of Sighisoara’s citadel.

The great contrasts of the scene and the rather precarious light forced me to make several exposures which I then combined, generating an HDR (High dynamic range) image. At that time, this technique was extremely avant-garde and technically difficult to achieve by post-processing. Today, this is common pace, it  can be done automatically with almost any modern camera or phone, with embedded settings right in the device app.

The result was a picture that looks great.

In about a year, when  I happened to be in a different “jewel city” of Romania, Sibiu, I found myself in a local bookstore. By coincidence, at the tourist guide section, my eyes fell on a Sighisoara travel guide. The cover of the guide felt familiar, and suddenly, I realized why. The image on the cover was the one I made some time ago, when I was resting on a terrace in Sighișoara. I took the book and browse through with a feeling of still constrained and anxious joy, aiming to see more of its content. My joy became exponential seeing that between the covers of the guide were many other images I have taken during my days of exploring Sighisoara.

Such an event brings great satisfaction to a stock photographer, who collaborates with image agencies. It is that moment when you realize that those ideas brainstormed at fast pace while taking the image have perfectly matched with the ideas of the image user. And that is how you make an attractive and desirable product.