Just a handful of the great doors of Brașov, Romania.

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The last day of our trip to Romania was spent mostly in Brașov—easily one of our favorite stops. I made her sit and pose in the crowded square, cars buzzing by, people everywhere trying to figure out why I was on the ground giving directions to someone meters away. Then she offered to do the same for me. I am proud of her getting down on the ground with the camera working away in the masses of people. She looks a hell of a lot better.

Over the years, I’ve traveled a lot for work and photos. Together we’ve seen plenty, too, mainly around the States. Lately, though, she’s become a world traveler. This year alone, she’s been to India, London, Paris, NYC, and now Romania—all for work, with more coming. I love that she’s finally getting to see the world. There’s something about traveling alone that’s exciting, and she gets that, too. This trip was four days of work for her, with three days for us. I tagged along and got the best of both—some days on my own, the rest with her.

Our first trip was to Warren, Vermont, 31 years ago. If you told those two kids they’d be driving some wild narrow, narrow, roads in Romania together three decades later, they probably would’ve just said, “Sounds cool.” No one I’d rather travel with—which is good, because in a few weeks, we’ve got another big trip to get ready for.

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I love photographing people—it’s one of the best ways to meet, connect, and learn. I do it for a living, but I also try whenever I travel. Four days in Bucharest, I tried a lot…and pretty much failed. People didn’t want their photos taken, and the more I learned about the city, the more I (sort of) understood why. We all carry things baked in from our cultures. I was told a few times that once I left the city and headed north into the countryside, I’d meet a different type of Romanian. I had my doubts. I wasn’t upset about not photographing people, but it did change how I shot the city.

Today we headed out to Transylvania—checked out Dracula’s Castle (huge tourist trap, safer with vampires honestly), stopped in this incredible little town called Râșnov where a woman spoke to me nonstop in Romanian for three minutes, showed me her cheese, and let me take her photo. Then we landed in Brașov, which might crack my top ten favorite cities. Checked into the hotel, drove to the old town, parked, and started to walk. Five minutes in, I was taking a photo of a door (the doors here are unreal—there’s definitely a series coming), and a group walking toward us started yelling for me to take their photo. It was awesome. I hope they find this post and realize how happy it made me to break the ice in this city almost instantly. Turns out, the woman is from Chicago and will be in Boston soon with her husband (in the maroon), his first time in the States. The best way to kick off this second leg of the trip. Nice meeting you all! Drop me a note and I’ll get you the photo and enjoy Boston, which is on my top ten cities, you’ll love it.

Below is Brașov from our hotel, all lit up for the night. Tomorrow, a full day here, then we start the trek back home.

tr/trp – hold life still