Archive | autumn

Kalo mina!

By John on November 1, 2017 in 35 mm photography, autumn, beauty, biking, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain bike race, mountain biking in Greece, Paroikia, Paros, Photography Club of Paros, Polly Jo Masters, quiet islands, silver darkroom, spiritual journey, working

It’s November 1st and here on Paros the weather is decidedly cold and chilly this morning. The winter is beginning to set in. 99% of the tourists have left and the few that remain wander around the empty streets, looking in the windows of closed shops, shuttered tavernas…the island has been returned to those who live here. Thank the gods!

Here are the bullet points…

— I am going to Naxos this weekend for a mountain bike race, my third on that island. 27km around a mountain and through the town of Sangri, high above the port. The weather predictions are good–high pressure, 14-18C, sunny, breezy. Perfect for biking. We have had some rain which will keep the dust down and reduce the amount of loose, gravely ruts. I’ll go and have fun.

— I am grateful and happy to have joined up with the Photography Club of Paros. They are a good bunch of photography-loving folks with excellent eyes who love to take pictures. I will begin a long-term darkroom project with them tonight. For most of them, it will be a first in this digital-automatic age. Each week, a member gets a 35mm camera (Pentax K1000/f.2 50mm lens) and roll of 35mm film (Ilford Pan 400) and shoots the roll. Then we (me and the group member) go into the darkroom, develop the film, print, etc…all in a week. So far there are about 10 people signed up, but that number, I predict, will jump to 20 quickly. The project will go until the end of April and then they will look at the assembled portfolio and hang a small show. For more reasons than I can count, this is a superb thing/event/group/happening with which to be involved.

— My own work is moving along. The year-long Canon G-11 project is ticking away. I am ready to print a new portfolio of abstract pieces. I have to re-shoot or otherwise re-evaluate a b/w still life idea. I am unhappy with several of the pieces due to their DoF, i.e. focus.

— My gym membership is paying off. I have been going 2-4 times a week for either Hip/Abs classes or just to burn off calories on the treadmill. After only a few weeks I can once again fit into my 34″ green Levis. I will go this morning and push some more limits. That, plus the biking, is keeping me fit and sane.

— The world? Well…we all read the news and while it isn’t all bad, it isn’t great. Leaks in the dam…death and disease, as Polly Jo would have said.

My life is Greece is expanding and growing every day. I am eternally thankful to the wise woman who advised me over 5 years ago that if were to stay here on Paros, I would need to build a life around me. And so I have. Biking and exercise, photography and fellowship, the arts and humanities, connections in the community. Thank you Liz!

–JDCM

Thoughts meander…

By John on September 28, 2016 in Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, Uncategorized, working

The sun rose golden peaches as I departed the Port of Pireaus 3/4 of the way through September. I have been back in Greece and on Paros since the middle of August. Through a window of the Blue Star Delos and across the gulf the mountains surround Attica. How I love this place. Ancient rocks cradle my heart and timeless seas ferry me home…

I haven’t blogged in a long time and I apologize. Sometimes I have had too much on my mind and to sort out any coherent thoughts and to put them down seems daunting. What I need is time to let the events of the past year-and-half filter out into something resembling…something, something solid.

I return to the island after a long weekend wth friends on another island, another archipelago. This marks the last of my long-term commitments for 2016 and I finally feel like I can relax. The deeply emotional yet business-like events of laying my mother to rest and selling the family home are behind me. My inherited furnitures, works of art, books and homewares are tucked away in storage units. I packed my bags with those things that I could smuggle and left America. Oddly enough, I feel no sadness in leaving the house I called home for so long. With my mother’s absence, the place felt empty and hollow. She had been its heart and soul and without her it was just a shell.

I have finally found an ear doctor who has offered anything like a solution to my labyrinthitis/Meuniere’s/tinnitus…Dr. Peraki’s prescription has improved my hearing almost 10% over the past month so I have been told to keep at the regimen and we shall see what is what in about 2 months, just before Christmas.

Speaking of that…one novel feeling…I am not thinking about plane tickets back to America. This time, during the past several years, I would begin looking at dates, routes, etc…not today, thank the gods. I am looking forward to being here through all of December and January, February, without the interruption of having to leave.

And so on I ramble…

—JDCM

Need for beauty…

By John on November 19, 2015 in autumn, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, spiritual journey, Thanksgiving

With all the horror, pain and uncertainty in the world, I need to remind myself there is real beauty in the world. It is just down the street, around the corner or on the table in a bowl, sun shining…More can be found here…

Cypress cones, Paros, Greece…November 2015

Local clementines, just picked, sunshine, glass, marble…

Pomegranates, lemons, bay leaves from a nearby tree and a pear…

–JDCM

New spaces…

By John on November 8, 2015 in autumn, beauty, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paros, spiritual journey

After waiting over 6 months and living surrounded by boxes of books, photo stuff, odds and ends, and clothes I have finally moved to my new flat. What relief! I had lived (gratefully, mind you) in the previous apartment for so long and grown so accustomed to being crammed into an old building in need of serious repair that this new space really twists my head around. My light fixtures do not need re-wiring, the plumbing doesn’t smell of bacterial rot and shutters are not decaying and falling off of their hinges. These were everyday living conditions before last week. I also have almost twice the amount of room as well as an apothiki (‘warehouse’), so that much of what I had lived with before can now be tucked away–boxes of negatives, portfolios, seasonal clothes, extra stuff…all of this is now out of sight and out of my living area. And I feel no need to fill up the new and open spaces with stuff. I am enjoying the freedom of movement. I have an IKEA order coming, but it is not so much and only replaces some of what my current landlord has supplied. I want to put my own touch on things so I have purchased a new dining room table, some rugs, an easy chair and footstool, some lamps, a clock. I also bought some traditional taverna chairs down the street and stained them a yellow tone. As they dried I realized they turned a bright yellow ochre. It made me think that maybe I should have used the tetrachromy for my design. Just an idea. Next time maybe.

The move has also affected my dreams. Maybe it is because my bed now faces due north (it faced south for almost 3 years), but my dreams all week have been vivid, complex and memorable. Sometimes even a bit disturbing. I am not complaining, just keeping notes.

I think my overwhelming feelings are ‘Finally!’ and also ‘What now?’ This applies to my physical as well as emotional states. So many endings, so many beginnings, so many new spaces and ideas. There is plenty of room for all of this thinking and action. I’ll post some photos once the IKEA goods have arrived and are assembled. My current landlord walked into the flat the other day and exclaimed “So much light!” I’ll try to keep it that way.

4 new chairs

–JDCM

Just an update…

By John on October 29, 2015 in 35 mm photography, autumn, beauty, biking, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain biking in Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

I have always loved the change of seasons. Whether in the Hudson Valley where I grew up or the small island in the Aegean Sea where I now live. I welcome each new season with joy and relief, only to say good riddance three months later after weariness sets in. This autumn is no different and there are many changes to go along with the weather. Clocks have been set back. Tea time seems more meaningful as darkness falls.

I have been living in an apartment full of boxes for the past two months. All of my books, shelving, camera gear, odds and ends…have been packed up and ready to be moved. At first it was an exciting feeling, to come home to this pyramid of brown cardboard. It has grown stale as the day approaches when I can finally begin to move from one side of town to the other. As one friend remarked last night, moving house is inspiring and makes one reevaluate routines. Like the change of seasons, this move will give me a new perspective. I need it.

My small photo show was, on many levels, a superb success. Many people came to the opening and I was struck by the wide variety of people I know here on Paros: people involved in the arts, those I know through the local biking community, others I have come to know over the years, students from a local art school…people who would ordinarily not mix. They crammed into the space provided by a small Italian restaurant and had a good time. I guess that was the point, really, to have a small gathering on a night in mid-October when there was ordinarily little to do. Many compliments, many questions…alas, not a single sale so I am stuck with 22 framed and matted photos. So I will choose one to put up in my new apartment. There is a part of me that wants to just burn the rest. But what to do with the frames and glass? Eventually I will get around to scanning the photos so people can see them online, which suddenly feels like cheating. Now I don’t want to do that. If you missed the show, you missed it. Is that so selfish?

I wasn’t asking a huge amount for these photos. They were priced inexpensively. If I had sold five I would have broken even on the costs. I think many people have no idea of the work that goes into a single image. Even had these been digital images, the work would have been substantial. They are not, of course, so we are talking days of labor to get the picture right and that is before matting, framing, the overall cost for the exhibit opening…I guess I am taking page from Robert Fripp’s advice to artists–work for free–an expensive venture.

My list for today is as long as my arm and I must get it all done.

–JDCM

Autumn, 2015…

By John on October 11, 2015 in 35 mm photography, autumn, beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, working

Here you go…

–JDCM

Temperate climate change…

By John on September 17, 2015 in 120 film, 35 mm photography, autumn, beauty, biking, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Cycladic stone walls, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain biking in Greece, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, stone walls, working

There are only a few days left until the Autumnal Equinox and it feels like it here on Paros. The crushing summer heat has fled, and in its wake the days have become clear and sunny, with cooler breezes. The tourist crowds have thinned considerably and our island is slowly being returned to us. There is nothing quite so lovely as the change of seasons.

So much has happened in the past 4 months. After my father died things changed. A re-assessment of my life, goals, raison d’etre…Once again I am looking into what makes me ‘happy’. Life, for me at least, is no longer about hitting myself with a hammer while thinking that the next blow wouldn’t hurt. Time to stop doing what I do not like, when at all possible.

I am also moving house. I have everything boxed up and ready to go save for my clothes, some small amount of kitchen stuff and what art is hanging on my walls. I move at the end of October and assume all of my own bills and rent. That will be a relief and a freedom I have missed.

boxed up and almost ready to go…

Here are some still lives from a friend’s back terrace…

Blue Vase, 2015

Ladder and Anchor, 2015

My header image is from a short bike trip I took to Antiparos recently. It is a reminder of two of the things I love to do and have been neglecting the past few months. It is also a reminder that William Henry Jackson may have had his mules but I have my mountain bike.

Yashica and Bike, Andiparos, September 2015

That’s it.

–JDCM

Paving my own road…

By John on November 30, 2014 in 35 mm photography, 4×5 photography, autumn, beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, Paros Portraits, portraiture, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

–My ‘Cafe/Kafe’ show went very well. It is such a quiet time here on the island that an event like this was a wonderful way to have a get-together. It was a community event in a small community. A good chin-wag with friends on a windy autumnal eve. Mikro Cafe was packed and the opening lasted for about 3 hours. I feel it was a great success for us all. I took down the pictures a few days ago. On to the the next one.

I have begun printing my second portrait show, which I have slated for October 2015, here on Paros. I have ideas about the venue, which I will evolve. The show itself will be a continuation of the first ‘Paros Portraits’ exhibit, but this time I have relaxed my eye. The first show was strictly large format 4×5 and printed digitally. As lovely as the 4×5 is, the process began to feel formal, something I wish to avoid in this next installment. There are a few 4×5 images in the new portfolio, which I will contact print, but the remainder are 35mm. I am hoping for about 35 to 40 pieces and they will only be printed in the darkroom. I want this next show to be more loose, more casual, with an element (just a smidgeon) of the ‘street.’ The prints will also be smaller with most of them falling into the 8×10 category, or thereabouts. If I can print them all by the end of April then I can shuffle them off to the framer and pick them up at the end of the summer.

The weather here turned distinctly autumnal last week. It was about 14C before Thursday and the drizzly, dark streets were perfumed with the aroma of burning olive wood. It was damp, but then the wind is shifted from the south. For the past two days we have seen sun, balmy breezes and well over 20C. Lovely.

I must stay busy with my own work, even if it a small casual show like ‘Cafe/Kafe’. As a friend reminded me tonight at dinner, “you have to pave your own road ahead of you…”

–JDCM

cafe/kafe, romanticism and keeping it light…

By John on November 15, 2014 in 35 mm photography, Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paros, rangefinder camera, silver darkroom, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

–I was eating my corn flakes and goat’s milk one morning and it occurred to me that I am an incurable romantic.

–I returned from Paris two weeks ago and I am back on Paros, about 2300 km and one vowel distant. My time in France was lovely. My heart was filled with warmth even though the weather had chilled by the time I departed.

–I was able to shoot 4 rolls of Rollei Retro 400s while in Paris. I also gave myself a Christmas present. I found a very affordable Leica M2 at the local Leica store. The deal was good and I was there. I had to get it. According to the serial number it was manufactured in 1966. I find it extremely cool that I bought a an old Leica in Paris. It just feels right. Very romantic.

–While in Athens on Friday, I ran a couple rolls AGFA APX 400 through it. That made 6 rolls. When I returned to Paros and checked my ‘to do’ box in the darkroom I found two more rolls of film (Rollei Retro 100) that needed developing. I spent Sunday afternoon developing of film. 8 rolls from three different places from three different cameras…Here’s the breakdown:

–4 rolls Rollei Retro 400s, Voigtlander r4M w/ Voigtlander 35mm lens, Paris; 2 rolls of AGFA APX 400, Leica M2 w/ the same Voigtländer 35mm lens, Athens; 2 rolls Rollei Retro 100, Balda ‘Super Baldina’ (c. 1956), fixed 40mm lens, Paros.

–While working I listened to The Clash’s ‘London Calling.’ It was released in the UK in 1979. 35 years later it still sounds fresh, complex and vibrant.

–Romanticism…OK. I don’t wish for days gone by. Whatever they say, life was not simpler, or easier. Thomas Hobbes referred to life as ‘…nasty, brutish and short.” He was right. I like living on a remote island. Romantic again.

–The ‘cafe/kafe‘ photographs are matted, framed and behind glass. I will hang this small exhibit this Friday at Mikro Kafe here in Paroikia. It is not a grand exhibition, just something light and easy, something small to keep my hand in while I continue the prep for the second, far more involved ‘Portraits‘ exhibit next autumn. There. I said it. Autumn 2015.

–JDCM

“…the streets of Rome…”

By John on October 1, 2014 in Athens Greece, autumn, beauty, craft, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, skill and craft

“Well the streets of Rome

are filled with rubble;

ancient footprints are everywhere.

You almost feel like you’re seeing double

on a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs.

Gotta hurry on back to my hotel room

where I got me a date with Botticelli’s niece.

She promised that she’d be right there with me

when I paint my masterpiece.”

That song kept running through my head last weekend. It began Sunday morning as I left Pistoia and here, in Athens on a warm Wednesday afternoon, it still echoes…

Thank you Mr. Zimmerman, for the ear-worm…

In any case, I left Pistoia with a scratchy throat and by that night I was slightly feverish, congested, et al…I am dubbing this ailment the Tuscan Plague since it attacked all my friends as well. Each seems to have had some variation on the virus, all miserable. I killed mine with plenty of bed-rest, warmth and the miracle of modern pharma. Arriving in Athens this morning I am much improved. I am also relieved to be back in Greece. I need the local soul food.

Rome was lovely despite my ague. I was able to visit the Museo Massimo and gaze upon the precious and lovely Roman frescos; I wandered through the Galleria Borghese and marveled at the Bernini sculptures, frozen motion and pliant, soft marble. How did he do that? Truly a high point in sculpture–a divine concoction of craft, skill, artistry, aesthetics, hard work and obsessive compulsive desire for perfection. Some would say “madness”…”insanity.”

I ate some glorious grub as well. Roman stuff…fried artichokes, sweetbreads, lemon pasta…Very fancy by Greek standards. Foreign food. Western. Give meat on a stick, tomatoes and capers slathered in olive oil and a plate of fried sardines.

Good to be back in the East.

–JDCM

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