One of the biggest challenges during this module turned out to be the selection of a suitable time for shooting. My initial idea was to take night shots only and the location allowed it. I live in Sofia so getting to the city center at almost any time of the day is not a problem.
However, the blue hour turned out to be too short for me to tour all locations so I had to change plans a bit - especially when I noticed that some churches, even though they are amazing in terms of architecture, are not lit at night so I had to reconsider if I wanted them in the portfolio.
When I went to Bucharest, things changed even more because I couldn't take my tripod with me (the airport authorities wouldn't have liked it). Besides, I was in a foreign country and roaming around the town alone so it wasn't exactly a good idea to stay for a long time after dark. I can go home at any time once I am in Sofia, but I wasn't OK with testing my luck in any other foreign capital. I am simply not that adventurous.
The results of my walks around Sofia and Bucharest proved my hypothesis that some places look better at night whereas others are much more stunning during daytime.
On my way to the hotel, I passed by that church in Bucharest numerous times, so naturally, it was one of the first locations I visited. At day it looked interesting enough, having architecture that has nothing to do with the rest of the churches around the old town. I loved the contrast between it (the locals told me it was a very old church) and the surrounding Communist-style buildings. It again reminded me of Saint Petka Samardzhiiska church in Sofia and its location.
The strange sculptures around it added to the surreal feeling. As if the church was not considered interesting enough and they added the 'artsy' part to brighten things up. As you can see from the daytime image, the church looked interesting, given the fact that its architecture drastically differs from anything you can see in Sofia, BUT still somewhat dull to me. It was a good shot but I aimed for the 'wow' factor so I decided to take as many images of the place as I can (it was so close to the hotel that I took one image on my way to the old town and another on my way back).
The last evening in Bucharest, I managed to capture this - shot handheld in the blue hour. The place looks eerie and unwelcoming at night, its tall structure in total contradiction with the surrounding squat rectangular buildings. Even though this image is taken from the apse of the place (couldn't make it to the front entrance as the snow was more than knee-deep down the slope), it makes a better representation of the church as this is the view most tourists see (and neglect).
The case with Saint Petka Samardzhiiska church (below) was even more interesting. I pass by this place literally every day so I have perfect idea of how it looks like at almost any time of the day. So my initial idea was to take some images of it during the blue hour because there is a wonderful contrast between the small church and the towering Stalinist architecture above it.
I was quite pleased with the night result but decided to try out a day approach. At one point I wanted to create a series of the same place during the day and then at night and display the images side by side. That idea failed due to lack of time and the lack of lights in some places. Street lights ruined other images so I had to choose either or for each location.
This one was so close to the stop I usually get off the tram, that I must have taken at least 100 images of it during this module, all during almost any type of weather and time of the day. However, I noticed that from all images, only those two stand out. At dusk the place looked dull because they turn off the lights very early in the morning and on relatively late in the evening.
During the day it looks somewhat overlooked - even tourists who swarm the area each day rarely take the time to walk around and see the contrast. The church is tiny whereas the Triangle of Power above it is huge. No wonder why no one notices it.
At night, however, things change and the church lights up with the rest of the complex. The lights of the passing cars put an emphasis on the busy crossroads and the angles of the buildings above it show even greater contrast.
Even though the day image is good - interesting cloudy sky and good light - the night image has more impact, at least to me, so I chose to put the night image in the portfolio.
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