It's late autumn in Romania. Each and every evening brings a veil of fog across the fields. Harvest is well on it's way in the sass village of Biertani, in the middle of Transylvania.
This is the place and time the Canon Corp. decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of success from the EOS range of camera and lenses, and for the success to be felt by all people passionate in the field of photography, professional photographers were called in from various segments to test all the Canon equipment, from the all new 40D to the professional Mark II camera. And what better way to test the new equipment than to bring it along in the harsh and hostile environment of an off road competition. Off Road Adventure Romania volunteered to advertise for the company by sticking the Canon Experience logo on to their own vehicles and taking the photographers and the Canon staff for the ride of their lives.
The gathering took place in a small conference room where the new equipment was presented to everybody, showing statistics and various other improvements. At least 20 combinations of cameras and lenses were handed out to the photographers for testing throughout the days and their playground was what should have been an open off road course but due to rain, moist and darkness it quickly required all that car and driver combined were able to do.
The course was chosen by Gabriel Nicolae, the Romanian representative for the Paris Dakar contest and as I mentioned before, it was meant to be easy, off road pilots coming with their city 4X4 for a fun day out. They based their success only on their skills. Amongst the cars were a few Toyota models, 70's, 80's, a Nissan Patrol, our own Land Rover Defender, another Land Rover but this time a Discovery, whose owner won the 2nd place at the Evros Adventure Trophy in Greece in 2006, the organizer of the Musaios Extreme Adventure contest, who drove a white Dodge Ram 2500 and a few more. Most cars had only bull bars and winches to separate them from the standard factory vehicles they used to be, but terrain and experienced drivers showed the photographers what off road cars are actually meant to do.
In the morning we set off, even though we were aware of the fact that rain that poured during the night was going to affect our trip. And so it did, since what should have been 90 minute drive turned into a more than 3 and a half hours of mud wrestling. Although weather conditions were against us, adding the fog to that list, everybody had, as we might have expected, and as any off road trip should provide, an excellent time out.
We managed to finish the first part of the road, winching our way around, and ended up having traditional Romanian food at a nearby sheepfold: goat cheese with tomatoes and onions, polenta with goat cheese, home-made pastrami, and splashed with the famous plum brandy this area has to offer and red wines.
As a driver said to the photographers when he saw the cameras abandoned on the bonnet of his car: "You're passion is great, but somehow hunger seems to get the best of everybody".
After lunch the trip continued towards the Bethlen fortress but the road seemed to be unpredictable once more since the forest presented itself with even more interesting things, this time in motion, meaning deers for the photographer's attention, and the pilots had to battle an uphill climb filled with mud, which in other conditions would have been a piece of cake.
Another problem faced by the caravan in the woods was the effect of last night's heavy rain. A tree fell down across the road, severing off all access to the other side.
The hill was rather steep so the the only option was cutting down the tree and winching it out of the way, which presented itself as another perfect opportunity for both pilots, to show their skills, and photographers to take very interesting pictures, just to add to the already unique experience they had. This was surely a first for most photographers and gave the drivers a very interesting and professional weekend shoot.
Radu Tudoroiu
Radu Tudoroiu is a photographer and an editor for 4x4 Off Roads and other publications as well as an off-road enthusiast. Radu lives in Romania.
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