Introduction

With so much content available today, we’ve adopted a fast-paced mindset that doesn’t inspire us to truly value the information we come across. I want to slow down, highlight the photographs I’ve taken or found over the years, and reflect on the memories and lessons they contain.

01. Backtracking

This journal began as a meaningful way to cope with losing a parent.

My siblings and I never really got to know him. I found at some point a short text he had written. It was a recollection of a summer night. He would describe the stars and contemplate the universe and existence in a moment to himself.

I can also recall little bits of core memories, but unfortunately, most of them have faded into a blur. We played football, he taught us physics, he would often drive us to school. But, most importantly, he taught us a methodical way of thinking.

Depression and emotional confusion followed for years.

I did not actively pursue photography in the beginning. A friend forgot a camera at my place and I tried it out of curiosity.

Witnessing the world through the viewfinder allowed me to be present in the moment while still being socially detached. I could see and study everybody, they would be aware of my presence and did not perceive me as an intruder while at the same time I did not need to interact with people. It felt natural to be integrated in the enviroment behind the image sensor.

It wasn’t long until I moved to Bucharest. I think that this city is objectively ugly, strongly shaped by communism, corruption and a poor education system. But if you know where to look you can always find it’s gems too – the result of social pressure met by strong characters.

I was the first from my siblings to move, disconnected for a few years from them. I applied here for the architecture university. Later they moved in too in order to study different subjects – fluid mechanics and foreign languages.

Moving here wasn’t much of a decision for me. I only had this one direction. I believe that life simply pushes you one way or another. You either struggle against the wave, or you accept what’s being thrown at you and make the best of it.

Initially, I failed the university admission exam, scoring only 3 points out of 10. This poor result wasn’t due to lack of knowledge and preparation on my part – especially since people study for this exam via private lessons for years in advance. I was simply too distressed and could not focus for the entirety of the exam.

I went through emotions of disappointment and anger and eventually reached the conclusion that there was no other option but to try again.

Two weeks later the admission for interior design took place and I took advantage of that timing. It felt like a compromise at first. There’s a stigma around students who fail to get into architecture the first time and then try again with interior design.

I didn’t have time to prepare for this new exam, it required a slightly different skill set. My training had been strictly technical, oriented towards architecture. I used rough pencils and Isograph pens. I had no sensitivity to color and had never held a brush before. But this exam required me to hand-render interior spaces, using color to accurately express a design.

All I had was a blue crayon but the judges saw through my efforts and I was admitted. I would soon find out how special and artistic my studies would be in interior design. I decided it was meant to be and I never looked back.

The image above is a very dramatic representation of how I perceived the architecture student dormitory quarters.

I keep thinking it looks like a psychiatric ward hallway. If you can, imagine this hallway from a different perspective. I captured this image on a Tuesday evening when everybody would be tired from their projects and not willing to socialize. The infrastructure might be awful from an architectural standpoint, but the students living here were all very talented and hard working.

And then Fridays would come. Everthing changed. We would take down most of the white neon tubes in the hallway and completely change this atmosphere with two-three UV blacklight tubes. The party would stretch across the hallway from room to room.