At the end of July, and beginning of August, I’ve decided I start my newest photography project called “Water Lilies in Bucharest”. I’ve been wanting to shoot these beautiful water flowers that thrive on the lake of the Circus’ Park in downtown Bucharest for a long while now, even since before I started doing photography.

I will be shooting during three seasons, namely this summer, then fall, winter. I want to emphasize the life of these flowers, their relationship with other species on the lake. I will do landscape photography also. I will try to photograph them in the best artistical way possible.

As technical aspects I am shooting with my Canon camera, with two lenses: a fast wide-angle lens and a long lens. I am thinking about composition aspects, about depth of field, if I want everything to be in focus or to separate the subject from the background. I am also thinking about lighting conditions.. do I want to shoot in the morning only, or do I want to shoot in the middle of the day or during the evening hours or at night (unfortunately, at night or when there are low lighting conditions, the lilies have their flowers closed so in this case it’s a major disadvantage).

There are advantages, of course, when I’m shooting in the morning. First, there is the lighting condition, meaning the light is best during this time, and second, there are very few people in the park, if any, so I can shoot landscapes better, without any people in the photos. I know there are people who think that “people give life to the photographs”, but in this case it’s a little bit different. They can be a distraction.

Then I will be thinking about weather conditions. Do I want to shoot when there’s a clear sky outside, or when there are a few clouds? Also, if you look at the first photos that I’ve made you can see that they were made during the golden hour at sunrise, so there are a few beautiful colored clouds in the sky. The Gods of photography blessed me that day!

Again, I am also thinking about shooting in the worst weather conditions so I can see how it is. I also want to see if the atmospheric conditions provide me with the best opportunities for being creative. I’m referring to the fact that challenging atmospheric conditions can provide the opportunities to shoot differently. I mean I want to shoot images that are different from the iconic images one can see in the travel magazines, I mean something really artistic.

Last, but not least, I want to take in consideration if I want to shoot colored images or black and white ones. Of course, when we talk about water lilies it immediately implies doing colored photography. But I’m also thinking about black and white photographs especially during winter when the tonalities and the atmospheric conditions are asking for it. I want not only to emphasize the presence of the flowers in the scenes but also the basic tones of the image, due to the overall atmospheric conditions that provide them. It’s not only about water lilies, because I am not trying to do documentary photography, but also about photographing water lilies in the park in the best possible ways.

So check the gallery from time to time to see all the photos! Also, I am posting some of the highlights of the project.

If you like, leave any comments or thoughts below! :D Any suggestion on how to improve this project even further is very welcomed. The discussion is opened. Thanks very much for reading so far.