I have had a camera in my hands for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Bucovina, in the north of Romania, leafing through my parents’ art books, and the first thing that stayed with me was the way light falls out of darkness in Goya, Velázquez and Rembrandt.

Today I build narrative portraits inspired by classical painting, mythology and Romanian folklore. Each image is staged as a scene, with real props, real costumes and light that tells the story. Nothing is generated: everything in the frame was physically there. I give the viewer the pieces, the subject, the light, the shadow, the objects, but the story belongs to them.

What I am really chasing is the unknown, the mystery that surrounds every human being. If an image makes someone stop, look inward and feel something they did not expect, it has done its job.

I am based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and hold the ARPS, AFIAP, QPSA, P.IAAP, M.APS and E.NPS distinctions.