Before talking to Razvan Radu (48 years old) for this text, I have discovered his wonderful, spectacular photos. It’s such a beautiful world beyond his camera – special stories told through heartfelt images, emotions, those kinds of photos that make you feel the heart of places seen there. But Razvan has also a beautiful, inspirational life story. A passion – that one for photography – coming from childhood and kept over the years, all the time, in his heart. He graduated in Medicine and followed this road, for a while, but love for photography has always remained there – and one day he decided to go on this way, only. Today, living with his family in a small town in France, Razvan is doing what he had always loved – spectacular pictures, with talent, joy and so much love.
The story starts in his childhood, with his father, a chemical engineer, deeply in love with photography, also. After studying in Germany, when he came back to Romania, his native country, he has built a magnifying device by himself, that helped him follow his passion. “When I was born, he was already taking photos at birthday parties, and developed them in the bathroom, “the darkroom”, Razvan says. He was around 8 years old when he started staying there with his father “in the darkroom”, watching carefully what he was doing, learning “the first steps”. “When I was in the 8-th form, he gave me the photo camera and the magnifying device to do what I want”, he remembers.
From childhood, with love
So he became the “official photographer” in his group of colleagues and friends – took photos to all school parties and developed them in the bathroom. “I was discovering how photos can be developed, all kinds of personal techniques, then I was taking them to my father and he had told me – this is good, this is not”, Razvan remembers. His father had also given him some books to learn from. In high school, he took a lot of pictures with his colleagues, “I was the service photographer”, he says, laughing.
After the graduation, he was admitted to the Medicine Faculty, “but my father’s photo camera was with me, I was dreaming to express myself through photography, to do something with photography”, Razvan says. He has a lot of beautiful memories related to his passion, from those years – including a collaboration with a colleague, they had a kind of small photo studio together, “on our trips we took lots of pictures, 2-3 days after we had developed them”, he remembers, laughing – it was actually the first attempt of “professional photo”.
From passion to a professional photographer
After graduation, he was a resident of Intensive Care, then transferred to Diabetes, and kept on taking photos. He had the chance of going to Japan, with a diabetes research fellowship, and his passion for photography wonderfully developed there. The first color camera followed – still an analog one, but with color film. “I have taken a lot of pictures in Japan, internet developed a lot, digital cameras have appeared” Razvan remembers.
And have also appeared websites where you could upload your photos, comments were made upon them, “appeared the idea, the possibility that someone could buy your photos”, he remembers.
He kept on asking for his father’s advice – they were commenting photos on Yahoo Messenger, back then – internet quickly developed and the phenomenon of stock photography, image banks, appeared. And that was the beginning of transforming his passion into a lifestyle. He remembers laughing how, in his free time, he used to go to the parks nearby and read the Photoshop book – and work a lot, the same passion as in his childhood, the same love, and the wish to continuously learn, become better and better every day.
The rest is history – would someone say – today you can admire and buy his photos from the biggest and most famous image banks in the world. At one point in his life, he decided to give up medicine and focus on photography only – and the results are spectacular, you only have to access his websites, HERE, HERE and HERE, or his Facebook Page, HERE, and you will certainly understand what I mean.
Bicycle and photography – two passions, same huge love
Born and raised in Romania, Razvan is living today with his beautiful family, his wife and their daughter, in a small town in France. He keeps on taking wonderful photos and on practicing another passion dating from childhood – that one of going by bicycle.
“When I was a student, I was watching The Cycling Tour of France on Eurosport and then I was going with my bicycle through Cluj, the town where I was studying”, he remembers, smiling. Bicycle and photography went always together, camera did not miss from any trip, beautiful photo collections were made during tours.
Today, he has the chance of taking photos himself during The Cycling Tour of France and other famous cycling competitions – and also developed a website with cycling competition photos. “I take a lot of atmosphere pictures, besides the cycling competition photos”, Razvan says. You can admire these photos on the dedicated website, HERE, and Facebook Page, HERE.
Follow your heart
“I feel completely fulfilled when I take pictures and when I ride my bicycle”, Razvan says – happy and grateful every day for the chance of doing what he loves. I say at one point in his life he had courage – to make a change, to follow his heart. He says it was God, something that seemed meant to happen like this.
But, beyond this, his story is another wonderful proof that we certainly can – we can do what we love, we can find our inner peace and be happy with our choices as long as we have the courage to follow our heart.
You can also find Razvan on YOUTUBE, HERE
PHOTOS FROM PERSONAL ARCHIVE
Do you know a very special person? Someone who has followed his dream, built it piece by piece, with passion, energy and lot of soul? An usual, simple person who did something in life, who you can identify with, who can be, for others, a source of inspiration? Tell me about that person and let’s tell the others his/her beautiful story. Write me at specialstories00@gmail.com, here, on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
