I listen daily and with pleasure, every morning, to a radio station that, not by chance, matches my passion for music. Rock FM, with its morning program called Morning Glory.
Morning Glory is produced by a Romanian radio star, Razvan Exarhu, a non-conformist and innovator in his profession.
Morning Glory is an interactive program in which many listeners participate, especially to answer various challenges. This morning listeners were asked to complete this statement:
I am old because...
The answers are always interesting and with a lot of humor, but also with a lot of truth in them, for example, one answer I remember was: I am old because...I remember the Beverly Hills post office number, and it referred to a popular show many years ago, Beverly Hills 90210 from the 90s.
Another answer impressed me, because it was something I had been thinking about myself, that's how I feel: I am old because..." when I think of the past I see only in black and white"
When I was a kid and in my early youth, there were no colors on TV, in movies, in newspapers, in magazines, or photos.
Black and white, for me, means first of all the past and the nostalgia of childhood, adolescence, and its state, it means longing and nostalgia!
One of the biggest nostalgia I have when I think about vacations by the sea, after discovering a special place by the Black Sea. A fishing village, Vama Veche, in the southernmost part of Romania. I spent ten years here, starting in 1988.
Vama Veche has been a favorite seaside resort for Romanian artists and writers. I have a big regret for not arriving earlier, but I'm glad I experienced some of the specific atmospheres just before it vanished after the 90s.
The photos I will show here are not of the best quality. Photos taken with my phone after color photos are the only photos I have of Vama Veche that are of great value to me.
As I said, these memories have remained in black and white even though I have a few color photos, the years that have passed have erased the colors from my memory and I have erased the colors from the photos, in my turn.
More than 35 years have passed since I took these photos. For me it is both a joy and a pity to see them and I think it's obvious why that is.
I am thinking now that I have to explain why Vama Veche was such a wonderful place for a beautiful minority in Romania, the minority of art people, especially during the communist period of the country first of all because it was a secluded place, with marine nature unaffected by tourist constructions and crowds of people.
There were no hotels and accommodation was in villagers' houses or tents. We often gathered with friends, which made cooking and having fun easier.
The sea meant spending most of the day on the beach...
... or in the water.
I forgot... and many, many walks!
The uniqueness of this place, and perhaps the biggest attraction (for those in the know) was that it was the only place with a nudist beach.
In fact, it was a beach, a small beach in an equally small bay, for everyone, Regardless of what outfit you were wearing—or not!
What greater pleasure to sit on an empty beach? My boy has learned from an early age to love the sea without being attracted to mechanical games and installations.
Of course, there are drawbacks, such as a meager diet and a longer vacation can take its toll on children. These two were nicknamed, after a longer vacation, Bones One and Bones Two.
Unfortunately, this effect was not found in adults.
At the end of the vacation, there was a farewell photo.
Every year we promised to come back the following year. Unfortunately, there came a time when we broke our promise.
That was probably the last year I worked on photographic paper. They were my last color photographs.
Now I remember how limited I was back then with the number of pictures I could take with a negative. 24 or 36, I don't even remember well. Now I can take a thousand pictures in a session.
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
