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)"

Gaze

October 2009, Monastiraki, Athens

Early in the morning

September 2009, Athens

OK, this is ridiculous. ISO 400, and it looks like it went through the Impressionist filter. I knew that the LX3 has certain... issues in rendering low-contrast details, like hair. But clouds? How? Why?

Huh

2009

Still learning. I discovered that Exposure Compensation can work like setting the "wrong" ISO with a film camera. A technique I've rarely used (the Minolta detected ISO automatically and wouldn't let you mess with it, but the glorious Zenit would), and I'm only now beginning to grasp. Basically, if you know your camera's behaviour, with this little thing and Aperture/Speed Priority Mode or even Program Mode (having set your film mode and ISO of choice), you get the equivalent of full manual control - only much faster.

Of course, there are still scenes that need you to choose every single setting to get them right. I find that these scenes are becoming fewer and fewer. And I see nothing wrong with that. I'm still in control, only with a different method.

Also, I've learnt a couple of things about digital cameras in general. (Still a newb, you know.) The LX3's sensor is lacking, and that's the main reason why the noise of ISO-800 and higher can hurt my eyes. But that was almost inevitable unless I went for a proper DSLR - which was out of the question due to size. There is, in fact, a small camera which offers manual control and a DSLR's sensor (and therefore image quality) : the Sigma DP1. Unfortunately, since it's still a compact camera, I would be saddled with a 28mm F4 lens, very unsatisfying in comparison with the F2.0 Leica here.

So, though I didn't have all the data at the time, I still believe I bought the best camera for my needs. I like shooting with wide open aperture. An impromptu statistical analysis of the pictures I've uploaded here shows that 5 out of 7 have less than F4. These are the pictures I like to shoot. And I'd gladly keep that, even in exchange for a reduced quality. :)

Spear

September 2009, Patissia, Athens

If I conduct myself
with precision and grace
do I stand half a chance
of leaving this place?

~ The Astronauts, "Latin and Greek"

Who goes where

September 2009, Patissia, Athens

It's a shame
We could have gone sailing

~ The Killers, "Tranquilize"

A million miles high

August 2009, Patissia, Athens

Exodus, escape
or was it just for me to see

~ Edgar Broughton Band, "Evening over rooftops"

The Omen II

August 2009, Plaka, Athens

In the shadowplay
acting out your own death
knowing no more

~ Joy Division, "Shadowplay"

The Omen I

August 2009, Plaka, Athens

To the centre of the city
where all roads meet
waiting for you

~ Joy Division, "Shadowplay"

Upstairs

August 2009, Patissia, Athens

Go on and wring my neck
like when a rag gets wet
A little discipline
for my pet genius

~ Faith No More, "Midlife Crisis"

The walls have eyes

August 2009, Exarcheia, Athens

Fray

August 2009, Exarcheia, Athens

It's into the shame and it's into the guilt
and it's into the fucking fray
and the walls ran red around me
a warm arterial spray

~ Nick Cave, "Papa won't leave you, Henry"

Fuck off, human

July 2008, Hydra

That stuff inside your houses
And that stuff behind your eyes
Well it all ends up as stuff that you can buy

~ Chumbawamba, "On eBay"

The great undead

July 2009, Patissia, Athens

Oh my darling
will you be here
before I sputter out

~ Eels, "Novocaine for the soul"

Sink

August 2009, Souda

"Oh quarter, oh quarter"
Those pirates they did cry
- Blow high, blow low, and so sail we -
But the quarter that we gave them
Was we sank 'em in the sea

~ Traditional, "High Barbary"

Star

August 2009, Loutraki

Hippo

August 2009, Chania

They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone
And the miller, he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones

~ Traditional, "John Barleycorn"

The Happening

August 2009, Chania

Photography can be awfully time-consuming. You can spend hours - nay, days! - stuck in a dark room or glued to your computer screen, struggling to bring out the best of your photograph. You can walk miles and miles just to get yourself in that advantageous position, or wait for hours until the clouds move or the people move or the light falls from that exact angle you were waiting for. (Or, as Ansel Adams put it, "a good photograph is knowing where to stand".) You can spend hours setting your tripod, external flash and spotlights around your scene.

But it is also entirely possible to produce a photograph which satisfies you completely by spending exactly 1/60th of a second: Click.

Photography is widely known to be the art of the ephemeral. It's one of its charms, after all. Here's another one:

Photography is art for lazy people

Can you imagine anyone, professional or amateur, producing a worthwhile piece in painting or sculpture without investing precious time and actually working on it? Nah. But can you imagine a breathtaking photograph coming out of an instant's worth of attention, a point-and-click procedure, a fortunate timing or sheer blind luck? Man, this happens all the freaking time! Spare me the "thirty years and five minutes" clichés. Photography is the only art form that allows lazy people to express themselves with as much variety, emotion and nuance as any art form can hope for.

Why? Because we shoot what we see, and we all see differently. We all frame differently. The very nature of photography allows anyone to push a button (YOU PUSHED! THE WRONG! BUTTON!) in their own unique way, and the rest (preparing to shoot, fiddling with more buttons, or image processing afterwards) are optional. Useful and vastly expanding the creative choices, but certainly not essential. The essence of photography is The Frame, freezing a part of space in time. And even lazy people can handle that.

Sometimes I think of photography as a game of fortune. Did I happen to be in the right place in the right time? Click. I didn't premeditate, I got lucky and took advantage of it. Did I happen to see a wonderful scene from where I was standing? Click. I didn't know where to stand, I got lucky. Did I happen to notice an odd shadow somewhere? Click. I don't walk around to get the perfect shot, I just enjoy finding the best angle and frame from where I happen to stand. Happen, happens, happened, happening. Sometimes photography just happens. And this brings a smile to my face whenever I think about it. Begone equipment-freaks and... hard-working people!

Photography. Just. Happens.

I was driving, doing nothing, on the shores of Great Salt Lake
When they put it on the air, I put it in the hammer lane
I soon forgot myself and I forgot about the brake
I forgot about all laws and I forgot about the rain

~ Pixies, "The Happening"

Virus

2009