Tag Archives | travel photography

Sitting here in limbo, sort of…

By John on June 15, 2013 in beauty, Cyclades stone walls, quiet islands, skill and craft, spring in the Aegean, working

I departed Amorgos this morning at 6AM. 3 1/2 hours later and I am on Naxos, with a four-hour layover until the Aqua Spirit arrives and takes me back south to Sikinos. The sunrise over Amorgos was lovely, storm clouds glued to its high peaks. I fell asleep as we left Iraklia. I woke up sailing through the Parian/Naxian Straits. Just in time to stretch, regain blood flow to my arms, grab my pack and head below decks to the loading ramp. I have dumped my big bag in left-luggage, et voilà, here I am…waiting for the next boat to arrive. It feels odd, having to backtrack on my small journey and be within waving distance of my Parian home. I am updating this missive in the ‘Captain’s Cafe’, a shady yet empty spot on the Port of Naxos. I have eaten an omelet (etsi-ketsi)and feel refreshed after the early morning boat ride.

If I had a month I could not cover Amorgos. With hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails, not to mention the off-trail possibilities, one could hike, climb, clamber, scramble, bushwhack and otherwise reconnoitre that Kykladic gem until the goats come home. Yesterday I ended up on what I thought was an established trail, but then noticed that there were no markers or paint spots. The way was clear, however, so I persevered. The afternoon grew longer and I eventually turned back. That is the beauty of goat tracks. I could have walked for days on end and never been lost.

Amorgos is charmed in many respects. There are three natural harbors big enough for larger vessels, and they have been long-established. No others exist on the island. The coast is too treacherous. I thought the terrain was too rocky and steep for an airport, but a café owner told me that there was a former WW 2 airbase that was, at one time, considered for the project. The Dimos scrapped that idea due to lack of funds. A small seaplane is supposed to begin service–who knows when? So for the moment it is an island that, although accessible, still retains an element of remoteness.

I rented a small studio from Pension Georgia which was clean, new, just off the port and worth the 35 euros a night. The advertised wi-fi wasn’t so strong but I ended up hanging out at the Akrogiali Cafe, just on the port. Very strong connections, friendly atmosphere and excellent coffee. They’re also open 24 hours on the weekends to accommodate the odd arrivals and departures of the various boat companies.

The food, per se, was very good, although I did have one dud meal at the Corner Taverna. It wasn’t bad, just so-so. I had a wonderful dinner at a small place in Katapola called ‘Kapetan Dimos’. The chef takes traditional recipes and adjusts them subtly. It made for a wonderful meal, different from standard taverna fare. Interesting and very tasty variations on tzatziki, fava and patatate, a stew made from potatoes and goat spiced with cloves and allspice. Next on the list was ‘El Greco’. I ate there twice, actually. Traditional Greek home cooking. Anyone who knows me is aware that this is my favorite type of food in general. Excellent kolokithokeftedes, taroma and merides. The third place was ‘Viktoras’, a very non-descript but satisfactory grill house. Tasty pork kontosouvli, grilled peppers and mezithra. I wasn’t able to make it to any of the tavernas elsewhere on the island, but a friend told me there are some fabulous places in Kamari and Vroutsi. Next time. Amorgos warrants a few more visits.

So here I am, waiting once again for the next leg of the hop. There is a small museum here in town which I’ll go visit before my 1PM boat. The ‘Aqua Spirit’ is an older ferry and travels at half the speed of the big Blue Star craft. I will read my spy novel, snooze and watch the islands slip by on Homer’s wine dark sea.

JDCM

View from a hike on Amorgos

Another view from a hike on Amorgos

Amorgos, part 2…

By John on June 12, 2013 in beauty, Cyclades stone walls, Greece, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

It has been a wonderful day here on the rugged and wild island of Amorgos, on the southeastern edge of the Kyklades. I picked up a book yesterday which detailed the history of the place and it filled in many gaps. One interesting tidbit is that geologically Amorgos has more in common with the island of Samos than the other Kyklades. It is as if it split from the Dodecanese millenia ago and drifted west.

I spent the day exploring the remote western end of the island and I was grateful I rented a car. It seems that the Dimos (town council) has cancelled all bus services to that area due to lack of funding. They have suspended service in the high season of July/August as well. This was good for me, in a way, since there was no one around and I had the place all to myself. I suppose it will be good for the car rental agencies too. In any case, I was able to hike, find some nice little coves to swim in and photograph some more walls. I sat in the Kykladic structure of Markiani, photographed the mouldering stones outlining the ancient settlement and mused on the idea that people have lived here since the 3rd millenium B.C. Even then it was good place to be. Below me, after a near-vertical drop of 1700 meters, the sea crashed against the rugged cliffs, endlessly grinding stone into sand.

I have managed to shoot two full rolls of film since I have been here and I ran out this afternoon just after the above mentioned archeological site. So that makes it three. I will return tomorrow for more hiking, more photography and lunch at a nice little taverna recommended by a friend. I have added some photos. One is a detail of a 4th century B.C. tower in the small town of Vroutsi: free admission, no tourists and no rope lines. The young man at the gate even gave me a free booklet with information. Perfect.

JDCM

Classical era stone tower Near Vroutsi, Amorgos.

Detail of the 4th c. B.C. stone tower Near Vroutsi, Amorgos.

Stone walls, juniper and thyme.

Amorgos, part 1…

By John on June 11, 2013 in beauty, Cyclades stone walls, Greece, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

I arrived on the somewhat remote island of Amorgos yesterday morning at three-thirty in the morning after a 10.5 hour ferry ride from Pireaus. I say ‘somewhat remote’ only because it is not like the tourist destinations of Paros, Aegina, Naxos or Santorini. There are tourists here, this is true, but they are mostly small groups of sailboats cruising the Aegean, en route to other parts. It is too far from the other islands to make it worth a day trip and the beaches, although lovely, are not as accessible as in other parts of the Kyklades. It is a rugged place, looking in parts much like its larger neighbors Naxos and Ios. In the higher elevations there is still a fair amount of greenery and the goats here wander freely along the roads. It is place for hikers and ramblers and I have had two good hikes already. Detailed topo maps exist so I won’t bore anyone with too many details, but this place is not for the lazy or uninspired. The trailheads are easy to find but can quickly shift from an easy walk to some serious bouldering if one is so inclined. I have already found myself in tough spots, having to remember the ‘three points on the rock’ maxim, a rule that has saved my bacon more than once. My hiking has led me to some of the more lovely, isolated beaches this island has to offer.

My lodging is clean and comfortable and I have rented a FIAT Panda to make transit easier. The island is long, about 25 km, so waiting around for the bus is not for me. I am here for another three days and then I head to Sikinos, a place even more remote. Hmmm…I have more to say, certainly, but not now. I will sit here in the Akrogiali Cafe, enjoying my espresso freddo metreo. I’ll add more in Part 2, including pictures. I have included a b/w image of some walls running along a hillside, a favorite subject.

JDCM

Hello…goodbye…goodbye…hello…

By John on June 7, 2013 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

I attended a conference of like-minded individuals a few years ago. It was an exhilarating weekend of sun, new friends, laughter and earnest conversations that ran deep into the night. When I departed I felt strangely disconnected, as if something was missing. I felt as if I had not met enough people. After I spoke to a close friend about this they assured me that this was natural and that I would soon come back down to Earth. It wasn’t until the next event that I understood: I had not met enough people. The truth is that one can never meet everybody. The reverse is true as well. One can never say goodbye to everyone. This realization hit me last week when I discovered that some students from the Aegean Center were flying from Paros rather than taking the ferry. I would have liked to send them off at the port. Call me a traditionalist, but I will choose the boat over the plane any day. That’s just my way. I am no hurry here in Greece. Unless there is a dire emergency that demands my being in Athens in 30 minutes, I’ll pay half the price and slip past the islands on Homer’s wine dark sea en route to Piraeus.

So I am in Athens for a few days, as you might have guessed. I have brought my 22 4×5 portraits to a framer to be matted and framed and put behind glass. He has quoted me an excellent price for the lot, half of my estimate. If I had to do this in America it would have triple what he is charging me, for the same materials. He will ship them back to Paros at the beginning of August, in plenty of time for my August 18th opening.

I will visit some friends, check in at a couple of museums and then on Sunday take the long, slow boat back south, past Paros and on to Amorgos. I will take two weeks off and hop around the Kyklades a bit: Amorgos, Sikinos and Folegandros. This means beaches, stone walls, hiking and very few tourists this time of year. I am bringing few clothes other than shorts, T-shirts, hiking boots, my towel and a couple of hats. Most of my luggage is camera equipment, both film and digital. I have a few books and a watercolor set, some pencils…

I’ll update from Amorgos…

Guidance, delineation and communication…

By John on February 8, 2013 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

It began with lamp posts in 2005. There was a quayside in Ermioni, a boat on dry dock and an ornate iron lamp post looking out over the still water at sunset. Then there were more lamp posts in Bosnia, arcing around the gentle curve of a mountain road, leading to where…?

Now there are stone walls climbing and moving across the landscape of the Kyklades. They have been accompanied by electrical poles, maybe telephone lines, I am not sure…

I have been photographing them for the past few years, mixed in with all the rest. Driving back from an area here on Paros the other day I was struck by how these all are indications of the hand of man in an otherwise wild landscape. I have a choice. I can bemoan the state of affairs regarding these structures or embrace them as something more, strong vertical and horizontal lines, shadows of human needs. I have thought of lamp posts as bringers of light in the darkness, guidance along dim roads. The stone walls define our boundaries, of both self and property, for they are often too insignificant to keep any creature at bay. The poles signify communication over distances. Guidance, delineation and communication. I would post some examples, but I feel that everyone has an idea of what I am speaking of without the illustrations.

It is raining here. Last night the deluge dropped a hail of roaring ice in Paroikia. It woke me at 4AM. It also deposited all the red, sandy dust that has been blowing from the south, out of the deserts of North Africa. This is the scirocco. The air was clear this morning and as I drove south to visit some friends for coffee I marveled at the archipelago surrounding me: Sifnos, Serifos, Sikonos, Ios, Kimolos, Syros, Tinos, Andiparos…rugged walls ran through green hills, telephone lines stretched thinly into the blue distance and, even though the sun was bright, my heart was gladdened to see the occasional unlit streetlight along my path. If I came this way on a dark and stormy night I would not become lost in the tempest.

JDCM

By John on December 27, 2012 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, nude studies, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

A dilapidated hand cart on the Greek island of Milos. Mamiya c330, Kodak Plus-X, June 2012

This is a short post. Some of you have noticed that I have updated my blog. It is more spiffy, easier to change and I am liking the header photo idea. I have been taking some pictures to use specifically for this image. It changes my eye, this is for sure.

I have also spent the last few hours updating my photography site right here . There is link on the right hand side of this page, but this makes it easier. New to the gallery is a portfolio called ‘Kyklades Wall Project’ which is an idea I have bounced back-and-forth with Liz Carson for the past year. It is a medium format study of the stone walls throughout the Kyklades. I still have many islands to photograph, so this is just a beginning. I am hoping to make the best of them into a book someday. There is a reason for these photos, but that is my business. If you search for ‘island hopping’ in my blog you will find more details on these images…

I also cleaned up the b/w image bank. I have separated out the Greek from the American and the European from the Greek. Nice and neat. I have changed the slide show so that the photo captions can now be read and the user gets to move back and forth at will. Overall, I think it represents a more current file of my work to date. ‘Goodbye’ to the Bosnian color pieces and ‘farewell’ to the Roma of the Former Yugoslavia. They were getting me down.

Christmas has passed and 2013 is just around the corner. Then I have three more weeks before I head back to Greece, Paros, The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, gavros, gigantes, horta and the next round of photographic adventures.

JDCM

With a little help from my friends….

By John on December 22, 2012 in beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

Ancramdale, New York December 22, 2012 07:45hrs

I have found through trial (many trials) and error (many errors) that I can accomplish very little in life without the assistance of those around me. Whether it is the gentle and loving care for my mother, my continuing work at the Aegean Center or any spiritual journey I may undertake, I cannot do it alone, nor do I really want to anymore. Yes, there are times when we all need a little solitude for reflection and meditation, but overall I long to embrace the company of my fellows, whomever they may be.

I return to Greece in just over a month. Christmas will come and go and the New Year will ring its bells and I will, I hope, have some work to show for the time I have spent here. I am opening up my darkroom and am about shooting film (both 35mm and MF) as well as recording some digital images. Besides my Leica M8 I have resuscitated my old Canon Digital Rebel, the first decent digital SLR I used. It needed a new battery so I picked one up from Adorama. I hope to use it as a point-and-shoot while I am here, reserving the Leica for more contemplative images. The MF film work is up in the air. Maybe I’ll work on some more short depth-of-field images and bring the negatives back to Paros. The 35mm film is being used in a really old Canon AE-1 with a 50mm lens. In both cases I am shooting Kodak Tri-X 400. If I am industrious I hope to begin developing by the end of this week and printing by 2013. 2013! Imagine that…A lot of water has flowed under the bridge, over the dam and out to sea since I started this blog. It seems like a lifetime ago that I switched gears and turned onto this road, a journey that fills me with endless gratitude and wonder.

It snowed early this morning before I awoke. The weather outside is grey and leaden, a wintry wind is reminding me that all things must pass and, as they do, new opportunities for knowledge and growth appear on the horizon. In some cases it is better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all and I have to believe that there is something better for me down the road. As a friend and I were remarking this morning…one door closes, another door opens. Life is a series of hallways and corridors. Take a risk and turn the knob.

My never-ending thanks to Kit Latham for all of his wonderful support in the much needed update of this blog space. You will notice that the old images of the Bosnian Roma are gone, replaced with more current and relevant images from my portfolios. To have them off the site is a great relief to me. They represent a time of my life that has passed. I have also cleaned out much of my gallery site, letting go of a tired and used vision for something a little more current. In a few days there will be an even larger shift. Siga-siga, as we say on Paros.

JDCM

Post time…Vienna…

By John on December 14, 2012 in autumn, beauty, Greece, nude studies, Paros, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

I haven’t posted in quite a while. I’ll give the short-story to catch up and then expound a bit…

The student exhibition for the Fall 2012 Aegean Center was lovely. The students worked hard, expressed their individual talents and it showed. That’s all I have to say really, except well done to all! I am looking forward to the spring session and all that it may hold. Challenges, rewards, hard work, hikes, frustrations and solutions. It all makes up the rich pageant that is the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts.

I traveled to Athens and stayed there for two days. While I was there I was able to see an exhibit from the photographer Helmut Newton. I was surprised. I have seen much of his work over the years, in books mostly, so to see full-sized prints was stunning. There was also a movie, made by his wife of almost 50 years, June Newton. It portrayed a man severely maligned by the press and the photo-world as being a pervert and a weirdo. The truth was eye-opening. He worked hard, used incredible skill with no trickery and produced some of the more iconic images in fashion I have ever seen. His CV reads like a who’s-who of the fashion world: Vogue, Elle, Yves St. Laurent…the list goes on. His commentary was clear and the filmed interactions with his models proved beyond a doubt the level of respect for their professionalism and grace. At one point he said that his goal was to make a fashion shoot not look like a fashion shoot, but rather something from a movie. He also talked about the gear he uses, i.e. not much: a Hasselblad 500 and a Polaroid for the light tests. He switched to a basic canon EOS digital later on his career for the lighting tests. Very few exterior lights and almost no studios that looked like studios. His eye captured the realities behind the shoot as well as the focus. I left the show feeling like it was a good two hours spent in the afternoon. The next day I flew to Vienna and was greeted by the lights of a city in Christmas season and the weather to match. It’s cold here, folks. Last night it went down to 18*F. Today was cloudy and chilly and snow is predicted for tomorrow night.

I visited the Albertina Museum today to see the Albrecht Durer show. It was a huge event focusing on his work during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I. Many of the works mentioned in the Wiki article were on display for the first time in decades. I have to leave descriptions of those for the next post since I will include many links.

Tonight I dine on tafelspitz and then walk down to the Burg Kino Theater and watch ‘The Third man’.

JDCM

Darkroom work and questions…

By John on November 18, 2012 in 4×5 photography, beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

In the past few weeks I have begun printing some of the images I made last summer during my island hopping following the spring 2012 session here at the Aegean Center. For the most part, they are photographs of the stone walls that criss-cross the Kyklades landscapes like so many topographical scratches: property lines, terrace farming, some ancient, some new. The proofs are working out fine, but I have begun to grow uneasy. I am still coming to terms with the idea of ‘art’ and my photography. True, I can compose within the format, be it square or rectangular, but am I an artist or am I simply a skilled documentarian? The same applies to the portrait pieces I am photographing with my 4×5 and then using the scanner to render them into a digital format. This is not my discussion alone, but one that has been on the table since photography began. Is a photograph art?

I was told tonight by someone at a cafe that if a photograph ‘moves him’, creates an emotional response, then it is art. I’ll buy that. So what kind of emotional response is my ‘wall photography’ generating? Nostalgia, loneliness, sadness…The scenes are desolate, full of ruins and, in some cases, the detritus of man. Overturned ore carts, rotting and rusting in the harsh Aegean climate; volcanic chunks of stone piled two meters high to create the snake-like patterns running over hills one sees from the aft deck of the Blue Star ferry as they sail from Pireaus south. There are no people in these images. There are only the bones of ghosts.

The portrait work, on the other hand, is completely different. I am trying to capture the essence of the person, or people, in their own environment. Some are in studios, others at home. In each case I have been able to catch a glimpse of something that reaffirms the great possibility of life. The terrace farms may collapse due to misuse over the centuries, but these people will live on through the images I am creating. I am creating. I can create. Perhaps that is as close a definition for ‘art’ as I will ever get. Art is creation, a recognition of beauty and grace despite the ravages of time. I can be a creator of something. I can document with a deft hand, be mindful of the alchemical processes and thus reveal something to the world that I find beautiful. There is a lazy part of me that wants this feeling to go away. The realist in me understands that questioning is essential. Without doubt and self-examination, how can I possibly progress?

JDCM

Serifos, 2012

Andiparos, 2012

Florence, Pisa and lunch…

By John on September 9, 2012 in autumn, beauty, craft, skill and craft

The fall session of the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts is going swimmingly. The students are a lively and engaged group of 26, myself included. So far we have made a couple of day trips to Florence and our adopted hometown of Pistoia and have just returned from a long day in Pisa. In the past week have seen some of the most influential art and architecture in the past 2000 years and all of our minds are full of inspired ideas to take back to Paros in a few weeks. For those of us who have already experienced the work environment of Greece, we are champing at the bit to get to work and let loose some of this pent-up energy. The downside is that we still have almost three weeks left here in Italy. The upside is, of course, that we still have almost three weeks left here Italy. In a couple of days we head to Venice for a two-night excursion and then back again. Following that we still have trips to Siena, Florence and Rome. Interspersed are days spent at the Villa Rospigliosi in classes (drawing, watercolor painting, vocal training, writing, and photography discussions), one-on-one conversations with mentors and, of course, the deep fellowship that comes with an enriching experience such as this. What I am saying is that for all that we have seen and experienced, there is still a great deal ahead.

The food here at the Villa is very good, filling and the kind of food that brings us all joy and comfort when our tired bones rest for dinner after trekking about all day long. It is not haute cuisine but rather the kind of food one’s grandmother (not mine, by the way…she could barely boil water) might prepare. The other night some students and I were discussing “Italian food” and I noted that here we are in Italy, eating dinner. Therefore we were having ‘Italian food”. As someone who has been in the food business in a professional capacity and still retains most of what he learned, I have to admit that even back then, 12 years ago or so, I had become disenchanted by all the ‘specialness’ and ‘preciousness’ of the so-called cuisines that popped up every time a new celebrity chef graced the television or newspapers. What I most desired was simple food, food that I have already written about here and food that exists in the sense memories of many people I know. We remember a warm house on a cold day, the aroma of fresh cookies wafting over us as we shake the snow from our boots; the primal experience of grilling over an open fire as the sun sets on a summer’s day; the joy of family and friends as we all gather for a holiday feast. Regardless of season, these memories flood my thinking, driving away the cold efficiency of Nouvelle-this or Pan-American-that…Where was I?

Ah, yes…food. Florence, Pisa and lunch.

Yesterday I found a lovely little spot off the tourist track, yet in the middle of Florence. Tired with the usual panini routine, I emptied my mind and wandered about. I turned a couple of corners and happened upon ‘Pizzacheria Antonio Porrati’, in the Piazza Pier di Maggiore. The area was tiny, with three tables inside, a glass case with myriad foods prepared that day, dried pasta on the shelves and a large cabinet of wine. The fellow behind the counter greeted me with a joyful ‘buongiorno!’ Out of the many choices I ordered some roast chicken and fresh green beans chock full of garlic and olive oil. Dee-lish! I ate my lunch, chatted with the owners and then went to join the rest of the school for our tour of the Uffizi Museum. Once again, home-cooking has struck again, with its simple, nourishing and friendly tastes. Today was a similar experience. Pisa began with a tour of the large Pisan Romanesque church, its famously skewed campanile, and the ornate baptistry, followed by a break. Lunchtime beckoned and once again I wandered back streets, away from the madding crowd. What initially drew me to ‘Trattoria della Faggiola’ was the sign tacked to the door that read ‘NO PIZZA’. What a relief! The menu included carpaccio di salmone so I sat in the nearly empty place and enjoyed a plate of thinly sliced raw salmon on a bed of baby arrugala and a mixed green salad. The simplest food filled the most demanding hunger. A few minutes later I was touring the Camposanto, a structure in a state of almost constant restoration since the bombing of Pisa in the 1940s by the Allies. There has been a great deal of progress on the enormous frescoes even since last year and they look lovely. Thank you Deane Keller…

Today we have classes here at the villa. Lunch will be salads and leftovers from dinner last night. Simple, nourishing food for hungry, working students and their teachers. And tomorrow? On to Venezia! Andiamo!

JDCM

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