This summer is about summer. It sounds silly, or maybe just a pleonasm... sure summer is about summer but I'm talking about what I try to choose to write about here.
In the past, I was tempted to write more about seasons other than the one I was in, probably due to saturation and the need for variety. But now it's a hard summer because it's too hot, but it's my favorite season and I want to prove that I'm not exaggerating anything.
My thoughts go to where I like to go every summer, in a small town, Balchik, with a resort on the Black Sea, part of Bulgaria.
I don't know if you know that the Black Sea is surrounded by 6 countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey.
I live in Romania but I like to go to the Black Sea from Bulgaria, for several reasons, to tell you two: because it is relatively close, but especially because the Bulgarian climate on the coast of this sea is almost Mediterranean.
From every trip to Balchik, I return home with my longing for the sea somewhat softened and with many photos.
As I am in a constant battle with black and white photography and for now I am losing this battle, I am forced to train, and this occasion in which I want to show images from Balchik is also good for my attempt to convert color photos to black and white.
I wonder if anyone can guess the color of the cat
Black and white photos bring drama, simplicity, and, of course, mystery. One of the mysteries is the very color that we can't see but that exists in reality. I photographed a cat, this cat, and I'm curious if anyone can guess what color her fur is.
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
Balchik is a small town with a center, communist-era buildings, and a square. At the back, you can see one of the limestone hills, the white hills that give the place its other name, the Silver Coast.
Here we also find the history museum, housed in a building that was the town hall in the interwar period. It was built according to the plans of the Romanian architect Henrieta Delavrancea-Gibory, who designed many holiday homes in Balchik.
Even older vestiges in this square, such as the Muslim fountain remind us that the place was under Ottoman occupation for hundreds of years.
Stone is the building material used everywhere.
The streets are almost empty in this place further from the sea. I love the old, sloping streets. The old part of town...
We find small shops with quality products but with not so many shoppers, a bank, and the sea in the distance, which is still hard to see. If above we have seen a main street, we will take a look at some side streets.
This is my favorite because it's already getting close to the sea!
There is a small gallery around the corner. Everything is small here. Small and beautiful!
My wife's favorite gallery is where we have to buy something every time we go in. We mostly buy ceramics.
The wife came out of the gallery with a cat. There's no chance she bought it cos she doesn't like cats. But this one had something special that caught his eye.
It is an old and sick cat. The lady at the art gallery looks after her and feeds her.
The cat belongs to an elderly couple who live in a nearby block of flats. They can no longer look after and feed her but the cat doesn't leave them. She stays with them but has gotten used to coming to the gallery during the day.
The cat, as it is, is for those who want to check if they guessed the color!
