bucegi mountains - malaiesti valley in winter

located in central Romania, the Bucegi mountains are part of the southern Carpathians. The highest peak of the Bucegi mountains in the Omul peak with 2505 meters (8218 feet). The plateau can be reached by cable car or with the car, which makes it a popular tourist attraction. There the weather and time have shaped some rocks into peculiar shapes which resemble mushrooms or the head of the sphinx.

The Malaiesti valley is situated on the north-eastern part of the mountain range. It is only accessible by foot and in winter you will have to take the longer access path as the shorter one is too dangerous.
In the Malaiesti valley you can find accommodation at the Malaiesti Chalet. There you can also have something to eat. From this chalet you can take various trips and you can reach the peak in about 2,5 hours (it can take longer in winter).

It is not uncommon to meet bears in these mountains, so it might be a good idea to travel in larger groups and make some noise if you find yourself here in any other season than winter.

All the pictures from this post are shot with the nikon D90 body and the nikon 18-105mm lens.

view from the access road to the Malaiesti Valley

the last rays of the sun cast spectacular colors onto the peaks

the Malaiesti valley in the morning, seen from the entrance to the Malaiesti chalet

Some of the pictures above are featured in my photography
book published by blurb. It can be ordered online on their site.

Transylvania in pictures

By eduard ersek

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the Ciucas mountains

  

Although not a very high mountain, its highest peak being 1957 meters, the Ciucas mountain is a very picturesque place.

   

Four natural reserves are located on this area. A wide range of wildlife can be found here. Here are the most important: bear, fox, deer, wild boar, wild cat, marten, squirrel, chamoix, nightingale, finch, rock butterfly, hawk, eagle, golden eagle, the common viper and the small mountain lizard.

  Many of the rocks have different names as "Goliat" for example or "the old lady", as time, water and wind shaped them into many interesting shapes. I'm sure anyone can find resemblances to different things as soon as they give them an attentive look.

 

you can find a few more pictures from the Ciucas mountains here

photos done with nikon D90 body,  nikon 18-200 lens and Kenko circular polarizing filter.

Check out my photography book published by blurb.
It can be ordered online on their site.

Transylvania in pictures

By eduard ersek

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the natural reserve from Reci

The natural Reserve from 'Reci' is a botanical reserve with an area of ​​about 84 acres, located in the Black River valley in Covasna County. It was established as a reserve of botanical interest in 1962 and is an eutrophic marsh complex, populated by a number of rare, glacial relics such as the dwarf birch, the fern and the wild angelica. The approximate altitude is 520 meters. It is the largest reserve in Covasna county, geologically complex by nature, flora and fauna. This environment is also the habitat of the blue marsh frog whose southern limit is this reserve. It also includes a bancsian pine plantation, a rare pine species that adapts to barren land.

The Reserve is very beautiful, especially in birch forests of various sizes and lakes where wild lilies are not an exception. It is also the meeting place and the last stop of the flocks of storks before taking off to the warm countries. The soil is very sandy, the whole area being formed from silt of the Black River. On the surface we find a thin layer of earth (only a few centimeters). If you dig deeper you will only find sand. Between mounds of sand we find around 100 small lakes, but most are attacked and conquered by swamp vegetation.

The Reserve is not very protected, because the villages around have little pasture. The territory was divided between the surrounding villages, so that there is a 'Reci' reserve, but also a 'Comolău' one and a 'Santion' one, depending on the names of the different villages. Unfortunately the reserve is situated so that it is easy to reach it by car and people drive their cars right into the reseve, camp and light fires for the typical barbecue ...

In 2003, the natural environment of 'Reci' has been the location for some scenes of the movie 'Cold Mountain' starring Nicole Kiddman and Jude Law.

 
The Environmental Protection Agency is working on a management plan which aims to raise funds for this reserve. Informational boards are to be located all around the reserve and tourist camping will not be allowed. Thematic routes will be established as there are different areas of restrictions - in some places human intervention shouldn't be allowed. When and where all of this will be done remains to be seen.

The pictures were shot with the nikon D90 body using the 18-105mm and the 18-200mm lens. The two panoramas I stitched together from pictures made with the panasonic FZ20 camera.

Check out my photography book published by blurb. It can be ordered online on their site.

Transylvania in pictures

By eduard ersek

Book Preview

santimbru bai - summer

Here are a few facts about Santimbru-Bai:

The village Sântimbru-Bai is situated on the Harghita mountain ridge at an altitude of around 1200 m. It is known especially for gaseous emanations (the strongest in Harghita mountain range), used to treat rheumatic symptoms. In the last ten years at Sântimbru-Bai almost 750 houses were built. The gaseous Mofettes used nowadays for treatment were originally dug by shepherds for their own use.

The gases released here have a high content of carbon dioxide and sulfur and are among the best in Romania due to their positive effects on health. The gases are made up of 99% carbon dioxide (CO2) and 1% hydrogen sulfide (H2S) with a smell that reminds of rotten eggs. The mineral water here is primarily indicated for the treatment of rheumatic and loco motor problems. Gas which is rich in sulfur (containing radon) invigorates the body's metabolism and regulates the central nervous system functions. The therapeutic effects of this place are used in an organized manner since 1920. Mofettes were built in 1960, and saunas five years later in 1965.  Over the past 230 years thousands of disabled, people suffering with rheumatic problems, arthritis and arthritic pain have improved their health in this place.



The place lacks a viable infrastructure. Accommodation is possible only in villas and private homes and the access road is a gravel one. Only a few small shops are open during the summer.


A deposit of mercury was exploited during the 1970-1980. The mine of cinnabar (sulfurous rock from which mercury was extracted) is closed now, but still poisoning the soil and water, this being a telling example of the reckless industrialization from communist times, leaving scars on the land for today's generations. Nature is recovering slowly from these man-caused wounds.

The village is located in a beautiful scenery where dense coniferous forests alternate with mountain meadows.

You can find some more pictures from this place in my older posts here and here
                               











The pictures were shot with nikon D90 body and the nikon 18-200 vr lens. In some cases I also used a Kenko polarizing filter.

short review of nikon 180 f2.8

 It is a great lens. Even though it is pretty old it still delivers stunning pictures. I can only recommend buying this lens to everyone who is willing to deal with manual focus.

 As soon as you put your hand on it you realize it's a high quality lens. It is all metal and glass with a rubber grip on the focus ring. Both the focus ring and the aperture ring operate so smooth that it is a joy to rotate them (at least it is the case with the lens I have). It also has a built-in retractable metal hood. This is very convenient as you don't have to worry about the hood. You cannot loose it or brake it and it is very easy to get it out of the way. I wish all the lens could have this hood design.

 

As far as optics are concerned, even at wide open (f2.8) the images are sharp corner to corner. You can notice some chromatic aberrations around the contrasty edges at f2.8. For instance you will notice some purple fringing around the edges if you shoot an object against the bright sky. Anyway if you don't shoot against the sky you should have no trouble using it wide open. Personally I only use this lens at f2.8 as the quality of the images is great. The images below are shot at f2.8. You can notice the shallow depth of field and the great bokeh. It has the smoothest bokeh out of all the lens I've used. The optics also have superb resolution.

nikon 180 @ f2.8

nikon 180 @ f2.8

 The only downsides of this lens are its weight and the lack of AF.  You have to give it a little time if you want to get a clean focus on the eye (when shooting a portrait), so that the model should be a little patient. 

I should mention that the focus confirmation light is not very helpful. Looking at the focus confirmation light while shooting doesn't work for me. I tried out entry level Pentax cameras and they also have a beep focus confirmation alongside with the confirmation light. The audible focus confirmation makes much more sense while composing a picture rather than have another thing to look at. So the lack of the audible focus confirmation is not the greatest feature of the nikon D90 body. On the other hand the viewfinder is pretty big and this is helpful when focusing with this lens.

Compared to it's performance the lens can be bought pretty cheap. Having no electronics and being all metal and glass, there is really very little that can go wrong with this lens.

It's good to have it around in the woods as you can hurt a bear with it, but than you have to also be willing to carry around another 880 g.

 Some other pictures taken with this lens here and here.
 

sunny day on Lempes hill

nikon 35-70 @ f2.8 macro setting

nikon 35-70 @ f2.8 35mm

nikon 18-200 @ f5.6 18mm

nikon 180 @ f2.8

nikon 180 @ f2.8

nikon 18-200 @ f5.6 120mm

nikon 18-200 @ f5.6 52mm

nikon 18-200 @ f5.6 18mm

some older photos from Lempes hill here