Phrenology at the Street Market. Leica M8, Voigtlander 28mm; f/5.6; 1/125; ISO 320
-I haven’t posted in a while. I have been busy with the ending of the 2013 Autumn Session at the Aegean Center. I have been very pleased with this session. My steep learning curve as an instructor has taught me a few things and I have been able to avoid some of the pitfalls common to any novitiate. My overall opinion of teaching is that the small rewards outweigh the tragic gaffes and stumbles. I keep searching for the Golden Key which unlocks the door. It has been a humbling three months.
-I am currently in Athens, making my way back to the USA for the Christmas and New Year holiday. I will visit with family, close and dear friends, and enjoy driving my car.
-It will be frigid in the little town where I grew up. This will make exercise difficult and lazing about watching movies easy. For the month that I am there I will probably join a gym and try to burn off the calories as I gain them. I have no desire to return to Paros 6 kilos heavier than when I left. One of the many benefits to living on Paros is the ability to get out and about without donning the kind of winter gear I will wear in New York. There is also no snow on Paros, or none to worry about anyway. This allows me to ride my bike. It’s all about layers.
-I was sitting in a café yesterday with some Athenian friends and I was astounded at the general din of this large, ancient and sprawling city. After the quiet of Paros, the noise is deafening. It troubled my sleep last night. I tossed and turned.
-I still adhere to the belief that I am not an “artist”, per se, or at least would rather not be known as one. Call me a “skilled technician” or “an able-bodied craftsman” or “a journeyman photographer”. The world has become a market for the “artist”, a place to sell goods, like a street vendor selling fruit, or perhaps something darker. In order for “the artist” to really be a mainstream success, he or she must conform to the trends and fads that guide the fickle opinions of gallerists and marketeers. For me, this is a trap. If I am creating to please the public, then I am on an ego-trip. It urges me to be the center of attention, in the limelight. I am not comfortable with center stage. Once in a while these lines intersect. The rest of the time I have to be patient with hard work, working long nights and being a wallflower.
JDCM
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