Can you choose what to do? I bet you do. We live in a world where the only way forward is to make choices. Letting others make the choices for us is a step backward.

The thing is that we are afraid of making wrong choices. It’s not a bad thing to always be right, but in the long run it can be a burden and it won’t get you too far. Making wrong choices from now and then can relax your thought, freeing you mind like they say in the Matrix. Can you remember that scene from the movie when Neo tries to jump from one building to another? He focuses on doing everything right and as expected, he fails harder.

Be stressed about the right choices you already made and don’t be worried that you gonna make some wrong ones too. The right choices are the ones that get you far, bring you satisfactions and you will almost die for to make it through. The wrong choices are there to keep you focused on what is important. I won’t tell you what is important because in the end, I’m not you.

After all that being said, he made the right wrong choice to write this entire article on his iPhone using Simplenote app.

2 replies December 14, 2011 Hope for the Future

Today, air planes won’t fall from the sky. Today is Romania’s National Day. The picture was taken at the parade. The push of a button makes you realize that you can save the joy, the excitement, the dreams of all people that are watching the event. Then you go home and feel lonely, insignificant, like nothing ever happen. The only thing you got is the moment you saved, the picture that lives in your mind, a memory that fades away slowly.

There is a saying: you can’t see the sky from the trees. What I’m gonna say is that without trees, there will be no sky. Without people, there will be no heights, no expectations from you. You have to climb on the back of other people to reach those heights — there is no other way around.

0 replies December 1, 2011 Les Fleurs du mal

I’m starting to see a lot of motivational and futuristic videos lately. They promote technology as the core of advancing society and it almost made me cry to see how untrue this is. Just watch Networked Society’s On the Brink or Microsoft’s Productivity Future Vision then wait a minute and think about. Is this what we really want from our future?

This future everyone talks about doesn’t really exist and it will never will. It’s just our imagination wanting to do more with less possible resources and more technology. But nothing changes, society is and will be the same, no matter how connected or educated we are, no matter how advanced technology will be in the future. Modern society won’t advance by playing World of Warcraft or by learning online Artificial Intelligence courses from Stanford, it needs an external threat that will bring us together, it needs something called “love” and it needs power to change.

Seeing technology as a threat is not the way – technology, the Internet, connected devices are just tools, tools that were here for thousands of years. When humanity discovered fire, it didn’t know what to do with it. That’s what technology is today, a sparkle for the future — a future were we need to learn to use intelligent machines for our own good. A future were we give up on wars, were we give up on being divided by cultures and traditions, a future totally different from what we imagine today.

1 replies November 14, 2011 Hope for the Future

I think I did the same mistake, again. Rewind. It all started back in 2006 when for no reason I wanted a cell phone with a good camera, so I can always have it with me. I got a Sony Ericsson K800i which was the first phone branded Cyber-shot, the leading compact camera brand from Sony. It was quite annoying at first for others to see my crappy photos taken with a cell phone on Flickr. Everything got better over time, I started to get that desire that drives you to get the perfect shot, no matter the camera, lens or lighting. In the end, I think I got a few decent shots for a phone. The need for a real camera was driving me crazy for a few years. Finally, I gave up after Nikon announced its last P-series cameras. The Coolpix P300 was looking so good that I couldn’t help myself not buy it.

Actually, I think it all started back in 2004 when I got a Sony Handycam, a consumer friendly camcoder with a really small sensor. I will always hate that small resolution clips. The same thing happen with the K800i and I promised myself not to get a camera with a small sensor ever again, but I did, because good cameras are for rich persons. Who in this world has money for a Leica X1, FujiFilm FinePix X100 or anything full-frame from Canon or Nikon? I know that quality comes with a price, but I think the price is too high. C’mon, it’s 2011, the glass is still made of SiO₂ and the sensor technology didn’t change much in over a decade — I know this because I study it in college. Why the prices didn’t go down? Is it all about keeping a brand alive even it’s dead in the water? Or do these brands think photographers are stupid enough to pay a high price for a brand new camera?

My new camera is like my old camera, it’s light, black and has that small sensor that makes pictures dirty when you need them clean and sharp. Nikon Expeed 2 doesn’t exceed my expectations at all. The water looks like plastic, people faces are so smooth you can’t see the pores even if you take a macro shot. I really hope for a new firmware to disable some of these insane noise reductions features. The 1080p recording feature of the camera is actually great and you can even record directly in an high contrast black and white mode.

I started a new photoblog on Tumblr to show case the pictures I take from time to time. I will try to keep my journal free of photos so I won’t disturb my readers with dirty pixels when all they want to do is to read my thoughts. Some people where hoping for a detailed review of Nikon Coolpix P300, but DPreview already took care of that for me. People are starting to follow me on Tumblr, I hope you do to, if you have an account there.

0 replies August 8, 2011 Coffee in the Morning

After my trip in Germany was over, I made myself a present: a compact camera, a Nikon P300. Then, by taking a picture in low light of some books, I noticed that in our small library there’s a special book. This book is called Berlin Alexanderplatz and was written by Alfred Döblin. After this coincidence occurred, I decided that Berlin deserves an article in my journal. Why? Because Alexanderplatz is one of the nicest places in Berlin and before I left the city, I went back to Charlie Checkpoint, somewhere near Alexanderplatz to buy some souvenirs.

Berlin is called the City of Stones and the City of Smoke by Jason Lutes in two of his comic books. I will use the same names to describe the Berlin I saw and I liked and somehow, disliked.

The City of Stones

This is the bright face of Berlin, the one that can make you think that this big city can change your life once and for all. The truth is that it can change your perspective of seeing things.

From the impressive Fernsehturm, the TV tower, down to architecture of each church and cathedral, Berlin has lots of things to offer to its visitors. There are lots of museums, but I didn’t have the chance to visit them because of the short time I stayed in the city. All those museums looked great from outside; I still wonder what amazing things they were hiding inside. I can go on and describe everything I saw, but that wouldn’t be much fun.

The City of Smoke

What I didn’t like about Berlin is maybe the american influence. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against americans, I’m against their influence in some parts of the world. What I wanted to see in Berlin was people coming from multiple parts of the world and get along with each other. But, I didn’t like the fact that all those people were embracing the american culture, instead of joining the german culture which in fact has more to offer that the other one.

Walking down the streets of Berlin I was amazed to notice muslims, jews, black people and going to Alexanderplatz there was very few people speaking German. I was listening to people speaking French, Italian, Spanish and lots of people speaking English. I was thinking… how many Romanians are living in Berlin?

I also took some pictures along the way, which are in fact two collections posted on PicPlz: Berlin and German Countryside. For those pictures I used just a cellphone, a Sony Ericsson K800i — I think I pushed it to its limits. That’s the reason why I wanted to buy myself a real camera when I went back home.

10 replies May 4, 2011 Reciprocal Affection