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In the shift…

By on August 31, 2014 in 35 mm photography, autumn, beauty, biking, black and white portraiture, darkroom work, Greece, John D.C. Masters, John Masters, mountain biking in Greece, portraiture, skill and craft, Uncategorized, working

–The August crowds have departed and it is almost September.  The summer is slipping away (has slipped away), a tide across the sand.  The light has shifted.  It is no longer the July glare.  Delicate clouds mute the summer fierceness.  Autumn approaches.  Today it is windy and cooler.  A meltemi eases fevered brows.  A scirocco will present itself midweek.  The breeze will drop to almost nothing.

–All the forecasts point to the possibility of a light shower this week.  Whether this will happen on Paros or another nearby island is never certain.  I shall just have to wait and see.

–The mountain bike race on Andiparos has been cancelled.  The next event I can participate in is the race on Naxos, at the end of October.  That’s OK, although I was looking forward to Andiparos.

–In a couple of weeks I head off to Italy to visit with friends, eat some steak Florentine, and allow the Renaissance to inspire my eye.

–My portrait work continues.  I would like to shoot and develop a couple of rolls of 35mm before I head to Italia.

–I continue my biking.  I need to pump up the kilometers a bit.  Now that it is cooler and there are fewer cars, this is easier.  I pay the final installment on my road bike tomorrow. Then I can begin that dynamic routine.  200 km a week total with both bikes.  That is all I ask…

–JDCM

 

On holiday…

By on June 7, 2014 in beauty, biking, Greece, hiking in the Cyclades, mountain biking in Greece, Naxos, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, spiritual journey

So here are the bullet points…

–I was supposed to travel to Milos last Tuesday but the high winds cancelled my boat.  Then my laptop died before I left Paros.  I left it behind.   I took the next available ferry from Paros to Naxos.  Enroute I bumped into some folks I knew (Orfeas, Bjornante) so the gods put me there for a good reason.  I continued from Naxos to the small island of Iraklia, one of the Minor Cyclades.  I spent the next 3 days hiking and biking that very quiet place.  While there my “smartphone” decided I wasn’t smart enough, so it locked me out.   I’ll  get some reading done instead.

–Yesterday morning I began my odyssey to Milos.  3 boats, 16.5 hours.  Iraklia back to Naxos; Naxos to Ios; Ios to Milos.  I arrived at 24:30 last night, checked into my hotel, unpacked and had a solid night’s sleep.

–So I am here for the next week.  Lots of biking, hiking, swimming and sun.  I hope to visit nearby Kimolos next week for  a day trip.  It is a short ride on a slipper ferry from Pollonia to the Port of Kimolos and the boat goes every two hours or so.

–I cannot upload any pictures or change the header  so that will have to wait until I get back to Paros, fix my laptop, etc….

–JDCM

Folegandros…first impressions…

By 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

Guidance, delineation and communication…

By on February 8, 2013 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, Greece, Paroikia, Paros, quiet islands, rangefinder camera, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working

It began with lamp posts in 2005.  There was a quayside in Ermioni, a boat on dry dock and an ornate iron lamp post looking out over the still water at sunset.  Then there were more lamp posts in Bosnia, arcing around the gentle curve of a mountain road, leading to where…?

Now there are stone walls climbing and moving across the landscape of the Kyklades.  They have been accompanied by electrical poles, maybe telephone lines, I am not sure…

I have been photographing them for the past few years, mixed in with all the rest.  Driving back from an area here on Paros the other day I was struck by how these all are indications of the hand of man in an otherwise wild landscape.  I have a choice.  I can bemoan the state of affairs regarding these structures or embrace them as something more, strong vertical and horizontal lines, shadows of human needs.  I have thought of lamp posts as bringers of light in the darkness, guidance along dim roads.  The stone walls define our boundaries, of both self and property, for they are often too insignificant to keep any creature at bay.  The poles signify communication over distances.  Guidance, delineation and communication.  I would post some examples, but I feel that everyone has an idea of what I am speaking of without the illustrations.

It is raining here.  Last night the deluge dropped a hail of roaring ice in Paroikia.  It woke me at 4AM.  It also deposited all the red, sandy dust that has been blowing from the south, out of the deserts of North Africa.  This is the scirocco.  The air was clear this morning and as I drove south to visit some friends for coffee I marveled at the archipelago surrounding me: Sifnos, Serifos, Sikonos, Ios, Kimolos, Syros, Tinos, Andiparos…rugged walls ran through green hills, telephone lines stretched thinly into the blue distance and, even though the sun was bright, my heart was gladdened to see the occasional unlit streetlight along my path.  If I came this way on a dark and stormy night I would not become lost in the tempest.

JDCMBlue-Door-(behind-the-curtain)

By on December 27, 2012 in beauty, craft, Cyclades stone walls, darkroom work, Greece, nude studies, Paros, quiet islands, skill and craft, spiritual journey, spring in the Aegean, working
A dilapidated hand cart on the Greek island of Milos. Mamiya c330, Kodak Plus-X, June 2012

A dilapidated hand cart on the Greek island of Milos. Mamiya c330, Kodak Plus-X, June 2012

This is a short post.  Some of you have noticed that I have updated my blog.  It is more spiffy, easier to change and I am liking the header photo idea.  I have been taking some pictures to use specifically for this image. It changes my eye, this is for sure.

I have also spent the last few hours updating my photography site right here .  There is  link on the right hand side of this page, but this makes it easier.  New to the gallery is a portfolio called ‘Kyklades Wall Project’ which is an idea I have bounced back-and-forth with Liz Carson for the past year.  It is a medium format study of the stone walls throughout the Kyklades.  I still have many islands to photograph, so this is just a beginning.  I am hoping to make the best of them into a book someday.  There is a reason for these photos, but that is my business.  If you search for ‘island hopping’ in my blog you will find more details on these images…

I also cleaned up the b/w image bank.  I have separated out the Greek from the American and the European from the Greek.  Nice and neat.  I have changed the slide show so that the photo captions can now be read and the user gets to move back and forth at will.  Overall, I think it represents a more current file of my work to date.  ‘Goodbye’ to the Bosnian color pieces and ‘farewell’ to the Roma of the Former Yugoslavia.  They were getting me down.

Christmas has passed and 2013 is just around the corner.  Then I have three more weeks before I head back to Greece, Paros, The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, gavros, gigantes, horta and the next round of photographic adventures.

JDCM

Packing it up, shutting it down…

By on February 1, 2011 in Uncategorized

The day I fly to Greece approaches.  In less than a month I’ll be back in Athens and in a world I am much more comfortable with.  For some reason Europe always makes me feel more at home and relaxed than here in the US.

I have begun packing.  I am mailing two boxes ahead of my arrival on Paros.  One contains sheet film for my 4×5 and b/w paper.  It is still cheaper to by European paper here in the US and mail it to Europe.  It’s because of the VAT.  The other box, which is much bigger, will have my 4×5 and medium format cameras coddled in bubble-wrap as well as some bulkier clothing and books.  March and early April can be wet and cool in the Kyklades.  This should lighten my carry-on and checked baggage loads a lot.

I have two shows this month:  the first I hang on Sunday and it is at the Rhinecliff Hotel and open with an artist’s reception on February 11th.  I am sharing the space with three other visual artists and I think the show will be up for a while after I leave.  The second show is the CCCA show I have already blogged about.  That reception is February 19th from 5-7PM and should be quite the time.  The third group show is at a nearby assisted living venue called Noble Horizons.  It will be a 14th Colony event and consist of small works.  I’ll have a nice b/w silver print for that one ready to go and in the hands of a close friend.

After tomorrow night I’ll be shutting down the dark room until I return in June.  I may still develop a roll or two of film, but the printing activity will cease.  I’ll discard any chemistry that won’t last and cover the enlarger.  Paper will go into the fridge.  My sisters will come and go through out the month and I have already delegated tasks to the caregivers for my mother’s well-being.  All is as it should be.

JDCM