Mohaela Noroc: 0:05

Maybe it's a little bit judgmental, of course, but I'm trying to get the story even before I approach them, you know, because today, the outside is not enough. You need the inside for an interesting picture. You need the story from the inside.

Angela Nicholson: 0:17

Hello and welcome to the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I'm Angela Nicholson, and I'm the founder of SheClicks, which is a community for female photographers. In these podcasts, I talk with women in the photographic industry to hear about their experiences, what drives them and how they got to where they are now. Today, I'm chatting with Mihaela Noroc, a Romanian photographer who's been travelling the world for more than a decade, using her camera to capture the unique beauty and diversity of women around the globe. She dreams of making the atlas of beauty her first book, a lifelong project that promotes the beautiful side of humanity. Hello, Michaela, thanks for joining me on the podcast today. It's wonderful to meet you.

Mohaela Noroc: 0:55

Thank you, Angela, for inviting me.

Angela Nicholson: 0:56

Oh, you're very welcome. So can we start right at the beginning, when and how did you first discover photography?

Mohaela Noroc: 1:05

Oh, that's actually a long time ago, because I just, my birthday was recently, and I'm 40 now. So I started photography when I was 16 years old. So 24 years ago, imagine that.

Angela Nicholson: 1:20

Wow.

Mohaela Noroc: 1:20

So my first experience with the camera was in the age of analogue photography, and I had the pleasure and I explored the magic of how it is to shoot on film and then go in your dark room, which was my bathroom, and stay all night inside, and develop your films and then put them on, on on paper, and then wait until the exhibition is finally finished. That is in the morning. It was a very, very slow process, but in the same time, fast process, because I had the chance to photograph in the day and in the night, I was developing my own films and having a small exhibition because I printed the pictures. And in the morning, it was all done, and it was quite a very, very beautiful time and moment in my life. Actually, now I'm going back to analogue photography, and that's why I'm so excited to talk about it.

Angela Nicholson: 2:10

Oh, wow, did you learn photography at school? Or did you have a parent who taught you?

Mohaela Noroc: 2:16

No. So my father was a painter, so he gave me my first camera. I stayed with him in my childhood times I was saying near him when he was painting. So I was quite I was quite drawn to everything that meant colours and shapes and the perspective and everything. So that's why I chose this path. I thought that I'm going to be a painter like him. But eventually photography was much more interesting for me. And then at 18, I started photography at 16, but 18, I went to University of Arts in Bucharest to study photography, but unfortunately, the type of photography that they were teaching over there was was quite experimental for me and a little bit different from my own style. So during my my university years, I gave up photography because I thought that is not good for me, and it's not for me, and they're not I'm not good enough for photography. So it was a up and down. I didn't have a straight line with photography. I for many, many years, like six or seven years, I didn't touch the camera. I had, like, maybe sad emotions related to the art of photography. But eventually I rediscovered it, and I'm really grateful that I did that.

Angela Nicholson: 3:26

So let me get this straight. You studied photography at university, but that course, actually turned you off photography for a while.

Mohaela Noroc: 3:34

Yes, yes, yes, exactly. And yeah, it's, it's, that's why I always tell this story, because for when you're 18 years old, it's very easy to get influenced, you know, so when you go in front of a teacher or somebody that has a little bit of authority and has more experience, the words that they put out of their mouths are very important for you. And just because I was so young and I was not developed in and there was not confident enough in my skills, I believed them, you know. And that was not, that was not. It was not. How can I put it right? You know, people make mistakes, and teachers, they can also make mistakes. And in the field of arts, it's very easy to make a mistake as a teacher, because you're also an artist, and sometimes maybe you're saying things through your own perspective, but when you're talking with other artists, you have to be very careful, because they are fragile people. Yeah, you know, the people that go into the arts, they are very sensitive and fragile. So it's very difficult here to make the to select your words and the manner you're teaching. It's a process. You know, maybe because I rediscovered photography, I appreciated it differently. I had different ideas and but yeah, you just have to be this is something that I try to teach my daughter to be confident, because eventually this is all that's about.

Angela Nicholson: 5:05

Yes, it is. So what brought you back to photography? What reignited it for you?

Mohaela Noroc: 5:11

Just travelling, actually travelling. When I started travelling, I was like, Wow, I'm seeing so much interesting stuff around me. I have to take it with me somehow, you know. And I'm not so much into shopping and carrying stuff with me around. So I was like, Well, I have to use the camera that I put on off so for so long. And I was when I started photography, I was very drawn toward portraits. And still today, I this is what I like. I'm when I go on the streets, this is what I'm photographing. All the time. It's something that I feel that chose me eventually. So I was like, Okay, let's let me try to photograph people on the streets of the world. And at the beginning it was very difficult, extremely difficult. It still is, after so many years, still it's difficult to approach somebody on the street that is a in a different country, different mindset. You know, different culture is scary. But after the after you pass the scary moment, the result is very interesting.

Angela Nicholson: 6:12

When you started travelling and then you started photographing women. Did you plan that to be a project, or do you just sort of start it and think, I'll just take these photographs, and it kind of came together.

Mohaela Noroc: 6:23

It's something like that, but it was a completely different age. So when I started this project, was like 2013 so in 2013 there were not so many projects around the internet. So when I was photographing, in my first year of travelling, when I was photographing women, I had until the end of the that year, I think I had like 30 pictures, 30 or 35 portraits. So not so much, right? Imagine that now I have 1000s of women that I photograph, but after the first year, I just had 30 or 40. But because there were not so many projects online, there were not so many interesting projects online that were talking about the diversity of the world and about women and about normal, interesting women that we have near ours, near us, people were drawn to my project, you know, so I just it was literally my project became viral in one night, because there was an article about my work at some point, and after that, it just people just started coming towards me, and when they came to me, and they were like, they had the impression that maybe it was a team of people that were talking about the beauty of women, and they were specialists, and and it was just me photographing. It was not nothing very special. So people were commenting and telling me, you should go there. You should do that. You should and there was like, oh, okay, this, this can be something quite big and quite interesting. Let me, let me go and explore more. It was it there, this, those were different times, because I was 20 something years old. So no, not so many responsibilities and stuff. So I was quite free to explore and just jump, you know, in this pool of an unknown, which eventually became like a lifetime goal. And even today, I'm still drawn to it.

Angela Nicholson: 8:18

Yeah. How did it go from being an online project in your mind to becoming a book, your first book, The Atlas of beauty?

Mohaela Noroc: 8:27

That was also on the lucky side, just because I had there's in the field of photography, it's quite difficult to make a book because it's so expensive to make it. Quite literally, it costs so much to print the pictures and to have a good quality of the images. And so there are not so many publishers that will go into that, but I was lucky enough to have an agent, yes, an agent from us that believed in my work, and he tried to find publishers that were willing to publish my books. And also, I have to say, it helps to have an online following. It helps to have some followers over there that will acknowledge you like they will stand beside you when you go to the publishers, and they will say, Okay, if you have this following, maybe they will buy some of your books, and we can try to publish our work. And so this also helped a lot, but it's quite difficult to maintain this social media lifestyle. You know, it's not so easy to keep on keep up with all the changes that are happening now. But what I is, what I so far, what it worked for me was to make my content as honest as possible, like what interests me personally in my development as a woman, as a mother, as I don't know female. Living in this very strange conditions our planet, although it's it's so diverse for women, it's still very, very complicated and complex. So I'm trying to speak as much as possible about this, these issues. So Kai, I hope my work is honest and people can relate to it, you know. So this helps. This helps to keep your social social media a little bit more, I don't know, interesting.

Angela Nicholson: 10:30

Yeah, I think it's interesting because you you don't just photograph a particular type of woman or a particular age group. You photograph people across all ages and different locations and different looks.

Mohaela Noroc: 10:44

Yes, that's very important, or very, very important for me, also because of my own personal struggles as growing up. Because when I was adolescent, I was going through anorexia and bulimia, so I was quite I don't know the media influenced me a lot. So what I was saying I was I was growing up during the heroin chic Kate Moss ideal of beauty, you know. So I thought that that that was how women were supposed to look like. And when I started photographing women around the world, I saw that beauty is so much more interesting and and deep and complex and and it's we are not exposed enough to this type of images. You know? We don't see them enough in our media. We still see just the very narrow minded image about how a woman looks like, and that's something that I'm trying to put in my books as much as possible, to have a lot of diversity, not in terms of only about how they look like, but also about what they do. Their stories are very important for me, because it's like inspiration for us. I don't have the power to be like them, but I'm I have the power to be like the messenger, and maybe some somebody else will draw inspiration from what that woman has experienced in her life. So I'm trying to make like in small encyclopaedia. Let's call it about women in this day of age, because things will change. We don't know. Maybe in the future, it will be the IE woman who knows, because this world is going crazy.

Angela Nicholson: 12:30

Yeah. Please excuse this interruption. This episode is brought to you by CEWE, Europe's leading photo printing company and their hero product, the CEWE photobook that is the proud recipient of the Which? Best Buy Award. You know those 1000s of photos sitting on your phone or hard drive? With a CEWE photobook, you can turn your memories into a beautiful, high quality album that you'll want to show off. Every page is fully customisable, and you can pick from a range of sizes, finishes and layouts, designing every detail with their easy to use editor or let their smart assistant help. So if you're ready to do something real with your photos, head over to cewe.co.uk, that's C, E, W, E.co.uk. Okay, let's get back to the show. And how do you approach women to photograph them? What do you say?

Mohaela Noroc: 13:24

I have two types of approach. So at the beginning, it was just on the streets. Now I'm trying also to add my research before going there. I'm trying to find stories online. I'm trying to find local festivals or local customs, interesting traditions. And on the other hand, I'm making my research, but then I go with that research, and I also explore the streets. So I combine the two of them, I will say maybe 348, hours in a public place, that it's with a lot of people, and they just go and approach them. It's a little bit more complicated with the language barrier in some countries and they because I also like to approach different age groups. Sometimes the older generation doesn't speak English or the language that I know and but I get by. I try to show them my work through my social media channels, the book is too heavy to carry, although I would like to show them the book, of course, and I try to be honest about what I'm doing, and if they don't want, of course, I accept a no is a no in there. I also understood, after so many years, that that no can have a lot of meanings. Sometimes they would like to say yes, but they cannot. So it's kind of interesting to see how we as women, how free we are. We are not so free.

Angela Nicholson: 14:59

And. Just in a lot of your images, you can tell you've had a conversation with the person, even if you haven't been able to communicate in the same language because there's direct eye contact. But there's also often a smile or a slight smile, or just some sort of acknowledgement of what's going on. You can tell,

Mohaela Noroc: 15:15

Yeah, I like to take the pictures in a respectful way, and I always, if, if they understand me, I will tell them, you know, this is a picture that I hope you're going to see it also when you're 80 years old. So when you're going to be very, very old, 8090, or maybe your grandkids, or, you know, somebody from the future is going to look at this picture. So it's, it's how they would like to be seen. You know, is not only how I want them to how I see them, but I also want them to have the power to show themselves. You know, because we influence the people. You know, you can tell somebody you will approach them and they will smile. You know, this is the first thing people usually want to do in a picture. They're like smiling. Of course, you can tell them, Oh no, please don't smile. Act sad, stay straight. This is how you'll influence them. But if you're going to, if you're going to communicate that, look, this is also your picture. It's not just my picture, it's also your picture. How do you want to be seen? How do you want to be other people to perceive you? I think this is very important, and also for women, because we women were kind of exploited, I think so many ways, and I think it's kind of more respectful way to photograph a woman.

Angela Nicholson: 16:46

Are you looking for something specific in your subjects?

Mohaela Noroc: 16:50

It's something that catch my attention. You know, a smile, a moment that they have with somebody, something they are wearing. I know something that catch your attention. And you know this, I think this today, it's more much more complicated to find interesting moments on the streets of the world, at least here in Europe or in us, or where people they we adopted kind of the same style in dressing up. You know, before in the 60s and 70s, if I look at the photographs from back then, if you look at ricardia Bresson that was photographing all over the world, it was so interesting. People were dressed so so elegantly as the men were wearing hats. You could, you could make some shapes, some lines. Yes, with those, those the hats or the women, they were wearing, interesting, elegant dresses, of course, we lost that completely. We are all dressed with the same clothes everywhere. It's like we are. We're from a factory. Just exited the factory. It's also, I'm doing the same thing. It's very comfortable, of course. So it's much more complicated today to as a photographer, to go on the streets and to feel inspired, much more complicated. So when I stay on the streets, I kind of take the whole thing. I try to little bit almost like read their aura, or read their energy and try to understand. Maybe it's a little bit judgmental, of course, but I'm trying to get the story even before I approach them, you know, because today, the outside is not enough. You need the inside for an interesting picture. You need the story from the inside.

Angela Nicholson: 18:40

And how do you get the story beyond the photograph? I mean, the conversation.

Mohaela Noroc: 18:46

It's complicated. It's not easy, because we are sometimes they don't want to tell anything, and they will try, but if they don't want, of course, there's nothing you can do. But sometimes women are very open, and they just, it's a matter of personality, you know. And it's you just, just have to be more on the not on the pushy side, more on the it's your it's your moment. If you want to take the microphone and speak, perfect, I will let you be on the stage, you know. So it's a matter of what they want to say. And sometimes I did pictures with the with women like the woman from Iran, Marzia that has half of her face burned, and I photographed her in 2018 and I posted her image just when she was ready to do that. So I photographed her, but I posted the image only when she wanted. So I also do that. If they are not ready to go public, I can photograph them or not. It's their decision. Some women just want to be just in the book. So I have women that will never be on my social media channels, just in the book, also because it was. Their choice so, but I'm happy that they have the possibility to make these books. I love the books.

Angela Nicholson: 20:06

And how do you get their stories? If you don't speak the language, do you have a translator?

Mohaela Noroc: 20:12

Well, I get by. I get by in five languages. Okay, so it's quite it's quite helpful. So, yeah, also, because I'm from Romania, which is part of the romance language, so I get by in, you know, Spanish, a little bit of Italian, French, English, Russian. So it's, I have a lot of areas in the world that I can cover with my my skills. When I where I don't have I will take local guides with me, or maybe people that follow my work. They will come with me and help me. Or another thing that is very good. I will just stop randomly somebody on the street and ask him if he speaks English and if he could help me, you know.

Angela Nicholson: 20:57

Okay. That's a good idea. You mentioned earlier that you had an agent. How did you find that agent? Or did they find you?

Mohaela Noroc: 21:06

Yeah, they found me. I didn't find it. But that was again, long, long time ago. It was 2015 or something like that. Also a moment in the internet time when there were not so many projects. Today, it's like everything is multiplied. Is it's billions and billions and billions of people that do very interesting work. So it's, I think it's much more complicated today for people to be seen. You know, on the internet we are. I'm talking about different ages, 2015 versus 2025. Is like another millennium, you know?

Angela Nicholson: 21:44

Yes, so much has happened. Yes. And if you don't mind me asking, how do you fund your work?

Mohaela Noroc: 21:51

Oh, that's a complicated. It's very complicated. It's very complicated. So the sales of the books, that's one thing. When I'm out of money completely, I make crowdfunding campaigns. That's the second book brand deals, but only with brands that are aligned with the women that I photograph, like what what I want and how I see. That's another one. What else? Ah, speeches, yes, I do a lot of public speaking, and, yeah, a little bit of print sales, but that's just very, very little, some exhibitions. Yes, those also help. And that's it. Yeah, right. They are not so often. So they are quite like this, sporadic, not so often.

Angela Nicholson: 22:42

And what are your plans for the future? You recently published another book, The Power of women. Will there be a follow up?

Mohaela Noroc: 22:50

I don't know. I hope so. I hope so. I don't know. Maybe, maybe we you never know. Yeah, it with this second, the second book. I made it in seven, seven years, almost seven years. So I'm not in a rush whenever I feel that I have enough interesting images. You know, I'm not in a rush to also because it's it's so complicated, it's very expensive to travel, and these days it's even more expensive, like before the covid era, it was much cheaper to travel, but today, it's much more expensive, so I'm taking my time. I don't want to feel pressured, also, because I have a child, and I want to be near her as much as possible. So things I'm I'm not rushing.

Angela Nicholson: 23:36

Yeah, but you plan to continue the project?

Mohaela Noroc: 23:39

Yes, I do. I plan to continue as long as I can, because it's a it's a life purpose. In the end, I don't know how to do anything else better. You know, this is the thing that really makes, makes the best of me, kind of, you know, I always feel that I have the skills to do this. I'm not the best technician in photography. Of course, there are other people much better in technical aspects. I'm not the best, I don't know in in many things. But when I make this project, everything aligns, you know, so I like it, yeah.

Angela Nicholson: 24:19

So it sounds like you've really found your thing, your groove in photography, and that's what makes you happy.

Mohaela Noroc: 24:26

Not so, you know, it's still, I'm still exploring photography, so after many years of digital work, now I'm switching back to analogue, just because I feel that this type of digital work made me way to, you know, you press that button that will not stop, and you make so many images, and then you go home, and you look through all the images and like, Oh, my God, what is that? It's crazy, you know, we Yeah, it's like, it's like, all the era that we are living in. It's everything is too much. We have too much, too many clothes, we have too much food, we have too many cars, we have too many images, right? So I'm trying now to go towards analogue photography, just to calm myself down a little bit. And when I look through that, it's really like that. You know? I was surprised. I was listening to other photographers saying that, and it is quite true how I bought like, an old analogue, medium format camera. So it's like a 645 and it has 15 frames, you know. So one 515 frames, that's it. And you really have to look very, very carefully what you're photographing. So I'm exploring that side a little bit more, and I hope it will make me better in my my other work, you know, Yeah, who knows I was I'm still exploring.

Angela Nicholson: 25:56

And are you shooting colour or black and white?

Mohaela Noroc: 25:59

I'm shooting both, both. Yes, I am for black and white, I will start also my own studio. Like I want to go back to that dark room. It's interesting. I also, because I want to introduce this word to my my daughter, to show her how how magical it is. And when I'm shooting with analogue, I'm taking her with me, and she's like, Oh, we cannot see the picture, right? No, we cannot see the picture. We have to wait. And when the, when the film comes from, the where I develop it, it's like, box of surprises, because, yeah, things, bad things can happen. You know, that's another interesting point of view. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's like a game, it's a game, it's a it's joy, it's, it's interesting.

Angela Nicholson: 26:52

I think it is a good thing occasionally to not have that instant gratification that we've become so used to. That delayed gratification is quite healthy, I think.

Mohaela Noroc: 27:02

So, yeah, it is quite healthy. It's completely different experience. And it's so nice that photography can give you so many sides, right? Yeah, yeah, it's nice.

Angela Nicholson: 27:13

Okay, well, I think it's a good time to go to Six from SheClicks. So I've got 10 questions from SheClickers. I would like you to answer six questions please by picking numbers from one to 10. So could I have your first number, please?

Mohaela Noroc: 27:24

Seven.

Angela Nicholson: 27:26

Number seven. Where is your favourite place to photograph women? That question is from Janina.

Mohaela Noroc: 27:32

It's very easy. India. Oh, right. I love to photograph women in India. Yes. India is such an interesting and amazing place in the world. Also because they are, so they have this very interesting traditions. They are very different ethnically. So they have a lot of ethnicities. They are very connected spiritual with spirituality. So it's, it's an amazing that they are so colourful. Everything is very interesting over there. Of course, it's also quite difficult. The women, they have quite interesting stories because they it's this mix between modern times, but also very traditional society. So it's a quite unique also. Actually, I like many places around Ethiopia. I like a lot. I've been three times there, and they would love to go back many countries, many in South America, Colombia. It's also very interesting. Peru. I have a list. I have a list of countries. I also like Spain. I just recently been there. This is also so interesting, so many countries.

Angela Nicholson: 28:38

But if you could only pick one that you could go to one last time, it would be India?

Mohaela Noroc: 28:44

Oh, one, I think India. Yes, India. Yeah, I would stay there. Yes.

Angela Nicholson: 28:48

Okay, all right, can I have your second number, please?

Mohaela Noroc: 28:51

Two.

Angela Nicholson: 28:52

You have visited over 100 countries. How do you decide where to go and where's next? That's from several people.

Mohaela Noroc: 29:00

Yeah. Well, it's easy, not easy, but quite easy, because I don't like flying. So I will pick an area, so it's an area with three or four countries that are close by, and I can go with trains. So I'll take one plane to go there and coming back, but between them, I will take local transportation. And recently, before it, I had my daughter, I was travelling an extended period of time, but now, because my daughter will stay home with my husband, I'm trying not to go more than three weeks or one month for one journey. So I will just pick an area, go explore and then come back after three weeks or one month, but that's the biggest time I'm away from my daughter. Now I'm trying also to take her with me, so I have like a camper van, so I'm taking my family with me and we. She has holidays from school, so very soon, we are going to take off again and explore north part of Europe. So it's a mix. And now I'm more in Europe than before. After I finished the second book, I'm I will stay more in Europe, and if I will have a chance to take her with me more. I would like to go towards Asia with her, with, I don't know, public transportations, with trains and buses like a longer, more quiet, down journey, but I'm waiting for her to get a little bit older, to understand a little bit more what's happening.

Angela Nicholson: 30:41

Oh, nice. It's nice that you're able to travel with the campervan and all go together.

Mohaela Noroc: 30:46

Yes, it's nice. I like it. And I'm sometimes I'm also doing like exhibitions with the camper van, because I all the walls in the camper van are covered with my pictures, and I have some that I put on, I display them on my on my car. We've done the last exhibition we made it in in southern Tunisia. So I also took her, my daughter, my husband, to me during the Christmas, Christmas holidays, because she, she's going to school, so I have to be very careful. So she, she really likes these exhibitions in all parts of the world, because it's she communicates with the local people, and they, I can see the reaction when they are seeing the pictures. It's interesting to see these exhibitions in in other parts of you know, like, not just in Europe.

Angela Nicholson: 31:33

Yeah, could I have your third number, please?

Mohaela Noroc: 31:34

Three, please.

Angela Nicholson: 31:34

Carmen says, I'm sure there have been many challenges while you're travelling and photographing women in some parts of the world. Can be quite tricky. How do you deal with those situations? Can you tell us some of those experiences?

Mohaela Noroc: 31:50

Crying helps a lot.

Angela Nicholson: 31:52

Oh, really?

Mohaela Noroc: 31:55

Yeah. You know, it's just, I'm a very normal person with a lot of issues and anxieties and all sorts of problems. So I'm just complaining and crying and oh, why is, why is everything so difficult? Oh, so I'm not dealing it with I'm not dealing with the problems in a, you know, like, how strong woman, I'm usually photographing those strong women, just because I need to learn from them. So it's not easy. No, not It's not easy to also, when you're travelling by yourself, it's quite difficult. But here it's something that I'm quite happy grow getting older. You know, I'm, I think it's easier and easier. I'm not. I think I'm not so much in danger becoming older, you know, because they will not be so drawn to be, oh, that, that she's not so interesting. Ah, okay, good.

Angela Nicholson: 32:59

Right. Yes. As an aside, Carmen told me that she actually met you in London when you came and she got a copy of your book, got it signed. Oh, nice. It was actually the first time she'd been out after having a baby, so it was a lovely reclaiming of her independence. And she met two women who'd also travelled to get a copy of your book, and they're still in touch. They're still friends. So I thought that was a lovely story.

Mohaela Noroc: 33:24

That's nice. That's really nice. Yes, indeed.

Angela Nicholson: 33:28

So your fourth number, please?

Mohaela Noroc: 33:31

Fourth number is going to be eight.

Angela Nicholson: 33:34

Well, actually, you've started to answer this in a way, but do you always use the same camera and lens? That was asked by several people. Now, you said you're switching to analogue, but when you shoot digitally, or for your projects that you've done recently, do you use the same one?

Mohaela Noroc: 33:47

Yeah, well, for both of my books, 95% of the pictures are made with Canon DSLR. But just because the DSLR. Now it's so old, I had to switch to mirrorless, and at some point I don't like looking through the what do you call it? The viewfinder, the film finder. I just hate it. I don't like it. I think it's my mindset, I know, but I cannot pass that. So I I thought that maybe if I go into Hasselblad, it's going to be better. So I sold the kidney, bought the Hasselblad, the medium format one and beautiful image. Still, I didn't like the few viewfinder, absolutely gorgeous image. The cover of the second book is made with that, but it was a very slow, very, very slow camera and very expensive, so I was feeling a little bit anxious on the streets of the world to carry that camera with me. So I sold it and went into Sony. I made the switch to Sony and actually. Is not that bad. I still cannot use the viewfinder, so the viewfinder, it's still not what I like, but it's not I feel I like the camera. It's very fast. It's not pretentious, you know, it's small. My back doesn't hurt so much, because usually I carry just one lens and one camera. So I like to be very mobile and flexible, so it's not so heavy. I quite like it. I like it, although the viewfinder is still bad. But what to do? y

Angela Nicholson: 35:31

Do you ever compose the images on the screen rather than use the viewfinder then? Yes, on the screen, which is a bit different. I have to adjust to it. Yeah, but it's quite nice, if you're talking to someone, it means you can hold the camera lower down and actually have eye contact with the person.

Mohaela Noroc: 35:50

Well, although when I'm photographing them, I'm I'm telling them to look in the camera,

Angela Nicholson: 35:55

Of course.

Mohaela Noroc: 35:57

they are very aware that I'm photographing them.

Angela Nicholson: 36:02

Fair enough.

Mohaela Noroc: 36:02

It's different.

Angela Nicholson: 36:03

Yeah.

Mohaela Noroc: 36:04

It's different.

Angela Nicholson: 36:05

And what focal length lens do you tend to use?

Mohaela Noroc: 36:08

So it depends on the situation. So if I go to festivals or places where I need something flexible, I'm going to take the 2470 with me, with 2.8 if I'm going just for some daily, casual, maybe some interesting portraits, maybe I'm taking the just the 85 with the wine, 1.4 and if I want to be like, really lightweight and just photograph my kid on the street, I'm going to take the 40 millimetres. So if I take the 40 millimetres, the camera is so small I can put it in my small purse. You know, just I don't have to take the bag with me. So, yeah, that's it. I only have these three, three lenses.

Angela Nicholson: 36:48

Okay. Right, could I have your penultimate number please?

Mohaela Noroc: 36:53

Yes, it's nine.

Angela Nicholson: 36:54

Oh, this is another question from Janina. Is

Mohaela Noroc: 36:55

Yeah, well.

Angela Nicholson: 36:56

There's probably a few, isn't there? there a place you'd like to photograph women that seems impossible at the moment?

Mohaela Noroc: 37:05

Maybe, yeah, maybe so many. Also, because of my flight anxiety, this is making me so much more anxious to go to places that I want to go. You know, I would like to explore more Africa. So I would like to, really, really like to go to photograph women in Mali, and then the Tuareg, people from from Chad and from Southern RG, Algeria. I'm dreaming about going to Timbuktu from Mali, where I've, I've seen so many interesting images, I don't know that that part of the world, also in Canada, I would like to go to photograph the Inuit people from there many places where I will have to take the plane. So I'm flying, but I'm trying to fly in small I'm good with two hours in the plane. It's manageable, but once I pass the two hour, it's like too much for me. Yeah, yes. I'm working on that, although it's not very successful. But what to do? We all have our fears, and now that I'm growing older, I see that more fears are coming towards me, not the opposite. It's actually on the other side. But what to do?

Angela Nicholson: 38:19

Yeah, but it's the transportation logistics, rather than any issues on the ground or political, political situations?

Mohaela Noroc: 38:28

You know, I'm not so I don't I'm not sure why my brain is not wired like in this manner. I'm not so scared about going in places where there is maybe little bit of conflict. I remember, I was in Baghdad in Iraq at some point, and I was there with somebody speaking, and we were talking, and at some point I'm telling him, you know, tomorrow I have to take a flight back home. I'm so anxious to get the flight. And he was like, you understand you are in Baghdad now, and literally, quite this moment, something can happen to you. You understand that. You know it. I understand that, but I still think that when I'm there, like nothing can happen just I don't know why, yeah, but it's a good point when I'm in the plane, when I'm in the plane doesn't work like that.

Angela Nicholson: 39:21

I understand. Yes, I'm not a massive fan of flying, I must admit, but I've got exposure therapy has helped, I think. So, it's time for your final number, please?

Mohaela Noroc: 39:35

Five.

Angela Nicholson: 39:35

This is another question from Carmen, how has your perspective on view on beauty evolved since starting the Atlas of Beauty?

Mohaela Noroc: 39:45

Well, it's changed dramatically, absolutely also, because when I started it, I was so young, and I had the maybe a more narrow minded perspective, and to them, it's, for me, it's very clear that everything is about confidence. And how you express yourself, and how is your personality, and how much you show it, and how people are perceiving you, it really depends on on just you and your brain, you know, and not many people know how to be like that. There are some that have this magic in them and they they believe in themselves. I'm still figuring out is if this is something that we are born with or it's a matter of education, I still don't know, but I really think that everything is related to confidence. Yeah, I mean beauty, it is related to confidence. Of course, when we speak about beauty, we need to broaden the image and include all sorts of words that are equal synonyms, like beauty means power, Beauty means vulnerability, Beauty means, I don't know, all sorts of moments in a person's life. So not related to the exterior so much, but much more going towards deeper meaning.

Angela Nicholson: 41:04

Yeah, I think you're right. Confidence is a very attractive quality, but arrogance, which sort of overflows confidence, isn't. And you know, so if you see someone looking at you arrogantly, you don't like them, but if they look confident, you're drawn to them.

Mohaela Noroc: 41:19

Yes, then that is something that you need to be confident, but in a human, humane, humane way, you know? And here is good to add a little bit of vulnerability, you know, because we are all humans, after all. So.

Angela Nicholson: 41:35

Yeah. Well, Mihaela, thank you so much for joining me on the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast today, it's been wonderful chatting with you.

Mohaela Noroc: 41:42

Thank you, Angela, for inviting me, and thank you for every to everybody that's listening.

Angela Nicholson: 41:47

You're very welcome. Thanks for listening to this episode of the SheClicks Women in Photography Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. Special thanks to everybody who sent in a question. You'll find links to Mihaela website and social media channels in the show notes, you'll also find SheClicks on Facebook X Instagram and YouTube, if you search for SheClicks net. So until next time, enjoy your photography.