Editorial
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The photos displayed in this section were shot in Romania in the fall of 1989 and the early 1990's, following that country's revolution. I worked as a photographer for a daily newspaper in Bucharest, Cotidianul ("The Daily").
Children's hospital in northeast part of the country, near Suceava.
Copsa Mica is (or at least was in 1990) a heavy industrial town situated in the middle of the country, in an otherwise beautiful valley between Sibiu and Sighisoara. The name of the town's factory was fabrica de fum negru, or black smoke factory. The area around the town, including people, animals, and water, was blackened with the contaminants it discharged. With the fall of communism the initial plans were to modernize the facility, but sometime in the mid-1990's the factory was shuttered.
Coal Miners protesting in Bucharest; 1991.
The Romanian people overthrew their communist government in December of 1989. I was in the country in October and November of that year and visited Oradea, Cluj, Bistrita, and Deva. Although the militia made me leave the country in late November (via Timisoara), my camera stayed behind, at a friend's house. He used it during the revolution, and some of his shots are displayed here.
Deva is a friendly town in Western Romania, about 100 km East of Timisoara. It is also home to the country's leading gymnastics academy. In addition to the national team, Romania's most promising juniors also train at the facility. I first visited the school in November of 1989, and then returned after the revolution to report on how the upheaval the country experienced effected their gymnastics program. My article, "Transition in Transylvania," was published in the March, 1993 edition of International Gymnast.
