Tag Archives | artistic eye

Images from the past weeks…

By John on June 20, 2013 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Cycladic stone walls, Greece, hiking in the Cyclades, Naxos, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, stone walls

I leave Folegandros in a couple of days and return to Parikia. I have noticed that wherever I have stopped–Amorgos, Sikinos, Folegandros…I always seem to find a high vantage point, usually the Chora or a high mountain. I peer north, searching for my lovely home and I see it. Paros. It is there, close at hand. I am thinking like this now. I am somewhat homesick.

I have rented a small car. Today I will take it easy and drive around and take pictures. I saw some areas along the road during the bus ride yesterday that demand attention. Plus, I want to give my feet a rest. No hiking today. Maybe tomorrow and then to a beach. I want to get home, but I am no hurry to get through the day. Plus, at 1PM the sun is far too bright to be of any use to me. I will wait until 3PM or so and head out.

JDCM

Short DoF image of some wall detail on Amorgos

The Aspropounda Lighthouse on Folegandros, looking south

Detail of the door of Episkopi, Sikinos

Detail of some wall work on Folegandros

A kouros statue found on the island of Naxos

Folegandros…first impressions…

By John on June 18, 2013 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Cycladic stone walls, Greece, hiking in the Cyclades, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, stone walls, working

As I departed Sikinos this afternoon, the Meltemi came in gusts of Force 6. The air was hot, the sand flew in my face, the boat arrived, I boarded. An hour later I disembarked at Folegandros. If Santorini didn’t exist, vacuuming up 90% of the foreign tourists, Folegandros would be the place. As such, the island has secured all the charm of the Cyclades without the vast throngs that clog the narrow streets of the ancient Minoan hub. Thank God for that. I have been to Santorini and was not impressed. Here it is different. The restaurants are all open and have large, taverna-style menus on chalkboards outside. Tonight I will eat in a place called ‘Chic’, recommended by a friend in Athens as a good place where they serve a specialty of the island, roast lamb with prunes. I have already walked past and it looks very inviting. They also have rabbit, one of my favorites. I am sitting in a small café called ‘Pounta’. They have rabbit on the menu too. This is a good sign for the next few days.

The reports on hiking are all positive. I will take advantage of this but I will also take it easy. It’s not a race and I am not trying to prove anything. There are some good beaches and I have a book to finish reading. The stone walls here are lovely. My observations on the bus ride from the port to the Chora (where I am staying) have already whetted my appetite. I will post some images when I have them.

For now I finish my espresso-freddo and look forward to a night of good food and rest. Tomorrow I take a short walk and head to the beach.

JDCM

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

Teaching and craft…

By John on May 26, 2013 in beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

There is less than a week until our student exhibit at the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts here on Paros. It has been a busy three months for most. Like all previous sessions there is always one or two students who fall away. This spring has been no different. One student left and returned home a few weeks ago. Another has stayed here but has followed a different path from those found on our artistic maps. So be it. There is nothing I can do about either case. I will say, in my own defense, that I was there for both of them in a professional capacity when they needed me and, in the beginning, helped to guide them through some of our philosophies. Their individual decisions to take different routes has no bearing on the Center, the teachers or my own labors.

This spring I was given the honor of filling in as Silver Darkroom instructor. This is not a post I assume to be permanent. All teachers learn that their own skills, craft and knowledge increase when they pass on what they know to others. This has been my experience as well. I have learned more about the art and craft of photography in three months than I thought possible. It was knowledge that I had already accrued so to give it away freely only strengthened my own foundations. It was not review or regurgitation. I found myself solving problems and asking questions of myself from a new point of view. One important lesson is to be able to say “I don’t know. Let’s find the answer together.” What freedom to not suppose, to not be a fake!

There is an ethos to teaching. It is not enough to greet the student, spend a few hours or days, and then set them free. That would be tantamount to showing them a map and telling them to drive to California from New York without first discussing the possible roads west. As the more experienced traveler it is important to guide these eager minds along the way. Yes, let them take a wrong turn, experience a sudden detour or two and even run out of fuel, but do not abandon them in the badlands of inexperience. Let them know that you are there, waiting up ahead at the next marker or traveling alongside. I have practiced this and it has paid off. I have gained a level of patience and understanding by remaining available. I have set up appointments and answered their questions to the best of my abilities, abilities which have grown over the course of three months. To some this may seem a sacrifice of my own personal time, my own independence. It is quite the opposite. I have never felt so free, so happy and, at times, so completely baffled. At that point I turn to someone more knowledgable than myself. Such is the nature of education, or it should be.

There is a quote from George Bernhard Shaw: “Those who can, do…those who can’t, teach.” I must admit that I have found this to be very untrue and can only believe that GBS had his head (beard and all) deeply imbedded in his anus when he thought it up. The quote should be “Those who can, teach.” Learning is a cycle: Practice>Teach>Learn>Practice>Teach>Learn>Practice>Teach>Learn…

Ralph Waldo Emerson had a better idea:

“Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.”

JDCM

Space and the end of Easter…

By John on May 12, 2013 in beauty, Cyclades stone walls, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spring in the Aegean, working

I just helped a friend board the Blue Star ferry ‘Delos’, en route to Pireaus. It is Sunday evening, May 12, on Paros and the Easter season has ended…finally! The smell of lamb fat has rinsed from my hands, the out-of-towners are returning to their homes and the island is quieting down. I was shocked by the crowds already on board the ‘Delos’ as well as those embarking. Hordes. Masses. All with rolling luggage dragging behind them, seemingly forgotten in some small dusty corner of their minds. Passive traveling at its worst. Why is it that we forget about the items directly behind us and we tend to lead with memories from so long ago ahead as if they are current events? Hmmm…

On the other hand, the Aegean Center students enjoyed a lovely day out at sea with Captain Tassos and his crew for our spring “Boat Trip”, a somewhat circular route around Andiparos, stopping at Despotiko, then Taverna Zombos on the southern side of Andiparos for a mid-afternoon feast: gigantes, kolokithokeftedes, bean salad, xoriatiko salate, calamari, oktopodi salate, saganaki tiri…a true food event. I needed some space, some time alone so I stayed back at the school and worked on my current painting, a view from a balcony overlooking a small courtyard adjacent to the school. I had three hours of quiet for this and I managed to work very well, very hard and productively in that short span. Then I hopped in my trusty FIAT Panda, drove to the Andiparos ferry, went over, swam at both Livadia and Agios Giorgos beaches, took some pictures (film and digital) and met up with the rest of the school for the above-mentioned meal. Orea!

Here is an image from today. A view of Andiparos–Leica M8, Voigtlander 28mm, ISO 160, F/16, 1/125, hyperfocus…

Some walls, a lamp, sea, sky, clouds. Enjoy!

JDCM

Greek Easter, Paros, 2013…

By John on May 3, 2013 in beauty, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

There was a time before my time, before the time of my sisters, my parents, my friends…

For some reason this phrase popped in to my head today. For the past few days I have been helping a friend and mentor and her husband move house. It has been an emotional and difficult time for them and I have been honored and humbled to help sort through decades of their life here on Paros, and earlier. We have been separating the wheat from the chaff–a difficult process.

Much of what they wished to save has been in the form of photographs, or more precisely, photographic archives. That is the only way to think of it. Negatives of all sizes, black and white, color, contact sheets, prints. Their time here has been documented and preserved in hard-copy. There was little digital imagery. As I worked I felt something meaningful, truly palpable, while holding a negative up to the light, perusing a contact sheet or carrying an artist’s portfolio bursting with prints. Compared to the lightweight, back-lit digital medium that takes up little space and weighs all but nothing, these items, this archive, made sense to me. Maybe those of us in the digital age have become so accustomed to the ease with which we view, and then delete, images, or page through them via myriad viewing software programs that we are beginning to forget the importance of this process.

My point is that memory, that elusive, ever-changing spirit we carry in our soul, is something that should have weight. It should take up space in our homes. We should, every once in a while, take a photo album or box of negatives off the shelf, dust them off and hold them up to the light of day. As we gaze, we smile. We remember friends long gone or vistas experienced in a way that we cannot when looking at an LED screen or something of that nature. We smile, or we cry. We tell a friend, “Look…here…this is when we…” and then hand them the fragile transparency or piece of paper. We pass on that experience.

We are all repositories of the past. This brings me back to the idea that there was once a time before my time, before the time of those who came before me. I have books as proof, books I can hold. I have folders full of negatives, unprinted. I am accumulating weight in the form of artists portfolios stuffed with prints. I have held them up to the light of day. I say, “Look…here…This is when I…

Happy Easter!

JDCM

News from Paros…a journey of small bites…

By John on March 10, 2013 in 4×5 photography, beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

Lupens blooming along the path to the monastery of Agios Kyriaki

The first week of the spring 2013 session at the Aegean Center has all but ended. As I sit in Pebble’s Jazz Cafe, overlooking the bay of Paroikia, the sun begins a slow descent towards the faint outline of Sifnos to my west. Since my return at the end of January the sunset has moved slowly north along the ridge of that island, the daylight has increased and the temperature has become warmer. There have been welcome harbingers of a lovely spring: warm, breezy with high clouds and only sprinklings of rain, barely enough to dampen my laundry hung out to dry, birds singing in the bright morning…

My work for the next few months has been laid out for me, a buffet of grand proportions. My own large-format portrait work, which I have written about before, takes priority if I wish to have the printing finished by the end of May and the work at the framers by June. This is the beginning-of-the-end of a long-term project, the seeds of which I planted during the winter of 2011/2012. I have two or three more sittings to arrange and then I can begin crossing tasks off the list.

I am also teaching in the darkroom, guiding the bright and eager minds of our small cadre along the meditative paths of silver photography. I have been impressed in this first week by their enthusiasm, previous experience and general attitude towards the idea of ‘slow photography’. I can only hope that they, too, feel as if I am an able mentor for their journey. There are two or three returning students working on the darkroom, which benefits everyone.

The third element is my return to oil painting. I loved it the first time last spring and this time around seems no different. Just today I was working on a piece and I was struck by how much I love oils: their malleability and fluidity, the ability to push them around on a properly prepared canvas…

The fourth menu item this session is a fascinating journey into the world of Johannes Vermeer, more precisely his use of the camera obscura in his work. There are three of us working with Jane Pack and in the next few weeks we will construct a full-scale replica of the master painter’s camera, discover how he applied it and use it ourselves to draw, and then paint, some still lives.

When I realized a few days ago the scope of the labors set before me, my heart and mind quaked. I quickly spoke to an advisor which helped. I know that I can accomplish all of these things, but like a plate of food at the above mentioned buffet, this kind of smorgasbord can seem impossible to consume. Like any dinner, it starts with the first bite. Before I know it will be the end of May and I will be ordering coffee and dessert.

JDCM

Spring unfolds at the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts…

By John on March 4, 2013 in autumn, craft, darkroom work, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, silver darkroom, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, Uncategorized, working

The spring session has begun here on Paros at the Aegean Center. The students have mostly all arrived, riding in on the winds and waves. It poured rain all day yesterday and the streets turned into small rivers. By last night the clouds had rolled away and today is sunny and bright. I have many thoughts running through my head, so many raindrops, really, and in many cases just as discarnate. Add them up, however, and they are a flood, a river of their own. I found it comforting to stop thinking. I loaded up some Plus-X, grabbed my tripod and headed down the now undimmed streets of Paroikia. Action, not thinking, always improves my day.

I will be painting again this session. I will also apply the finishing touches on a large format photography project that I began last year, a series of portraits of people I know here on Paros. They are students, ex-pats, local Parians…My Greek barber, Nikos, for instance, as well as the English owner of a local cafe. A motley crew to be sure. I will finish the principle photography and printing in the next three months, bring all the final proofs to Athens and have them matted and framed. I hope to accomplish this before the end of June when I head back to America for a month. When I return in August I will hang the show and open the exhibit. It will be the culmination of my work here at the Center, my Masters Thesis in Photography, if you will. I have no idea where the show will be. I’ll stick my neck out again. So far that hasn’t been the most successful venture here on Paros. I have lost my head more times than not (certainly gaining wisdom) but what choice do I have? “Action and more action…”, as they say…What follows my exhibition is anyone’s guess. I suddenly feel lost at sea with the prospect of September.

I will be assisting again in the darkroom with the students, as I did last fall, so my energies will be focused on their work more than my own. Like the weather moving in circles, alternating rain, sun wind and calm, the Aegean Center is part of the cycle of change. I cannot do much except sit back and trust the process, let the story write itself and accept the results. Once again, to assume anything would be foolish, self-serving and arrogant. As of this morning I am excited to work with five or six (maybe seven) students, some who have never handled silver emulsion and some with more knowledge. We shall see how the session evolves. I remember having many preconceived notions of photography when I arrived here on Paros three years ago. They were soon dashed in favor of a new and vibrant dynamic. As a lotus blossom, spring unfolds…

JDCM

News from the sick bay…

By John on February 14, 2013 in beauty, craft, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spring in the Aegean, working

The rains have come in to stay, or so it seems. It is winter in the Aegean and it is damp and cold, the kind of damp that seeps into one’s bones and begs for all to just stay in bed. There have been a couple of days of sunshine, but other than that it has rained, drizzled, poured down and showered.

Last Sunday evening I was sitting in my apartment reading when suddenly it felt as if all the energy had drained from my body and mind. I was ill, I knew it. I managed to stay awake for another hour or so but then I was in bed and out like a light. The next morning I woke up as sick as one could be. My lungs were full of crud, as were my sinuses, swollen glands, etc…I took the advice of friends and went to the doctor who gave me a prescription for antibiotics, expectorant, throat gargle and high strength ibuprofen. As the days have progressed I have improved but I feel I am not out of the woods yet. Three more days of pills and I should be, well…right as rain. Over the days friends have brought me food. Chicken soup from one, a fish stew from another. Today I was given some onions and carrots so I could make lentil soup. These are some of the finest people I have ever known.

On another note, my quarantine has given me the chance to photograph my immediate surroundings from the viewpoint of the small balconies on either side of my flat and out my kitchen window. They have an abstract quality that perhaps I would like to paint also; geometric shapes of varying hues of tan to white, blue expanses broken my myriad antennae. I’ll post some images next week.

So it is movies, books, soups, plenty of fluids and lots of bed rest for me. I have been reading Joseph Campbell and Edward Weston; James Bond and Harry Potter–comfort foods for the mind, body and soul. The weather is supposed to improve by Monday and then John and I can get back to work building benches and so forth.

JDCM

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