House of Horror, a photo from Bucuresti, East

Photographer's Note

Ceausescus Palace, Casa Poporului (the house of the people), the House of Parliament - one building, many names. It is THE landmark of Bucharest, a building like a small mountain, the second largest building in the world. They started building it more than 22 years ago, and still it´s not finished. An entire nation had to starve to finance the construction of this palace of marble and kitsch, and nobody knows how many died for it.

For this building and its surroundings a large part of the historical center of Bucharest had been torn down, including some old churches and monastries. It´s the starting point of a 2,5 km long boulevard, wider than the Champs-Elysees of Paris, sliced through the city like with a sharp knife.

This is the first one of a small series of interior pics of that building, showing its monstrosity.

isabela_sor, Golden_Eagle, gokanlam, Adrique, ncosmin, leo61, eversmile, nemesiss, tomescuc, BitterMoon, lilimih33, teutza, clio, jalab_temen, mikee, munte, ak47apache, archimatica has marked this note useful

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isabela_sor (46815) 2008-07-24 7:16 [Comment]

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eversmile (11624) 2008-07-24 7:27

Hi Johannes,

I love the light and shadows pursuit game, the sihouettes in backlighting, and wouldn't be their nonchalant attitude, it would seem, yes, that they are ghosts. But this qualification of "horrors" also refers, if I understand well your intention, to the awful situation that made that a part of the historical city has been torn down? Anyway, this is a beautiful graphical shot.
Regards,
Marine

gokanlam (6603) 2008-07-24 7:36

Hi Johannes,
great perspective and it's an eye-catching capture.. the curcles and the curtains on the wall create nice atmosphere, the light is coming so well.. and the people look greatly altogether against the light.. You have 450D, do you like it??
Best wishes,
ReLa

fkokol (1636) 2008-07-24 7:42

This is great composition. Wonderful perspective and light. greetings,

figen

Adrique (595) 2008-07-24 8:01

Hi Johannes,
good capture of the gloomy atmosphere and sense of hugeness and monstrosity. Interesting note.
Though I´ve not been to Bucuresti, the building reminds me a bit of the Central Committee building in the heart of Kremel, projected for 6000 attendees.
Best regards,
Adrian

PS: looking forward to next photos from this site

XOTAELE (476) 2008-07-24 8:25

Hola Johannes,
realmente sorprendente e impresionante.
Un cordial saludo, JL.

oriolm (1142) 2008-07-24 9:03

impressive view, good effect

jmcl (14535) 2008-07-24 10:28

Hi Johannes,

You have amplified the size with this point of view .. the distant crowd .. and especially the long shadows .. and all those empty seats .. beautiful colors and more importantly it speaks loudly. take care, John

leo61 (53805) 2008-07-24 10:34

Hallo Johannes!
I`Ve heard a lot about this building and of course the former government.This is a great shot with excellent lightmanagement ,taken from a great POV.Here the centered position of these people looks great and I like their long shadows.A great shot!!!
Regards,Leo

dkeus31 (27726) 2008-07-24 10:38

Hallo Johannes,
A little distortion can be seen on the upper row of round windows, but the overall composition and back light management est really great, a good start for the series!
regards,didier

Fraipont (218) 2008-07-24 11:27

Nice light and strong atmosphere ! well done !
Jean

nemesiss (2952) 2008-07-24 14:49

Hi Johhanes,
Also manny friends are love your lens 10-20 mm. Me...NOT. :)
Ca o sa-mi iau si eu una, nu ma las.
Imaginea de interior este magnifica.
Felicitari,
Iulian

tomescuc (3291) 2008-07-24 15:04

Couldn't agree more with your comment! I have seen this horrible place too, took some shots, but could not capitalize on the opportunity. It's funny, it's so massive but as you walk around it, you can see it is falling apart already, although in historic terms it is quite new. A monstrous waste and eyesore.
CT

BitterMoon (2776) 2008-07-25 4:17

Buna Johannes

E super misto.Distorsiunile chiar nu ma deranjeaza,sunt chiar placute.Cred ca asta e rostul unei lentile cu un unghi foarte larg,nu degeaba au fost concepute in acest fel.
Ca idee si compozitie e misto,lumina ce se rasfrange prin ferestrele imense...100% first class.

Weekend excelent,
Lucian

PS:Nice title...:-)))...House of Horror indeed

Flavia (10216) 2008-07-25 5:57

Hi Johannes,

Its very impressive. I love the light and the POV you chosen.Perfect control of exposure. Looking to your picture it seems a beautiful place, but at what price as you say?...

Regards,

Flavia

ifanik (21667) 2008-07-26 0:48

You play with the light and the shadows excellent
Wonderfull photo my friend
Best regards
Nick

Uhu (8301) 2008-07-26 6:53

High, very good photo, I like it very much!
I don't think it's a so very big Horror, no!

brandstaetter (15907) 2008-07-26 10:35

Hallo Johannes,
super, wie man in einem so kleinen Bild die Grösse des Raumes erahnen kann.
Das Gegenlicht erhöht den Effekt.
Super !
LG Christian

lilimih33 (9912) 2008-07-26 16:37

Hello Johannes!
Incredibila compozitia ta!
Fantastic efect! Pare o scena dintr-un film SF.
Ai jonglat perfect cu lumina si culorile!
Salutari si numai bine!
Lili

teutza (10590) 2008-07-27 2:19

ce inseamna domne' wide-ul:D f misto se vede sala asta:)
na..tre sa-mi iau si eu un wide d=asta
te puup
teo

pastadog (12880) 2008-07-28 11:32

Hi Johannes - An interesting indoor view of this famous building, I believe it's the one that had a very big "Traiasca Partidul etc." when I visited, in the Ceausescu era. I like the semi-shadow mood here - and the architectural details behind, like the windows and the "eyes" on top of them... regards, Daniel

tinvin (390) 2008-07-31 13:35

i might say even without reading the note, just the photo can be enough to evoke that spine chill feel by the composition, the silhoutted people as well as the fang-like profile of the curtains...very effective

clio (27949) 2008-08-10 3:22

Bonjour Johannes
Excellent centring and very good management of the light. This back light was difficult to make, it is a success! The shadows of the visitors return the even bigger place.
The graphics brought by the succession of the various windows and the armchairs is very nice.
Bravo
Diane

dahira (98) 2008-08-13 3:52

Simply stunning picture! You have managed to capture the sheer size of this place or monstrosity as you call it (I know what you mean, I visited Casa Poporului a few years ago as well). Great composition, subtle tones, great lighting. Great job.

Ber (7927) 2008-08-26 11:18

Hi Johannes,
Superb perspective. Nice light and strong atmosphere
regards

rossofuoco (7206) 2008-08-29 1:18

Hi Johannes.
Bella foto ben composta e ben eseguita.
Ciao Renzo

kyrneucciu (1384) 2008-09-02 0:10

Hi Johannes, amazing symmetry and fantastic light, congretulation JO

Yeoman (1079) 2008-09-02 3:50

Hi Johannes,

A beautiful pic ! A well composed and realised photo...

Congratulations, I'm waiting your next post !

Best regards,

Emmanuel

mikee (2354) 2008-10-15 22:43

excelenta descrierea: "a building like a small mountain"
poza e impresionanta: pov, efecul de wide-angle, lumina puternica, grupul de oameni si umbrele lungi. printre preferatele mele. ai reusit cu succes sa redai personalitatea acestei cladiri.

numai bine,

Mihai

vmukherjee (515) 2008-11-25 5:33

Great shot! It realy needs a photographer's eyes to catch such a captivating scene in such a place. The orderly placement of the windows and the rows of chairs leading the viewrs' eyes towards the centre of the image look great. I also like the long shadows produced by the soft window light.

cepekdong (3676) 2008-12-08 12:29

Absolutely great exposure and aperture time in this picture. Colours are amazingly real and the objective draws everything so softly. I like this one a lot

Daniel

archimatica (19367) 2009-01-20 12:52

Hi, Johannes.
Wonderful perspective and light.
The title is realistically dramatic, as the interesting note.

Regards
Renzo

aadilj (18058) 2009-03-08 22:50

Hi Johannes, first the quality of the image is brilliant, as a photographer you have captured and presented this place brilliantly. On the horror part...such is the destiny and history of all such places...they are built on human life