Travel brings out sides of us unfamiliar in our own culture. Sides of us that remain dormant until awakened by curiosities hidden in our daily lives.

I have suddenly become obsessed with photographing everything that I lay my eyes upon—animals, houses, trees, people and even a funeral procession! After taking the picture, it dawned on me that I would never intrude into what is considered a person’s private space to photograph their face in the U.S. I would certainly not think about photographing a funeral in the U.S. either. I realize that I suddenly have awakened curiosities in myself and want to simply capture and share every corner of life in Romania.

However, Romanians are generally very reserved people and remain hesitant to the lens and its curiosities. Often in villages and the countryside, we carry the camera around our necks and slow the motorcycle to capture photo ops. This avoids stopping the engine and dismounting for every interesting sight.

Out of respect, sometimes I capture many impressions in our explorations that I can only hope to convey to you via words. - HSR