Laughing in Romania

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 | flickr photos

I wanted to learn about the politics of post-communist transition in Eastern and Central Europe. When I got to Romania I learned about dancing. These women let me touch their faces and I let them touch my camera. They introduced me to their grandsons. I found a beautiful and pervasive sense of humor in the communities I visited there. Maybe this has developed as a coping mechanism through centuries of brutal regimes, or maybe they're laughing because there is European techno music playing downstairs, while upstairs their fathers are stomping out age old folk rhythms with their wooden shoes. I was wary of taking their portraits, as I have not had training in either photography or journalistic protocol. But they spoke to me in Romanian and what I heard came through their eyes. They just thought I was funny.

I bought the camera at an electronics store in Budapest and when I saw the pictures that I had taken, I laughed too. I felt their sentiment then and I still feel it now. I showed their sentiment to my family when I got home, and they said, “What do those women think is so funny?” I tried to write an academic thesis about my theory, what I thought they thought was so funny. It was not a great piece of work. I'm quite sure I will do better if I can capture and share stories by film and I would welcome this opportunity to learn how. If I were chosen for the scholarship, I would tread lightly, listen closely and learn to convey what could only be told with a picture.