Goddammit

2010

The large print giveth
and the small print taketh away

~ Tom Waits, "Step right up"

Thunder roll

The Rolling Thunder Revue, 1975

Bob Dylan & Roger McGuinn

from The Bootleg Series Vol.5, 2002

Mama wipe the blood off my face
I can't see through it any more
I need someone to talk to and a new hiding place
Feel like I'm looking out of heaven's door

Mama I can hear that thunder roll
Echoing down from God's distant shore
I can hear them calling for my soul
Feel I'm knocking on heaven's door

Zero gravity

2010

From the fall came such choices
Even worse than the fall
There’s this chain of consequences
Within, without

~ James, "Hey ma"

....

Proof of my huge ignorance #347 : For the life of me, I can't tell if this is slightly out of focus or simply blurred. Or both. Or what.
Also, this is the first processed photo here. Meaning that I fooled around with tone and contrast for about twenty seconds. Hm.

Stormbringer

February 2010, Patissia, Athens

I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll this time
I feel my luck could change
Kill me Sarah, kill me again with love
It's gonna be a glorious day

Pull me out of the air crash
Pull me out of the wreck
'Cause I'm your superhero
We are standing on the edge

~ Radiohead, "Lucky"

....

Last Radiohead song, swear to god. Umm, second to last, actually. I'm keeping Exit Music for emergencies.

Crane

February 2010, Patissia, Athens

and though they did hurt me so bad
in the fear and alarm
you did not desert me
my brothers in arms

~ Dire Straits, "Brothers in arms"

Motor

February 2010, Patissia, Athens

Zero originality, but I know someone who'll like it.

A boy and his dog

January 2010, Parnitha, above Athens

Copts II

January 2010, downtown, Athens

Our master’s gone;
we’ve stole our master’s horses
and stole away running.
If we return
we shall be drawn and quartered,
at Tyburn cross hung.

~ Blackbird Raum, "Valkyrie Horsewhip Reel "

Copts I

January 2010, downtown, Athens

La mauvaise herbe

January 2010, Agioi Anargyroi, Athens

Εντελαμαγκέν

Rear view

March 2010, Exharcheia, Athens

(rain down) That's it sir, you're leaving
(rain down) The crackle of pigskin
(come on rain down) The dust and the screaming
(on me) The yuppies networking
(from a great height) The panic, the vomit
(from a great) The panic, the vomit
(height) God loves his children
God loves his children, yeah

~ Radiohead, "Paranoid android"

....

Meanwhile, I've become a living cautionary tale, haven't I? Beware, kids! This is what happens to children who grow up listening to too much Radiohead!

Couch II

February 2010, Exarcheia, Athens

What shall we use to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger roar
Shall we set out across this sea of faces
In search of more and more applause

Shall we buy a new guitar
Shall we drive a more powerful car
Shall we work straight through the night
Shall we get into fights
Leave the lights on, drop bombs
Do tours of the East, contract diseases
Bury bones, break up homes
Send flowers by phone
Take to drink, go to shrinks
Give up meat, barely sleep
Keep people as pets
Train dogs, race rats
Fill the attic with cares
Bury treasure, store up leisure
But never relax at all

With our backs to the wall

~ Pink Floyd, "Empty spaces / What shall we do now?"

Noise

March 2010, Exarcheia, Athens

The walls close in
and I need some noise

~ Iggy Pop, "Dum dum boys"

Doomsday

The coward does it with a kiss,
the brave man with a sword.


2007-2010

Now, in all of my wildest dreams,
it never once was seen
that Doomsday could fall anywhere near
a Tuesday.

~ Elvis Perkins, "Doomsday"

...and a happy new year

July 2009, Chania

Casting out my sweet line
With abandonment and love
No ceiling bearing down on me
Save the starry sky above

~ The Waterboys, "Fisherman's blues"

We wish you a merry Christmas...

January 2010, Exarcheia, Athens

And when it gets to closing time
and if you still want more,
I know a pub in Inverness
that never shuts its door.

~ Die Toten Hosen, "Auld Lang Syne"

Poetry

December 2009, Patissia, Athens

Οι συλληφθέντες θα παραπέμπονται στην αστυνομία.

Wall

December 2009, Exarcheia, Athens

So don't tell me what to write
and don't tell me that I'm wrong
and don't tell me not to reference
my songs within my songs

~ Dresden Dolls, "Backstabber"

Switchblades preferred

December 2009, Exarcheia, Athens

Angel looks down at him
and says, "Oh, pretty boy,
can't you show me nothing but surrender?"

~ Patti Smith, "Land"

Ola lathos

December 2009, Iris, Athens

A lesson in common mistakes: burned, blurred, grainy AND out of focus. I'm so proud... Oh, and is that lens flare? Yes, I think we covered everything.

Right behind you, I see the millions

December 2009, Patissia, Athens

You can't see nothing,
and pinball completes the scene.
Here comes Uncle Ernie to guide you to
your very own machine.

~ The Who, "We're not gonna take it"

Quadrophenia

December 2009, Patissia, Athens

I can't sleep and I lay and I think
The night is hot and black as ink
Oh God, I need a drink
of cool cool rain

~ The Who, "Love, reign o'er me"

Ghostwalk

December 2009, Patissia, Athens

Imagine a past
That you wish you had lived
Full of heroes and villains and fools
And you will see the end

Imagine a soul
So old it it is broken
And you know your invention is you
And you will see the end

~ The Who, "Imagine a man"

Tommy can you hear me

December 2009, Patissia, Athens

Do you hear or fear or
do I smash the mirror?

~ The Who, "Smash the mirror"

I can see for miles

November 2009, Attiki, Athens

I've always said that street photography is simply not my style. Not that I don't like it, of course. Hell, I can spend hours looking at other people's street photos with nothing short of a pervert's glee. But I don't like my privacy being invaded by a stranger's camera, and I don't like invading the privacy of strangers with mine. The fact that lately, hesitantly, this is exactly what I've been doing means one thing: Expect some crappy photos. This is utterly new to me.

Nouvelle Vague

November 2009, Nouvelle Vague @ Gagarin 205, Athens

I got 96 tears
and 96 eyes

~ The Cramps, "Human Fly"

The future is unwritten

2009

Sachs IV

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

“What care I for my house and home
or even my wee baby?
What care I for my own true love
for I love the Gypsy Davey.”

~ Fotheringay, "Gypsy Davey"

Sachs III

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

“How could you leave your goose feather bed
your blankets strewn so comely-o?
And how could you leave your newly wedded Lord
all for a raggle taggle gypsy-o?”

“What care I for my goose feather bed
wi' blankets strewn so comely-o?
Tonight I lie in a wide open field
in the arms of a raggle taggle gypsy-o”

~ The Waterboys, "The raggle taggle gypsy"

Sachs II

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

Meanwhile, cropping remains the most frustrating thing I've ever had to deal with. I just can't get it right. I'm guessing this is because it involves conscious decision making. The horror...

"Go saddle me my black mare,
the grey is ne'er so speedy.
And I'll ride all night and I'll ride all day
till I overtake my lady.''

~ Fotheringay, "Gypsy Davey"

Sachs I

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

Gypsy laddie come riding through the wilderness
Singing so loud and merry-o
His voice rang out through the green green trees
And he charmed the heart of a maiden-o

"How old are you, my pretty little miss
How old are you, my honey-o?"
She answered him with a tee-ha-ha
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday-o"

~ Elvis Perkins, "Gypsy Davey"

Hey Ho

2009

What can you do?
With a brat like that
Always on your back
What can you lose?

~ The Ramones, "Beat on the brat"

P.S. Apparently, you can lose the brat.

Brain kids

November 2009, Iris, Athens

I smoke two joints in time of peace
and two in time of war
I smoke two joints
before I smoke two joints
and then I smoke two more

~ Sublime, "Smoke two joints"

Csillagok

November 2009, Athens Concert Hall

And the drugs won't kill your day job

November 2009, Iera Odos & Kifissos Ave., Athens

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer
as he's dancing upon your paycheck
The sales climb high through the garbage pail sky
like a giant dildo crushing the sun

~ Beck, "Pay no mind"

The ecstasy of gold

October 2009, Drakopoulo, Athens

No matter where I put my head,
I'll wake up feeling sound again.
Breathe. It's all you can.
Tomorrow smells of less decay,
the flowers greet this blooming fray,
be thankful. That's all you can.

~ Flogging Molly, "Float"

Eyrie

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

Σιγά μην κλάψω
Σιγά μη φοβηθώ

~ Γιάννης Αγγελάκας & Οι Επισκέπτες

....

8 seconds exposure with tripod this time. Not a very good tripod, mind you, just my old one. The mechanical parts can't keep the camera completely steady for so long, and it doesn't allow for a vertical position - which I wanted very much here. It's not perfect, but it was the best I could manage for an interior scene in the middle of the night: the only light source was the light from the computer screen. Especially since I decided that ISO-400 and higher doesn't satisfy me any more, and I'll stick to ISO-200 and lower from now on, unless completely necessary.

Or desirable? Sometimes grain is cool, right? Grain, yes. Noise, no. This is noise and, unlike a couple of months ago, it now annoys me to no end. It horrifies me to say it, but... I think I need a better camera. Crap.

Toys

November 2009, downtown, Athens

Happiness is a prison, Evey. Happiness is the most insidious prison of all.

~ Alan Moore, "V for Vendetta"

Injured part

November 2009, Patissia, Athens

The injured part is in my bed
and someone said they shouldn't touch me.
Can the surgeon cut it from my head?
If I couldn't hope, you wouldn't trust me.

Don't want to wake up far away
to hear them say "we found him".
Would I see there's more to me
than the shape I walk around in?

~ Edgar Broughton Band, "Hotel Room"

Muddy water IV

November 2009, Thission, Athens

The road is gone, there's just one way to leave here
Turn my back on what I've left below
Shifting lands and broken farms around me
Muddy water's changing all I know

~ The Seldom Scene, "Muddy water"

Muddy water III

November 2009, Thission, Athens

Mary, take the child, the river's rising
Muddy water taking back my home

~ The Seldom Scene, "Muddy water"

Muddy water II

November 2009, Thission, Athens

Things to say, you just can't take em with you
This flood will swallow all you leave behind

~ The Seldom Scene, "Muddy water"

Muddy water I

November 2009, Thission, Athens

Mary, grab the baby, the river's rising
Muddy water's taking back the land
The old-frame house, she can't take one more beating
Ain't no use to stay and make a stand

~ The Seldom Scene, "Muddy water"

For a minute there, I lost myself

November 2009, Thission, Athens

This is what you get
when you mess with us

~ Radiohead, "Karma police"

Witchcraft

November 2009, Thission, Athens

robs the rich
robs the rest
brings it all back home

~ Fairport Convention, "It's alright ma, it's only witchcraft"

Romilar D

November 2009, Thission, Athens

It's time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.

~ Elliott Erwitt

Fags III : Immerse your soul in love

October 2009, Patissia, Athens

Cracked eggs, dead birds
Scream as they fight for life
I can feel death
Can see its beady eyes
All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole
And fade out again

~ Radiohead, "Street spirit (Fade out)"

Fags II

October 2009, Patissia, Athens

This machine will not communicate
These thoughts and the strain I am under
Be a world child, form a circle
Before we all go under
And fade out again

~ Radiohead, "Street spirit (Fade out)"

Fags I

October 2009, Patissia, Athens

Rows of houses, all bearing down on me
I can feel their blue hands touching me
All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole
And fade out again

~ Radiohead, "Street Spirit (Fade out)"