Today began the year that closes the first quarter of the new 21st century, there are 364 days left and we will celebrate this, of course, who else will be there.
Since last year, it is true that from his last day, I started a retrospective that was initially supposed to refer only to the photos I took last year, arranged by month.
As always, I set out to do one thing and manage to do another. The somewhat cold retrospective that was supposed to be a series of photographs also turned into a retrospective of the memories and feelings generated by seeing those images.
My intention was to make a post with twelve photos, one from each month of the past year, but, as I said above, I always fail when I have to stick to a plan or schedule. I stopped the story after posting the first three months and realized that I had far exceeded the number of photos, but also the number of words.
This is how my last post for 2024 was born, which you can see here, because it is related to today's blog and the next two. Together they will form my desired recap of 2024 in images and feelings.
I'm now going to choose some photos from the next three months: April, May, and June.
After my first experience with the previous blog mentioned here, I was pleasantly surprised to be flooded with so many memories of what the past year was like for me. It was really hard to use just a few photos for each month because I found so many and each one wanted to tell a story.
So, with some difficulty, I begin the next round, or series, as the case may be!
April
Spring has already begun after a very mild winter.
After experiencing the beginning of spring in the country last month, where I grew up and lived the most wonderful seasons, now I'm choosing photos from spring in the city, in Bucharest, where I've lived for a very long time.
I don't remember what that spring was like, the images are mixed up in my head, especially now that, as a consequence of global warming, the seasons are getting mixed up, and I'm referring to where I live and I see this.
Now that I'm doing this reminiscing and looking at the photos, I'm starting to draw some conclusions. Apart from the trips to the seaside that keep repeating, so do my walks in the Circus Park, which has become, it seems, my favorite.
What could be more spring-like than this image?
A strange oak tree that is starting to receive the leaves it lost last fall.
The Circus Park has a pond in the middle. This is home to many kinds of birds.
Although it is a shared house and the residents should get along well, I have seen that sometimes it is exactly the opposite and violence occurs.
Later I understood what was happening. These little water birds were raising their young and trying to protect them from the merciless seagulls who wanted to hunt them.
The pigeons, on the other hand, have no enemies and no fear. Visitors to the park bring them food every day, so they have full bellies and feel the need to rest.
Spring, like autumn, are the seasons with the most colors, with the difference that spring has the colors of birth, while autumn has the colors of death.
It's amazing how wildlife can exist in this park where, a few hundred meters away, in any direction, you encounter boulevards crowded with cars or buildings and apartment blocks full of people.
May
May is a strange month and it doesn't quite know if it's spring or summer.
May was important for me because it represented my second trip to the sea, a novelty, because usually these trips started in June at the earliest.
In January we received a gift from friends, a few days at a large hotel near Balchik, where we felt very good and decided to take a few more days in May.
Lighthouse Golf & Spa is a hotel dedicated especially to golfers, but it can also accommodate people like me, who don't know much about golf, because it is a very large hotel.
Situated on a property of tens of hectares, mostly golf courses, it offers a beautiful view from the room's balcony. A view opposite the blue sea, I called it the green sea.
We only watched the golf game from the balcony of our room.
I wasn't interested in golf, it's not popular in Romania. Generally, this is a sport for the rich... and that wasn't the case for us.
In return, I got something I've wanted since childhood and didn't have. The opportunity to walk through the wild nature by the sea, unmodified by only very little human intervention.
I love the vegetation and spring flowers that announce the arrival of summer, and my favorite is the poppy.
When I see the poppies in bloom, I know I have to prepare for the most pleasant trip, to the sea!
Wild poppy flowers are the bridge between May and June!
June
June is indecisive, although she is excited by the summer heat, sometimes misses the coolness of spring.
June, last year, was a very good month for me because it meant, first of all, my third trip to the sea that year.
Some good friends, knowing that we are familiar with the Bulgarian coast, asked us to accompany them on a trip there. It was a joy for us, even if we had to change our way of being at the seaside.
It was more of a visit to several seaside resorts in Bulgaria. Balchik, Albena, Nessebar.
I'm not posting any more photos from Balchik, because I've posted them in the months so far and I'll do so again later.
I will choose two photos from Albena. Unfortunately, they are broken photos, because I made a mistake, I thought the camera was on automatic, but it was set manually to a very wide aperture and thus all the photos from that place were overexposed. With all the efforts I was able to make to edit, I didn't succeed much.
Normally I should have skipped these photos but I don't think I'll be going to Albena anytime soon, even though it's very close to Balchik, the place we go every year.
I wanted to post this image showing Balchik seen from Albena.
Being with these friends who were more interested in shopping, souvenirs and terraces where to rest, drink and eat, here are some photos from Nessebar.
Nessebar is a small peninsula where medieval houses and buildings have been preserved.
It is a place where every house, ground floor of the house, has been transformed into shops, terraces and restaurants.
There is no beach, so tourists are only interested in this aspect related to immediate needs, such as thirst, hunger, and rest.
But the beauty of the seascape cannot be ignored.
It was a memory of how I used to spend my time at the seaside many years ago.
Happy New Year 2025!
I rely mostly on photos in all my blogs. Words don't help me as much as photos.
I always start with photos when I want to write a blog. Photos remind me of places, events, and feelings that then turn into words. When I post in Photography Lovers the words have even less importance, they are a companion to the photos I want to show. This often makes the story uninteresting or common, yet it is necessary; otherwise, the photos would merely be a series of unexciting images.
I make this statement as a plea to those reading not to over-judge the text and to focus on the photos. The story puts everything in context and provides the explanations and clarifications necessary for the blog to convey something of interest to the reader.
Since we all love photography, let’s explore the captivating details captured in these photos.!
A wise saying goes that a photograph is worth a thousand words, but I don't think so.
It depends on the viewer.
Just a friendly heads-up: I'm keeping an eye on you!
