Navigation

Archive | Uncategorized

12 days, 1200 Euros…

By on February 15, 2012 in 4×5 photography, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized

My debacle with Greek Customs is all but resolved.  Three of the four boxes I have sent have been delivered to Paros, safely and without incident.  The other four that Customs snagged have been evaluated and the price is high, in fact it is as if I have to purchase everything again.  They have assigned the value at 1200 Euros, just over 1500USD.  Ouch indeed.  As a good friend told me, I am now part of an exclusive club.  I have little choice but to comply if I wish to have my possessions back.  There is an avenue of appeal, but this would be a long, drawn out affair and in the end it is doubtful I would gain anything from it except to garner resentment from the Greeks.  As my friend also reminded me, the customs agents probably have relatives on Paros so why make my life difficult?  Give them their pound of flesh and be done with it.  Lesson learned, but what lesson that is remains unclear.  The good news is that the boxes have been released from customs and are waiting for me at the PO on the island.

I leave for Greece in 12 days and I am very excited.  The mystery of the future fills me with hope and I am looking forward to being a beginner in school, working on my own photography and contemplating the possibility of my own, first, book.  The recent news regarding the social unrest in that little country is unsettling, but according to friends I know in town the press has exaggerated the scale and scope.  Yes, there are troubles both social an economic and many Greeks are distressed about their own abilities to cope.  The good news is that they have gone through worse before and in more tense situations.  WWII and NAZI occupation, the Junta of the The Colonels, the Greek Civil War…These all overshadow the current crisis and, in a way, keep the population centered around what they can do instead of what they are powerless to achieve.  Their future, like all futures, is uncertain and I have faith that a solution will present itself.  No one wants a return to the military rules of the past nor the brutal foreign dictatorships that governed with iron fists.  Social reform and economic balance is never easy and the Greeks have their work cut out for them.  Europe will not let them leave the EU so it is logical to feel that they would not allow them to leave the EuroZone.

This brings up the Euro itself, a troubled and controversial subject from its inception.  It is incorrect to compare the EU system with that of the USA.  Europe is not the US, thank the gods.  Many analysts feel that the Euro was doomed front the start and perhaps they were right.  Still, it is always easier to destroy than to build, seemingly more sensible to abandon than to support.  Responsibility is a good place to begin and all of Europe must take responsibility for the failure or success of their fledgling currency.  It is a brave venture to change 1500 years of historical divisions and nationalistic pride.  It is a matter of faith and action which, I have heard, is like a blind man walking down the stairs.  This painful growth spasm is just that.  It will pass.

More to come…

JDCM

My current tack…

By on January 8, 2012 in Uncategorized

As the wind blows I am preparing for my departure, back to Greece, on February 28th.  This is still some days away, but this time will slip by quickly and I must make the most of it.  Family comes first and I can love them and pay them the attention they deserve.

Then there is the packing.

I have made the decision to jettison much f my physical belongings before I go.  This means musical equipment I haven’t used in over ten years; books I haven’t or will never read; clothing I do not wear anymore; old computer equipment and then there are the thousands of cd’s that I have accumulated since I started buying them in the late 1980s–that’s about 23 years of obsessive collecting.  A daunting task, no doubt, but achievable.

I am going out today and taking some pictures of an old front loader down the road.  I wish to have a decent amount of new material to work for when I return to Greece.

JDCM

The demons that…ah, uhm…be-devil me…

By on November 29, 2011 in Uncategorized

Yes, I can be paranoid and overly-sensitive.  The fears I expressed in the previous post are, and were, a figment of my imagination.   It was all a misunderstanding, crossed communications, etc…

If I said anything derogatory about anyone it was due to my own ignorance and fear and had no basis in reality.  What a relief!

JDCM

Watching the sea from a quiet place…

By on November 27, 2011 in autumn, darkroom work, Greece, nude studies, Paros, silver darkroom, Uncategorized

I am sitting here on Paros, in a small cafe called ‘Pebbles’.  The sun is out and sky is full of big, puffy white clouds.  It is chilly and windy so the large picture windows frame the blue Aegean, the scattering of small islands and the tip of the peninsula across the bay.  Near the tip, where the rocks meet the sea is a small church.  The blue dome is darker than the pale blue sky above it.  It is the Church of Agios Fokas whose name day is September 22.  I am not sure what he is the saint of, or why he was martyred, if at all, or what miracle he performed.

I have only a small amount of work to finish in the darkroom.  Two more re-prints tonight and then I can begin the selenium process. After that I can matte the 13 pieces that will go into the flip file at the student show on December 9th and choose the one piece to hang.  I am pleased with the results and believe they show great skill, craft and an elevation of the commonplace to a higher status.

My digital work seems to be at a standstill with six finished pieces of the twelve I wish to complete.  Truthfully I am waiting to hear what the Director’s decision will be on nude figure studies among the students.  I still feel as if I have been discriminated against either due to my age, gender or sexual orientation (which is indeterminate-love is love and should follow no gender.)  To be honest, I have no desire to photograph anyone nude anymore and my current work does not contain any examples of this milieu.  A few days ago another student shot a nude figure study with a female student and for all I know this has been sanctioned by the head office.  I applaud his work for I feel that this an art school and this kind of work should exist and continue to be a part of the process.  It is not a cloistered convent or monastery.  I feel sad about the turn of events for I feel that my future here on Paros hinges on the decision to come.  If the answer is that some can and some cannot, then I will not return in the spring and, indeed, may even leave before the student show in less than two weeks.  I am willing to admit that in the past I have made horrible and devastating moral and ethical choices.  I am also ready to stand up for the fact that in the past 10 years I have not made these kinds of choices due to radical changes in my life and lifestyle. Instead I have tried to stand firmly on a rock of honesty, willing to admit when I have been wrong and trying my best to not condemn others for their own human failings.  All of this takes a great deal of work.

So this quiet cafe overlooking the ever-changing sea is good for me today.  Keith Jarrett is on the stereo and his meditative piano blends well with the sound of the wind outside, the wash of waves on the rocks and the gradual sinking of the sun to the western horizon.  I have turned over my problems to those who can help me the most and hope that the worst is merely a figment of my imagination and that this has been just a misunderstanding.

JDCM

An American Thanksgiving in Greece…the session draws to a close…

By on November 23, 2011 in 4×5 photography, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Tomorrow is the American Thanksgiving, but here on Paros at the Aegean Center we celebrate the Feast of Thanks on Friday evening, not Thursday.  This is mostly so we do not interrupt the class schedule at a point in the term when everyone is either scrambling to wrap things up or just feeling the crunch.  I have conducted an inventory of my darkroom work and I only need to reprint two pieces and then I can begin the selenium toning process, then I matte them.  My digital work is half-way done.  So I am in good shape.  I cannot speak for any of the others.

I have found an apartment, or rather one was found for me, and I am looking forward to the move in late February.  It is actually the former apartment of an Aegean Center faculty member and in spring of 2010 I visited it and loved it immediately.  It is on the second floor with two small balconies.  There is a large living room, a separate bedroom, a small but full kitchen and a bathroom.  Good windows, lots of light and the price is right.  It is also adjacent to the school, so I will be within shouting distance of whatever work I will be doing.

In regards to that, I will be taking the painting course this spring as a student plus working one-on-one with the maestro in the digital lab.  This means that I have to bow out of the darkroom as a formal student, but I am pretty sure I will be doing some work in there as well.  I know nothing of painting, or how to do it, which is hat they like here.  Jane and Jun would rather work with a blank canvas than try to re-teach someone.

John says the turkeys are in the brine.  I have to make a shopping list of goods to buy for glazed carrots as well as a normal style stuffing.  This means onions, celery, sage and veggie broth.  I also need to buy bread, cube it up and let it dry.  Perhaps I’ll toast it in the oven to facilitate that drying process, or else it might just mold.

I am so thankful for this life that I cannot figure out where to start.  This morning I was up early and out working with the 4×5.  The light was soft and lovely and there is no wind today.  This will change, I know, and that’s alright, but for now I am feeling pretty good about what is happening.   There is a sadness in the air, though.  In two weeks the student show opens and then we all go our separate ways.  Most of us will never see each other again and although it is a small planet and connections can be strong at the beginning, the ties will thin and eventually fade out.  I have experienced this firsthand in my life.  Yes, you may say, there are social networking sites and the internet, but truth be told there is nothing really very strong about them.  They cannot hold a candle to a strong network built on real communication and true friendship.  Clicking a series of buttons does not make you my friend.  Commitment, contact and honesty does, however.  There is at least one student here who I will miss terribly but she has made a commitment to her family and I respect that.  I have to believe that the time she has spent here has altered her life for the better, and forever.

JDCM

 

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

 

 

Saying a slow goodbye to Italy…

By on September 24, 2011 in Uncategorized

Today we make our preparations for leaving Italy, heading south and making a slow passage back to Paros.  We will be in Rome for a couple of days, then Athens until next Saturday and then back on the island.  Personally I cannot wait. I have a lot of work to do that I have not been able to accomplish here.  This is the longest I have gone without access to a dark room, so I am looking forward to getting in there and developing film, making contact sheets and printing.

It has been an interesting experience living with 24 other people.  I have not been in this dynamic for many years, perhaps as far back as then end of boarding school (1984).  The constant compromises and diplomacies involved can be exhausting and I have been thankful for my single room at the top of the stairs.  Some of  the younger students have never experienced this and in fact have never experienced many issues revolving around living on their own.  Doing Laundry, cleaning up after themselves, sharing bathrooms and dividing up kitchen duties are all new to many and there has been a steep learning curve.  Some have not risen easily to the occasion, but risen they have and mostly due to necessity rather than any skill or learning.  This is also how I learn, usually.  When the need becomes too great, change will occur.    Some of the teachers have had to act as parents in small roles and I too have had to assume a more adult role, but not always.  I am still a student here and I must remember that.

We have seen so much in our three weeks here.  Museums, churches and architectural sites in Florence, Siena, Venice, Lucca and soon Rome.  The Athens leg will be mostly a repeat for me, having been there many times myself.  I will probably use that time to connect with friends in the city and decompress from the fast paced travel schedule.  The news from Greece is troublesome and makes me a bit nervous regarding our upcoming arrival.  The economic emergency is escalating and there are more transit strike planned for next week, including a 48-hour mass transit strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.  What this means is unclear, but the option of hiring a small bus to transport us en masse from the airport to the hotel in mid-town Athens is now on the list.

Today I’ll head into Pistoia and go to the ATM for travel cash, the farmacia for some odds and ends and then come back and pack my bags.  I have already mailed a box to Paros from here and hope for the best.  My bags should be more manageable, not they weren’t before, but I have accumulated a few things along the way.

Time to head into town.  I’ll post again from Rome with updates on the transit strikes.  For now the sun is shiny and a fresh day awaits.

JDCM

 

Venice, Pisa and the benefits of guided lecture tours…

By on September 14, 2011 in Uncategorized

As I wrote earlier we were planning to travel to Pisa and see the basilica, the campanile (the Leaning Tower), the baptistry and the Campo Santo.  We did all of these things and more.  One reason I am learning so much this session is the way that the teachers have mapped out our travels.  Yes, it would be easy to take the train to Pisa, then a bus directly to the site, but instead we took the train to the station and then walked through Pisa.  On the way we looked at and analyzed the architecture of this old city, architecture that tourists rarely see or if they do have no knowledge that they are looking at, let us say, a 13th century palazzo or church.  We stopped at a fantastic cafe and had a snack before heading off into the blazing sun and the historical sites.

That was last week and as of an hour ago we have just returned from a three-day tour of Venice.  Amazing, really.  Bellini, Titian, Donatello, Piazza San Marco, San Giorgio di Maggiore, and on and on…What has impressed me the most in the wider scope of this experience is the understanding that between the 13th and 19th centuries (we concern ourselves with just the 13th, 14th and 15th) those we now consider ‘artists’ did not think of themselves as that at all. They were craftsmen, constructionists, designers and builders.  ‘Skilled labor’ is a better definition.  They did no work of their own and did not express themselves in the selfish fashion that many so-called ‘artists’ do today, myself included, by the way.  It was all under contract and they were all competing in a business.    This is a mind-altering thought for me and what its ramifications are I do not know yet.

As to the benefits of guided tours by knowledgable and interested guides and mentors…Most, if not all the tours one sees in these towns and cities are not run or organized by people that really care.  they are only in it for the money and ramble off spurious facts dragging their charges through crowds and making sure they all get a gelato break.  Our guide, Jeffrey Carson, is knowledgable and fun, gearing his lectures for his group of 20 or so students.   His facts are accurate and reasoned and he tells us important aspects, allowing us all to come to our own conclusions through research and enquiry.  I could easily look at al of these things myself, but the confusion has been cut away like so much brush and bramble, revealing the heart of the matter.

How lucky and I to be living this life!

JDCM