Tags
avenue, Carpathian Mountains, Fagaras, photography, pink, road, Romania, rural, sunrise, Transalpina, Transfagarasan
We crossed the Carpathian Mountains twice in two days on the two highest passes in Romania, north to south on the Transalpina and south to north on the Transfăgărășan Highway. Sadly, for all that dramatic mountain scenery, panoramic views and fantastic twisting ribbons of tarmac I don’t have any decent photographs to show for it. Plenty of snaps and great memories but nothing to do justice to this spectacular, rugged range of high peaks. Determined to try and get at least one decent image, with the mountains in the background if nothing else, I was up before the sun again to try my luck.
The pre-dawn darkness gradually lightened to a murky yellow hue and there was not a cloud in the sky – not quite what I’d hoped for. Photography and patience go hand in hand so I hung on, besides it was a balmy morning and I had an entertaining lizard for company. As if embarrassed by its sullen start the sky began to flush a pale pink and streaks of cloud tentatively sidled across the silhouetted range towards me. Soon a fireball of sun peered over the horizon to my left, glancing across the distant peaks and the pink flush deepened with the bluing sky, a light mist forming in the foothills. 
A couple of months earlier and the foreground trees would have been a blaze of lime green but it was here and now and this was as near perfect as I could wish for.
(All images are copyright to Noeline Smith)
Beautiful Noeline!
Thanks Chillbrook. I’m not normally a pink person but I love the overall pinkness of this. Is there such a word as pinkness?!
Love your writing which paints a picture as lovely as the photograph…do you keep a journal about your travels I wonder, Noeline …but I’m sure that you do….
Thank you John. Sometimes I read a post later and wonder if I got carried away – but I guess that’s the truth – in my minds eye I’m standing there again, taking it all in again, reliving the moment and trying to share it.
I do keep a journal but, for now, I find that the photographs are enough to transport me to the time and place again. Recently I was flicking through one I wrote on a trip six years ago and that really took me back. I tend to be quite descriptive and write about sights, sounds, smells, tastes etc. There’s probably something deeply psychological about trying to ‘capture’ it all
At my age the memories fade rather quickly, which is why I never delete any photos, and why I need to keep a journal…..and it’s fun as well.
This is a beautifully atmospheric picture – I too love the overall pinkness. But I think it is important not to expect too much from a photograph. Your comment above sums up our multi-sensory response to, for example, a scene of great beauty – perhaps a dramatic landscape, waves breaking, a sunset etc. Such occasions are not purely visual and the function of the photograph is to evoke either a recollection of the original circumstances or, if we are viewing the work of others, to draw upon our own related experiences to make a connection.
True – that’s why my journals are such an important part of my travels.
Looking further – I think that for me that’s probably what defines ‘art’, in what ever form it takes. If something can provoke an emotion (preferably a pleasant one!), a memory, an experience etc. and I can keep on looking at it after the initial ‘oooh’ moment has gone; something I’d want in my house, on my wall – that’s ‘art’ rather than a daub, a model, a snap.
Beautiful color!
Thank you – it’s a great feeling when nature ‘co-operates’
Lovely landscape.
Yup – a real pleasure to watch it come to life as the sun rose.
OMG oh wow, that is so beautiful Noeline.
Thanks Leanne, it’s one of the best sunrises I’ve seen for ages.