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Archive | October, 2011

Promotional work, silver darkroom, boat strikes…and more…

By on October 23, 2011 in darkroom work, Greece, Paros, silver darkroom, Uncategorized

I suppose the first thing to report would be the horrendous economic situation here in Greece.  This is not really news, since the trouble is worldwide and everyone has been watching this little country sink lower and lower into disaster.  On the island, however, the situation takes on a different flavor.  Much of the protesting in Greece against the austerity measures has been in the transport industries.  Trucks, taxis, buses, train and boats all strike periodically.  Recently the dock workers and shipping crews have gone on strike, halting almost all boat travel through the Aegean Sea.  This cripples a seafaring nation like Greece with its outlying island and archipelagoes.  Paros is affected, obviously.  The current boat strike began last Monday and was supposed to be lifted today, just shy of a week.  Yesterday we received news that the strike had been extended to Wednesday, possibly Thursday. This is bad tidings for a small island dependent on the outside mainland for goods and service.  We are lucky to have local farmers selling vegetables and grocery stores that still have some goods, but meat markets are running out of product and I am concerned that petrol stations will run short in the next couple of days, especially if people make a run for fuel.  As my father told me, I am at the crux of history, so I shall keep my eyes open, my mouth shut and watch the intersections.

The promotional work I am photographing for a friend is moving along.  She only needs three or four pieces for her website, but that still means the same amount of work for me.  It is excellent experience and although I do not do this type of work often, I can see how my own aesthetic plays a large part in how I view the event.  I suppose everyone brings their own vision to this kind of work.  The results will reveal how I view this kind of labor.  So far, so good, actually.  Perhaps she’ll let me use one of these for the blog as an example.

The darkroom moves along and I hope to expose a roll of MF this afternoon and develop it as well.  I am scheduled to be working in there tonight but I have forgotten when I signed up.  I think 22:00hrs.  I have to print at least one piece from the Villa, maybe two if I am lucky, so I can show them to Liz and see how she wishes me to proceed.

I have picked an odd time to move to Greece.  I haven’t looked at any apartments yet, but that will be this week.  I have two, maybe three to check out.  One is a very humble flat in the middle of Paroikia and the other is a bit more lavish old house, I think, not quite on the outskirts of town. I don’t know the prices for either.

More to come…

JDCM

 

Paros update…

By on October 9, 2011 in Uncategorized

There is great life here on Paros for those who wish to live it.  Being away from America is a blessing and a joy, with the exception of being so distant from family and all that  this means.  Granted we are all adults and have our own lives, but we do speak and write, two things I need to do more often with my family.  I am eating breakfast, nothing special on the menu but it is fresh and much better than American bacon and eggs.  The yolks are deep, bright orange and the bacon, although processed, is lean and contains just the right amount of fat to crisp up nicely and add salt to the eggs.  My coffee has been prepared in the classic fashion, a gift from the Turks and served this way from Bosnia throughout the Middle-East.   A small pot of cold water is put on the stove.  In it I spoon two tablespoons of coffee grounds and let it come to a boil.  I then let it settle, the grounds sinking to the bottom and clarifying the rich brew.  In America this is called ‘cowboy coffee’.  Little did those cowpokes know that the Byzantine Empire was drinking it this way a thousand years before they loped across the dusty trail.

The Aegean Center is moving along and I am working today, finally, in the studio with the first of many shoots for a friend. This is a promotional package for her singing career.  Tomorrow I am back in the studio for some male nude studies.  This is a good change for me since the female nude is so prominent in photographic history.  The male nude will always carry with it an element of homo-eroticism, a subject which can illicit nervous coughs and the shuffling of suddenly uncomfortable feet.

I have been meeting more of the locals lately and have heard of a house for rent on AndiParos, just across the straits.  It is a winter rental and very cheap, but alas, I will not be here this season.  Perhaps I can find out if it will be available next September.  It sounds ideal, if a little isolated.  Closer to Paroikia would be better for me, both in mind and body but the idea of having an artist’s retreat near the shore for the off-season is very appealing and the price is so low…I’ll find more facts and make decisions based on reason and the ability to keep up my end of the bargain.  That is the best course.  It is, after all, what Marcus Aurelius would have done.

The rain has moved through the night, drenching this little island in the Aegean.  The streets have been cleared of muck and debris, washed to the sea through the ancient gutters that wind their way through the flagstone streets.  The next few days are supposed to bring us more of the same, but that is alright.  As seasons shift here they bring with them the promise of change, inevitable and unstoppable.  What would life be without this constant?

JDCM