Tutorial led by Editor Michel Romaggi  in collaboration with the author Nicoleta Gabor .
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 1st of September 2022

 From the series 'Winter Passengers'

Nicoleta Gabor created different series of portraits under the same title evoking a period or moment of life: "Colors of childhood", "white age" and "passengers" including "winter passengers" from which I have taken some examples.

Dear Nicoleta, your series treated in black and white, mostly express a certain nostalgia.  They seem to show us that you like to photograph images from times gone by. Am I wrong about that?

You aren't wrong! I have never thought about my photography. It is almost automatic, it is instinctual. Since you came out with this question, I've tried to guess the reason why my photos seem to express a kind of nostalgia. I was a late child of my parents, my brother being 18 years older than me. I was always surrounded by older people, even in my profession. This fact gave me a perspective on life, upon the passing of time. We're just visitors in here and everything is fading away little by little, day by day. The geographical position of the land I was born in, eastern Europe, with so many changes all through these years, together with the reminiscences of my parents' past contributed to my perception of life, too.

From the series 'Winter Passengers'

How and why did you come up with this idea?

I truly don't know. I just know I want to catch a mood or an expression on a face. I don't need colours. Winter and November are naturally colourless. They are black and white or gray. I love winter with its snowfall and its limitless silence and I love November for its rain and mist. I think it wasn't my choice to photograph in this cold period of time. It was simply inspiring for me. I still wait for the snowfall like I did in my childhood.

From the series 'Winter Passengers'

How do you choose the characters you photograph, what attracts you to them, and what do they allow you to express?

Watching a lot around me. There are characters in my portfolio whom I have known from the streets. For them, I was waiting until the perfect moment. One of these characters is the man with the dog in the snowfall. I catched them from my office's window.

From the series 'Winter Passengers'

Other times I just wait in the tram station and the subjects come naturally. When I come close to a character I always talk a little with him or her before I shoot. And usually, they like to talk especially about the political situation and about the hardness of life. And while I'm listening, I try to catch them in their simple being.

 From the series 'Winter Passengers'

On a more technical level, how do you make these portraits?

Today I use Nikon D90 with only two lenses: 18-135mm and 50mm. This is my second D90 and my 5th camera. For post processing I use photoshop.

From the series 'Winter Passengers'

Finally, can you tell us more about yourself and your relationship to photography?

I was born in 1972 in Oradea, Romania. I'm a civil engineer, working as a self-employed. I'm a movie eater since I was a little child. My father used to take me to the cinema every Sunday, before lunch. I was about 4-5 years old and I was fascinated by Chaplin. Maybe because I have seen so many b&w movies and because I have so many b&w photographs from my childhood, I have chosen to see the world with less colour.

Photography came into my life in the '90s when I had my first camera on film. I'm an amateur photographer, and I've learned everything on my own. Photography is the only way to catch reality as it is. A photograph must always have a documentary value. It is about here and now, at this particular moment. One minute later it will not be the same.