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Kythnos and a change of plan…

By John on May 25, 2016 in 35 mm photography, beauty, Cyclades stone walls, Cycladic stone walls, Greece, hiking in the Cyclades, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, stone walls, Uncategorized, working

–There is a lot to see and do on Kythnos and by the time I leave on Friday I will have seen and done most of it. Superb hiking, archaeological sites (mesolithic, Byzantium, 19th century mining…), good eats, friendly folks…The weather was so-so for the first two days but then the sun came out, the winds shifted and there was fine weather for getting lost on the donkey trails and photographing more stone walls than I knew what to do with. I am pretty much saturated with walls at the moment. I have a feeling I will finish up the roll I have in my camera today and be done with this island for the time being. I have one more long hike to do tomorrow (12 km) so perhaps I will try to use one more roll. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.

–I found an excellent little taverna on the port of Merichas. Typical family-run, spitiko, without all the frippish tom-foolery of frankish cuisine. I ate roasted goat in lemon sauce last night; grilled fresh sardines the night before…local, mild feta on my salads. I’ll go there again tonight. Funny thing…when Kostas, the owner’s son, heard I was from Paros, he told me that his cousin Giorgos worked in a fish taverna in Paroikia…Hmmm…I know Giorgos well! We had a good time and then Kostas called Giorgos and he and I had a quick chat. I love these alliances. So Yalos Byzantio is my spot. I dine there again tonight.

–My lodging has been excellent. My small studio overlooks the harbour of Merichas. The ferries dock just a few hundred meters away and the ins-and-outs of tourist sailors in their small rented sailboats make for interesting comedy-drama. Only some seem to be good sailors. The rest look like they are trying too park their cars. Oh well…I wish them all the fun in the world. The Aegean is a lovely place to sail.

–I am tired. I am tired of living out of my luggage. I will have a lot more of that this summer so I suppose I should get used to it, but for the moment…

I left Paros on May 10th, after a four-day general strike which threw all my plans into the air. As a result of this strike, I was forced to use one of the High-Speed ferries that runs around the Aegean. I hate these things for many reasons. The only other time I was on one was in 2006 and I picked up a terrible respiratory bug just by being shut inside the interior for several hours with no fresh air. True to form, by the time I reached Evia on Thursday the 12th, my throat was scratchy. By Saturday I was on antibiotics, decongestants…sick. 11 days later I am finally off the meds. I need to go home. I feel great, but it is time to sit on my own terrace, sleep in my own bed…

As luck would have it, the same ferry that would have brought me to Syros, continues on home to Paros. So I will leave Kythnos Friday morning and be home in time for tea…

Pezoules, walls and and Agios Anathasios, Kythnos, 2016

–JDCM

Travel notes, May 2016…Kea…

By John on May 18, 2016 in 35 mm photography, beauty, Cyclades stone walls, Cycladic stone walls, Greece, hiking in the Cyclades, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, quiet islands, skill and craft, spring in the Aegean, stone walls, working

–The short ferry ride from Lavrio to Kea is, despite its single hour, quite remarkable. As a student of 20th century Balkan History I had heard of, and read about, the concentration camp island of Makronisos, but I had not realized it lay so close to the mainland. As we slowly sailed past I could see the ruins of buildings and structures…political prisoners, social dissidents and members of the military suspected of being “infected” with dangerous ideas were sent to Makronisos during the Greek Civil War (1946-49). For a more detailed and moving account of this time, read Kevin Andrews’ The Flight of Ikaros: a journey into Greece. Ironically, I re-read this book only a few weeks ago…

–Kea is a rugged place. Smaller than Paros, yet it feels bigger. The Port of Korissia is small and around the port are a number of meadows heading inland, but only for a short distance. After that it is a long climb to the chora, Loulida, perched along the ravine. The streets in the chora are steep and car-free. It is pretty little town and the archeological museum is supposed to be one of the best in Greece. It is, however, only open on Friday from 08:00-15:00 and so I will miss it. Kea reminds me of a smaller and greener Naxos.

–The flora of Kea is very much the same as on Paros and many of the other islands with one lovely exception: the pedunculate oak. For centuries, Kea supplied the tanners of Greece, Rome, Venice, etc… with acorn caps. By the end of the 19th century this practice had been replaced with less expensive synthetic processes so the acorn was not needed and the thriving industry collapsed. Thank God they didn’t cut down the trees! You know what…go here instead. These folks know more about it than I do and are a big part of the new sustainable Kea.

–Kea is still a thriving agricultural island and this is evident when one hikes along the well used donkey paths and other by-ways. Pommes de terre are numerous! The xcero-lithia that crisscross the island are lovely, beautiful, crafted…some are so old that the moss and lichen that cover them are dissolving them, turning their hard edges round and soft. New wall construction is in the old fashion, so the technique is being preserved.

–I will have shot three rolls of 35mm film when I leave on Friday as well as fair amount of digital. I have been hiking a lot although I did rent a car. It is a good idea so at least get up and out of town into the interior before setting out walking to a cove or mountain top. This time of year it is quite empty outside the port, so it has been rare to see anyone else but the occasional goat. Most of the others I have seen are, I think, French and English. I cannot be sure. Athenian day sailors like Kea too.

–If I had brought my mountain bike, I would have rented a car anyway for the same reasons as above. Mountain biking on pavement is a drag and bad for the tires. Best to load the bike into a car and drive inland, park, and bike on the dirt roads. For road biking, anyone who wants constant interval training on hills, come to Kea. The fun never ends.

–JDCM

Deep in the Ancient City…

By John on April 19, 2016 in Athens Greece, beauty, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

Below my hotel balcony the city breathes deeply. Tribal drums motivate interpretive dance, guitars reverb surf music through metro tunnels, amplified bouzoukis in Syntagma stir a metallic thrum, mingling the aromatic sounds into a heady stew. And the smells! Food, concrete, diesel, piss and old, old stone. Athens is alive! In the distance I hear a saxophone, I imagine the player–sunglasses at night, hat on the sidewalk at his feet, the slow crooned blue woodwind wail runs through the ancient marble veins. Voice carry up from the street–all the languages I have ever heard and many from central Asia, east Asia, Eurasia…The Cosmopolis…the world as a city. It is here. I am here. It is my home. I am blessed. I wear the sign of the anointed. If you have to ask, you’ll never know.

I was in taxi and the driver and I were talking. He told me had two jobs and was raising his three children by himself. “You have three jobs then, ” I said. He laughed in agreement. “I think this is the beginning of something”, he said. “There is only one choice now for us and it is that things will improve. There is no other alternative.” It must be the truth.

This is the beginning of something. It is all happening here. The Pope came to town. There are rumbles of possibilities and energy flows, rich static arcing through the crowds in Monastiraki, Psirri, Exarchia, Sygrou Fix, Thissio, Keramikos…We wait for the great popular firework display, crescendos of chrysanthemums and showers of sparking lights heralding a New Age. The Emperor will emerge, naked. The applause will be deafening, the laughter unending. The party is always starting…

I have worked for the past few days deep in a secret archive in the city, a vault of imagination and celluloid. We are alchemists turning crystals into precious metal. Magicians. The dancer moves across the page, fading into view. Her body leaves atomic molecules, drifting bits of herself, richly perfumed droplets of life. She bursts from her black background, glowing, free and transcendent. This is what it is all about. We plant our collective flags and cry “This is me, this is who I am!” We glow, shine and dance through the traffic, gathering stars in our arms, passing them out like leaflets to the big show. Entasi!

–JDCM

Another year…

By John on February 18, 2016 in beauty, biking, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain biking in Greece, Paros, Polly Jo Masters, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

I am 51 and a day today. This past year has been one that is still hitting me in waves, endless ripples from countless stones tossed in my emotional pool. I contemplate making a phone call and suddenly realize there is will be no one on the other end of the line. I imagine a voice and the softness of a cheek…and they are gone. My mother will no longer look up from the New York Times Sunday crossword, over her glasses, and announce, “Well, that’s done!” My father will no longer smack his lips after taking a sip of something tasty and raise his glass. He was always one for toasts. “Hear, hear,” she would chorus during better times.

Polly and Hilary in Provincetown, 1970.

I was thinking the other day that I have never been the “cool” guy. Never hip, never dressed in the latest fashion…I was feeling down that day. Then I realized I didn’t care. When I was younger, maybe, but then again I was envious of those around me who had better or more or newer or sexier (or so I believed)…not much weight there. Pretty superficial stuff. I hope they are happy in their respective lives.

So these days I do what I am wanting to do and this makes me happy. I am not treading on the lives of others and I am moving forward and slightly uphill. I am honouring my mother and my father in my life and activities. I am finally getting around to reading a short biography of St. Augustine given to me by my sister a few years ago. I am reading some Epicurus. I am back to building fine scale WW 1 aircraft which give me great joy and satisfaction, not just in their execution but in the research involved. I am in training for a very tough mountain bike race being held here March 6th. I have a photo shoot coming up next week which I have been looking forward to for months. It will be several hours of intense work, and then that stage will be done. Then I develop the film. Then I choose what to print, etc…intervals and stages, tension and release. One day I am 50, and then the next day…

Biking here on Paros is a good metaphor for my life. The stress of the uphill slogs are rewarded by not only the accomplishment but also the release of the inevitable downhill run, slaloming around rocks and through washed out sections of red dirt roads. Then it is uphill again.

It all feels pretty cool to me.

–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

Happiness…

By John on July 21, 2015 in beauty, craft, Greece, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

Gouna is a traditional Greek fish dish–sundried mackerel, seasoned and grilled. Fasolakia are a type of green bean, like haricot vert, but much longer. They make an excellent salad. Together they make an excellent dinner with friends, family and loved ones. Especially overlooking the bay of Paroikia at sunset.

Gouna, fasolakia and Paros at sunset…(photo by Angelique Tsantanis)

I have so much on my mind…so many things to say that seem extremely important to pass along. When I feel this way I become verbose and sophomoric. Best to say nothing. I will say, however, that the inevitability of change has been on my mind for the past month or so. I can let it go.

The close-up. (photo by Angelique Tsantanis)

One choice I have to is to try to stay ahead of the curve. Although I have never surfed, I feel an apt metaphor lies in that activity. I can either ride the wave or let the wave ride me. I have let many waves ride me over the years. Time to shoot the curl.

–JDCM

In Memorium, Hilary Thomas Masters (February 3, 1928-June 14, 2015)

By John on June 17, 2015 in beauty, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, Uncategorized, working

It goes something like this…

Let me tell you a story of a man who went down to the sea in ships, of an imaginary knight who took to the sky, of the struggles and joys of a man possessed by love and all things worth living for…

I knew my father. I knew him as only his son and friend can. As father and son we attempted to fly, to join up. But it was as comrades and friends that we finally earned our wings. As an only child in what would today be called a “dysfunctional family” he came to us with whatever he had learned from his grandfather, an old 19th century cavalry soldier: deep morality, sense of duty and a set of standards to which perhaps even he could never rise. Hard work was forever its own reward. This was sometimes bitter and angry when mixed with his love for us, yet that never stopped us from loving each other, as only great and deep friendships can attest. He was, after all, my father.

He was a sailor, a skier, a swimmer, a writer, a newspaper man, an historian, a photographer. He learned how to build with wood, cement, paper, plastic, paint. He drove his Morgan Plus-4 with joy and calm excitement. His love of history and adventure drew him to the stories of the great aces of the First World War, an age of modern chivalry when derring-do flew hand-in-hand with honor and comradery. He became Dilly O’Dally, the Irish ace of the skies over the Western Front in 1917. He was, after all, my father and I knew him for 50 years.

Writing was his real work, although he taught for many years to pay the bills. “One must always work,” he would say to me. This ethos kept him laboring, pushing, grinding away at his desk every day, word by word, sentence by sentence. I do this now, but in a different medium, as do my sisters. He was, after all, my father and I knew him for 50 years as he taught me of these things.

When I saw him just a month or so ago, he said to me, “Tell your mother that I love her…” Despite a painful and long separation and divorce, he asked about my mother often. Maybe some regret plagued him, a guilt that only he could really ever know. Or perhaps not. I think it was just love bubbling up from below, or a memory of love, a memory of green trees in the Hudson Valley or a beach on Cape Cod, of three children and a home, a family unlike the family he had known as a child. He was, after all, our father for well over 50 years and we loved him in the only way we had ever been taught.

Like Greek drama, there is no surprise finish. At the end of the story the great ace of the skies, the sailor, the man who loved life ends the struggle and, running low on fuel and mortally wounded by the betrayals of age, banks his delicate spruce and canvas craft and heads west. He was, after all, my father and I loved him and knew him for 50 years.

HTM, 2006

–JDCM

A normal life of inventories and maintenance…

By John on April 25, 2015 in 35 mm photography, beauty, biking, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain bike race, mountain biking in Greece, Naxos, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, The Circle of Paros Bicycle Race, Uncategorized, working

Not much to report these days. More of the same–photography, working in the darkroom, mountain biking, road biking…a life beyond my wildest dreams.

I entered and raced the Athlos Nikolaos Stellas Memorial Mountain Bike Race last Sunday. I (phyllo 3, Mastero, John) came in 4th in my age group and event (35+, bike only) at 59:50. For some reason I cannot add links today. Go to https://twitter.com/poparou and click around…However, the scores listed have me coming in 6th in the 16-35 year old group. I am flattered. I haven’t been 35 in a long time.

JDCM in the yellow and black jersey…59:50, 4th place.

I took the ferry to Naxos the other day for a day trip and rode over 90 kilometers on my mountain bike. It was stunning. Spring in the Kyklades is not to be missed.

Agios Sozon Kalado, Naxos

Along the track past Maxairota, Naxos

I will be replacing the front forks of my mountain bike this week as well as the rear derailleur. This will be an expensive, but very necessary job. After almost two years of strenuous biking (with a bike that was well-used when I bought it) the current forks are worn out and have lost their lubrication. Unfortunately they are a sealed unit which means I cannot re-grease, etc…so out they go! After this big job I will have replaced almost everything except the frame. Necessary maintenance.

At the top…Agios Tryphonas, Naxos, 578 m.

I have inventoried my works in progress for my new portfolio. I have a few more prints to make, however this will not stop me from beginning the selenium toning process. I will be finished with this by the middle of May. It is an interesting portfolio, very abstract, and I sure many people will not understand it, or perhaps not understand what I see. So be it. We all bring ourselves to these things. It is not my job to guide people or tell them what they are viewing.

I will begin training in earnest for the 2015 Circle of Paros road race on June 6th this week. I have ridden the route many times since last summer. The rumor is that this year we ride the opposite direction. Clockwise…

–JDCM

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