Sandra Bartocha - Romania II

Text & Images – Sandra Bartocha

The first days we tried to concentrate on the forests as this was the most important part of the mission. Because these areas are huge and uncut by roads the dimensions that one has to drive and walk to reach certain locations are enormous. When the weather is less than perfect it just doesn’t make sense.

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

There were several days where we hiked into untouched forest areas on overcast days … just to arrive at the most exciting places with blue sky, spotlights of sun touching the forest floor and huge contrasts - the absolute nightmare for forest photography. But - as this was a rainy summer in central Europe I was lucky - I had two completely rainy days where I was able to photograph deep hanging clouds in the forest and one morning I was even rewarded with fog. If you’ve ever photographed forests in foggy conditions you actually never want to do it again without - because fog provides so much dimension.

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

So … the days went by … the pressure of producing images of all the target areas grew. We moved on to some lonely mountain gorges and I was waiting every day for a call from Christoph - who was in constant contact with the airport in Braşov - in order to get up into the sky to do aerials. But the conditions just weren’t perfect. Too many clouds.

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

During the last days of my stay we finally went up to the Leaota mountains. The Leaota peak has an elevation of 2133 meters and is surrounded by dense fir and mixed beech forest. There are almost no tourists (in fact, we didn’t meet anybody) - only a few wandering shepherds inhabit the mountain meadows in summer. The view from the top is breathtaking … 360° of forest … as far as your eyes can see. I was very happy to have great conditions with beautiful clouds and a crisp sunrise the next morning.

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

The 10 days in Romania went by faster than I could imagine and the only thing on my shoot list that hadn’t been covered were the aerial shots. On the day of my return to Germany we made a last try to get up into the air … but had to return before reaching the Leaota area because of too many clouds over the mountains. One doesn’t always get everything …

Photo: Sandra Bartocha / Wild Wonders of Europe

I returned to Germany with a huge amount of new impressions … and knowledge about a very beautiful and precious area in Europe. It’s absolutely important to preserve these mountains for future generations. And I imagine how these pristine mixed forests would look in October *ahhh*. I will be back.

http://www.equus-silvania.com

http://www.conservationcarpathia.org

Please note that blogs reflect our photographers' opinions and not necessarily those of the directors of Wild Wonders of Europe.