After staying in Santimbru for 2 days with Karoly, talking with him, with the mayor and local workers I must say this story must continue in a way or another. Sometimes people talk a lot and don’t do much, but in this case Karoly worked, and fought for a solution for the ice rink and with the help from the mayor, local fire department and also with the effort form the villagers they have gone pretty far with this little dream

Let me tell you firstly a bit more about the situation from Santimbru and a little bit about the history of the ice rink.

Karoly made the first natural ice rink in 2005 on the land that the Catholic Church has in Santimbru, this went on for 3-4 year. The bad part is that this ice rink was really close to the river Olt that flows through the village and soon enough they had problems with floods. The other bad part was that the people who were playing on the ice rink had to pay rent for that land.

After this experience Karoly thought that he has a good land that he could use for the ice rink so he and the local people started thinking how to do the ice rink there.

First, they had to dig up a hole 30x60meters and pretty deep , but not that deep because if it’s too deep than the water wouldn’t froze as it should.

After digging the hole, clearing the land they had to find a solution to fill up the hole with water…a lot of water. Here is when the fire department was again really useful, but they also had to buy a water pump and gather all the hoses from the neighbour villages because the well was 400 meters away from the ice rink location. They pumped water for 3 days straight to fill the ice rink. Here you can see the well from where they pumped the water and down the hill where are some houses is the ice rink as well.

This is how the ice rink looked like in its early days. You can see there also the community watching the teams.

In the photo you can see that they had the ice rink surrounded with wood, that wood was also donated by the local people. 

Something to mention is that from the beginning there was a local amateur team and only from 2009 when this ice rink was made, appeared the U10-U12 hockey team. This little fierce team could only train 2-3 months/year but they started to participate in local championships starting 2010 when they registered in the Romanian Hockey Association. At that time the town hall could help the kids with gas for their transportation and the parents would pay also some money for the accommodation, but soon enough the mayor couldn’t give them anymore money because the Romanian Government said that it’s illegal to do that…there is also a case where the town hall gave some money to a local hockey team and now the team has to give the money back to the Government. That’s sad…

Against all odds this little team went to a tournament in Budapest, Hungary and won 4 games out of 6 playing with some of the best teams in Hungary. People heard their story and donated their equipment to this young team and also they gave them some PVC protection for the ice rink that looks like this right now. Also after that tournament 3 kids transferred to the best hockey team in Romania.

In 2013 the mayor got some money from the government to build that little locker room you can see in the photo with the ice rink. In the locker room anyone who enters can see the teams history, medals and awards they won.

But before they had the locker room they’ve made a small U10 championship with 12 teams from all around Romania. The teams didn’t had a place to change, make a shower and prepare so Karoly took every single team to change and prepare in his house. 150 little kids changed their equipments and made shower in his house, and also the local community was really supportive, they’ve cooked food for every single kid, gave them refreshments and anything else they’ve needed. This is how a little corner of Karoly’s house looks now. There are skating pairs for the local people that don’t have any but want to skate. Also, Karoly told me that a skate shop owner was joking with him that the villagers from Santimbru bought all his skates in the winter.

Also there is a real problem with the equipment because an entire hockey equipment costs around 1000$ and the local people really can’t afford to invest that kind of money in their kids equipment. Some of the local people could afford and they are sending their kids to Miercurea Ciuc(the best hockey team in Romania) to train 3 times/week. It’s really expensive to do that as well. Here is how their equipment looks now.

The situation it’s really complicated because: the government has made it illegal for the mayor to help the team, there are no european funds for ice rink so they could apply, so if they want to continue to get better and participate to tournaments they have to get to the next level, which is to practice hockey all year long, not just 2-3 months per/year. 

This is a small history of Karoly, the ice rinks and the hockey team. The ice rink brought so much to them in terms of relationships, joy, uniting them and finding something good to fight for

]]> http://www.mateiplesa.com/western-union-santimbru-ice-rink/feed/ 0 http://www.mateiplesa.com/product-photography-the-beginning/ http://www.mateiplesa.com/product-photography-the-beginning/#respond Tue, 06 Oct 2015 23:29:45 +0000 http://mateiplesa.com/?p=3303 Read More

For almost one month now, I have been working more and more on product photography. I can’t really say why, but my mentality is that when something appears from nowhere embrace it and never oppose it. Along my 5 year carrier there have been lots of opportunities for me to try different kinds of domains, like wedding videography and photography, extreme sports, events and much more and I’ve wanted to try them all so I can see which ones I like the most. The same thing goes here as well, I had the opportunity to do it so I accepted the challenge and along the way I started to like it more and more. This is the way passions start to come to life

My first chance to try and make something “product” related work was for Meze Headphones, where I had to make a beautiful little story about the headphones and why they are special. It was a really though thing to shoot because there was no time for planning the shoot and I had to shoot the video at the same time as the photos for the product were being produced. Yes, it was the worst kind of project, no time, no script, and no control over the time of shooting…but we had a very nice weather, great models and location so I quickly thought about a short story and sequences that would look beautiful. The filming went well so we had a lot of good material but without any kind of background story so we had to find and creat one with the beautiful sequences we had. After a lot of brainstorming and over 6 different video edits we got something that we liked a lot. You can see it here

Soon after I complete the Meze Headphones project, one friend of mine asked me if I’m willing to take some photographs for some handmade goods and objects. I said yes, but the only problem was that I had to make all the photos in the bright sun, so I decided to not use my 2 flash lights and only use the sunlight and a bit of diffusion. You can see in this photo how sketchy my setup was, but it worked wonders:D

In all the time I’ve spent filming and photographing I saw how important was to be able to adapt to new situation and to take initiative and work/fight for the image you want to create. In most of the time this is the most important thing, to do these little things that really matters the most and most of the other photographers wouldn’t do them just because are lazy or good is just “good enough”. Next you can see some photos I’ve made with that setup

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I must say that working with the sunlight was really hard because the sun was always moving so I had to move all of tools every 5-10 minutes, but after finishing the photos I’ve went straight home and edited all the 70 products in one day, that’s how much I liked it

The next step was my personal project with some beers. I’ve always liked the clean, smooth advertising photos for beers, bottled water, beverage and I was and still am determined to make really interesting and cool concepts, but I know there will be a lot of work to be done. First, I think it’s really important to know your expectations and understand that good photos/video will come after a lot of work and patience. Sometimes we all what the things to happen now, quick, fast with not so much effort, but really nice things take time, great effort and passion and that’s the mentality you want to have from the start.

The first photo I’ve took was with a Staropramen beer and I was looking to understand how I have to light the beer, how I can edit and retouch it so I can really make it pop in the eyes of the viewer. It took almost one day just to see what I can do and what I can’t retouch.

After this I was pretty sure what I had to prepare next time so I’ve made some test shots with a Bavaria beer bottle and also a Bavaria beer glass. This photoshooting was much smoother, I already knew how the light was supposed to be but it took a lot of time to fine tune the light, to get rid of all kinds of reflections, to not clip the whites on the bottle and things like this. In the end I was more than happy with the result, which you can see here

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And now to the last product photography concept. I was starting to think more and more about different concepts, how I can make them and so on. For some months Strongbow have been making some big efforts in Romania to launch their product so I thought I should make a concept for their cider, just for fun. So I started thinking about a nice, cool concept for their drink, and I came out with an idea of apples/lemons splashing into the water and the bottle should be between the apples/lemons. Before starting and preparing the shoot, I was starting to be a bit afraid because I knew it will be pretty hard to pull this off and I was sure if I didn’t succeed I won’t be really disappointed and my drive to do more would decrease. With this in mind I was decided to work hard to get the best result I could, so I went and bought a small acvarium where I would splash the lemons. Then I’ve took some photos of the cider bottle and after that I threw the lemons in the acvarium. Needless to say that I was shooting this all alone and I had to put my camera on timer, run quickly to the acvarium, take the lemons and throw them. I think I took over 200 shots only with lemons splashing, but it was really worth it, I learned a lot making this. Next you can see how the concept looked in the end

This was my first experience with Product Photography and I feel that more will come soon. After posting on Facebook the Strongbow concept I got 3 jobs for this kind of work, so it seems people liked it a lot. Also, I hope this post motivates you to try new things and find new ways of expressing your creativity and ideas

 

 

 

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“On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it.” Jules Renard

If there is something that I’m regretting deeply is that I didn’t start discovering nature and all the beautiful places that Earth has. Imagine how big the world is and how many beautiful places are undiscovered, untouched…and thinking that I will get to see just a part, saddens me a bit.
Until I was 21 years old I didn’t really explored much, I didn’t even go on school trips, but as soon as I got the money to do it I started discovering places, exploring my hometown and it’s beautiful hills and mountains. I was amazed how many beautiful places were here to be discovered but I never really had an interest to go and see them. It’s funny and sad how people think that if they are living in one place for a long period of time they know everything. There have been many times when I took some pictures near Cluj and lot’s of people didn’t knew that the photo was taken in their hometown.

Discovering my hometown was my first baby step towards wanderlust. In the years that followed I started making longer trips in more remote locations and that’s when I understood that the most beautiful places are the secret and hidden ones. All those small road trips where making me think about a bigger adventure and when I had the time and money I didn’t hesitated.

The plan was to discover the Austrian Alps. One year before I was in Hallstatt and I thought, “I really have to come here at least one more time”. That was the first step towards my 2 month road trip. What I loved about Hallstatt was the big lake and the majestic mountains that surrounded the little village. I didn’t had the chance to see something like that in my entire life. I was amazed. The location has also that story like feeling, standing there you can imagine some medieval legends with brave fighters and beautiful/goddess like woman. So my first longer stop was in Hallstatt, after that I went to Salzburg but didn’t really loved the city, even if it has great architecture, it didn’t really feel like a city I could stay and discover. I went back to the Alps in the middle of the night, trying to find a place to sleep but I only found a big parking place in Dachstein where I slept at -4 degrees. That was my first night all alone, in the middle of nowhere, trying to sleep and not getting a cold. It was one of the creepiest nights. The wind was blowing through the forrest near the parking lot and it was making really strange noises that I thought were wolfs and what not. In the middle of the night I saw through the cars window the stars…I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. I was amazed! I immediately jumped of the car with my photo camera and started taking photos. In the morning I’ve went straight on top of the Alps at 2400m and the view was breath taking…every single part of those mountains was amazing, I just couldn’t take my eyes from them. I ended having pictures with every single mountain peak I saw

The next location that I loved and in which I was really scared was Kromlau. Kromlau is a 10.000 inhabitants village in north Germany, 2 hour-s drive from Berlin. Imagine a really, really calm, old village in the middle of a forrest. Now imagine almost nobody was on the street, and the only people I saw were really old people taking some air in the evening. I remember I camped near the village in the middle of the woods because I was afraid that some old men would see me and call the police because I was sleeping in the car. So I camped there and went for a walk to discover this little’s village secret places and when I arrived there the sun was setting and I remember I felt so lucky because at the exact same time the sun was between two trees right in front of me. That was a really special moment for me, I went through a lot to get in that place and I felt like that was the surprise or the gift for me…I stayed there for a couple of minutes and enjoyed the sunset and then I went to the “magical” bridge I saw on the internet. When I saw the bridge I knew I have to photograph it in the middle of the night. It was simply inspiring…the shape, the construction, the legend behind it. I went back to my car, ate something, took my camera and came back to the bridge at around 12 o’clock in the night. It was a really dark night, no lights, no nothing and I was the only person in that park, what could go wrong? I started taking photos of the bridge, seeing some angles, perspective but at some point I heard some noise in the forrest. The noise was…at least frightening I could say. There were 2 animals fighting and eating each other near me, like 10-20 meters, I couldn’t see anything because I was near some bushes but hearing them was enough just to think about all that I love on this Earth. The noise was approaching, I had my camera on a tripod and I was still taking photos and looking behind me, because I knew if I would be alive after this experience I have to have the photos, so I kept on taking photos. At some point, after around 5-7 minutes the animals stopped fighting and just disappeared. Oh, the relief…The next day when I saw the photos I took I was so happy that I didn’t stopped taking photos. The following week one of the photos was viral

Those are two little stories that I will take with me forever.

I’ve seen lot’s of great places and met so many great people. I learned that home is the place where the loved ones are, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I felt like home in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam. I must thank those people and I miss them a lot

Thank you: Manuela, Alexandra, Thomas, Amy, Vlad, Sebi, Dorine, Kamiel, Martjin. You really helped me in my hardest moments and you’ll never be forgotten

For a long period of time I wanted to write about my road trip from last year and finally I’m going to do it

The idea behind this trip was to travel through Europe and discover the hidden locations, gems and the nicest craftsmen that I could meet. But also I wanted to put myself in difficult situations so I could get to know my limits. It’s really important for me to get out of my comfort zone and discover, try and explore things and situations in which I wouldn’t get in my normal working days.

I never really knew when I will leave Romania just one week before, nor for how much time and I didn’t even knew where I would sleep and that was a pretty big mistake because I didn’t had really much of a budget. As soon as I got the money and the time I prepared the route for my trip and of I went. Little did I know what kind of experiences were waiting for me…

Probably everyone that met me in person knows how much I love working and making documentaries about craftsmen. They are so passionate and concentrated on their craft, they work day and night, they’ve made sacrifices so they can work what they love. There are some amazing stories about corporate, business or even homeless persons that once they discovered their passion for crafts they just fought for it with all their hearts and never went back. I’ve heard one story about a luthier from Romania getting a divorce because his wife wanted him to spend more time together but he was to excited and passionate about his craft so he neglected her, 40 years.  Sometimes being this passionate, you tend to forget thinking about other peoples needs  and sometimes you are the only one that could make their day a bit more beautiful.

Thinking about the atmosphere while shooting a documentary it resembles a lot with Christmas time. It tends to send you in a story like scenery, that warm, cosy feeling with a single dim light in the room while you can feel the smell of carved wood and an old craftsman carving wood while telling you legends about old, mythical creatures. I love that feeling, the calmness, the natural, human feeling that those craftsman are sending. After all my experiences with craftsmen I’m more than aware of how much I have gained just by standing next to them, watching how they work, telling me their life stories and amaze me with their skills. I feel really lucky and fortunate having the chance to do all this.

I could talk about crafts and craftsmen all day long but maybe some photos would make you feel a little bit more of what I have wrote here. In the photo gallery you can meet the 4 craftsmen that I’ve met along the way and also I will leave you some links to their work or my documentaries. I hope you will like them and their work

Thomas Keil – bespoke shoes from Hamburg, Germany;

Frank Rittwagen – luthier from Berlin, Germany;

Doru Dumitrescu – Wearable Sculptures from Timisoara, Romania;

Blom&Blom – Lamps, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Also you can check my personal project about craftsmen here: Fascinatia Mestesugului (Fascination of the Craft)

I’ve never considered myself a sea or an ocean lover but I always was amazed by the infinity of the nature and how small we can feel when we stand right in front of her. Starting 3 years ago, the mountains were one of the most powerful sources of inspiration for me. I often found myself taking the car and driving in the middle of the night to the mountains to catch the Milky Way or to create some kind of inspirational concept photography. That inspiration never faded away, and with every location I saw and discovered I wanted to see and create more. Sometimes it can be overwhelming just because you realise that this world is so big and it’s a pity you won’t be able to discover all these amazing and hidden places.

In the road trip that me and my girlfriend made to Bulgaria I discovered another part of the nature that I’m amazed and inspired by, the sea. Just being in front of that infinity of water, and the fact that I couldn’t see the end of it was overwhelming. Than I knew this was the beginning of a beautiful inspiration

Check the photos from the road trip and i hope you will get inspired as well

Having these things in mind I thought that I could combine photography and my passion for tattoos to help people that are judging us, the tattooed people, that in most cases our tattoos have a story to tell, a sad story, a happy story, or a story about our loved ones. We make tattoos that are meaningful for us and we like to see our tattoos and always remember that person or that important moment in our life, because those are the things that made us what we are now.

“My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my stories.”

Now I can say that I have a custom in making a tattoo after every powerful experience that I’m going through and which I know and feel that changes me as a person. I know I’m not a misfit and I know that I haven’t been incarcerated in prison for any felony so there is no explanation and motif being watched and scanned like a prisoner. I’ve had problems at the airport because of my tattoos, also it drives me nuts when I see people looking at my tattoos and not in my eyes when they are talking to me, as a girl would say while a guy would look in her low-cut neck t-shirt “I feel objectified and judged.”

Through this project I would like to change some people’s mind about tattoos and what they mean for us, the tattooed people. Our tattoos hide great stories and it would be a pity not to find them out.

In the next set of photos I will publish the stories behind the tattoos as well, but until than you can see these photos I’ve made at the Tattoo Convention Cluj-Napoca and I hope you will like them

[See image gallery at www.mateiplesa.com]