• 23rd May 2013
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• Working with photographers in 23 countries.
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summer open series gold winner

Radu started shooting his winning project whilst he was still a student at Nottingham Trent University. The idea sprung from a conversation he had with his brother about money, time and happiness. He decided to share one of his life principles through his images: the importance of enjoying every single moment of your life. This became the core idea of the series.

“I have always thought that it is not what I say what matters the most, but how I say it,” explains Radu. “In the case of this body of work, I think there is a bit of both on show.”

His winning series "Too Late..." is about showing people something about life. Radu calls them “beautiful scary images” and wonders if it was their beautiful spookiness combined with the backstory which made them successful.

When shooting this series of work, Radu says that she wanted to create “a body of work which would have an impact on the viewer. I wanted him to stop and question what have I done and why have I done it.

““Too Late…” is a project which deals with the notion of time, in particular how do we position ourselves in relation to the past, present and future. The whole idea revolves around the thought of waiting. Whenever we are waiting keenly for the time to pass, aren’t we missing something? Isn’t this curiosity of seeing tomorrow’s sunrise making us forget about today? These film stills show moments after an action took place. The present has become an unrecorded memory. And what are we without memories?”

Growing up in Romania, Radu started his photographic career at the age of 15 when she joined a photographic studio to work part-time as an assistant. After high school he studied photography at Nottingham Trent University, graduating with a first class degree and achieving one of his first goals since moving to England.

When asked about his goals as a photographer, Radu doesn’t hesitate. “First, I would like to promote photography in the west side of Romania and bring it to a higher level where it would be appreciated and respected as an art,” he explains. “Secondly I would like to build a reputation in the industry as one of the most controversial photographers in the world. This is more like a dream,” he admits, “but I like to dream. It inspires me, and goals give my work power. “

Radu says that competitions such as the LPA’s Summer Open are extremely important to him. “I like to think they are the thermometer for my photographic career. They tell me where I stand. I especially like to enter online competitions where I can see the other people's work. It's very inspiring and gives you the opportunity to see how other people and the judges think.

“Another reason why I enter competitions is for exposure. Photography is about communication, and sharing my images and ideas with other people is crucial for me and my future career.”