Greece - Week 1, bigger and better …

September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment

Just set up a separate single web page with my choice pics for my first week in Greece … they are larger and easier to see than on this 640 pixel constrained blog. Still way too many for a good edit but my favorites nonetheless, at least today.

http://www.hydeimages.com/greece1/

yassus, tom :))))

Greece - Day 9 - Back at the Syros Cafe

September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments

These guys play mean backgammon. I thought I was halfway decent at it but I can even keep up watching!

Greece - Day 8 - Walking the Street

September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments

I’ve been doing a LOT of walking … here are a few from the streets of Syros, about a 20 minute span with these photos as the sun fell behind the mountain … i love Syros :)))

… And BTW, these daily posts are like a raw daily edit, it’s really not a good idea to post frames the same day they are made. What looks good now could be a bit embarrassing later but here’s to the raw feed! :)))

yassus, tom

Greece - Day 8 - Of cats and birds …

September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Everywhere there are cats … every alley, every street, every cafe, every hour …

Of cats and birds
And things half seen
Through twilight lens
Of waking dreams

Greece - Day 8 - Back for Backgammon

September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment

Back at the cafe this morning … i love Syros :))

The Color of Peace

September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

I cannot describe the light,
so subtle and soft,
a glowing from all things.
We greet each other with whispers in the hush.
Bold bravado lost in the afterglow.

Infinite Possibilities …

September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

There are two basic choices in photography, where to stand and when to trip the shutter, or so related David Hurn in “On Being a Photographer.” From just two choices, an infinite number of possibilities are created.

Unfortunately I was struggling with both this morning. I ended up back at the cafe with the regulars for coffee and the special watching spirited games of backgammon … they were welcoming but I was uptight, feeling out of sorts, nothing working, floundering in a sea of infinite possibilities. I was working hard but not working hard, as David Alan Harvey (www.davidalanharvey.com) likes to say, trying to stay loose (an issue at times) and controlled at the same time but just not finding the balance. If the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph is measured in millimeters, I couldn’t even find the meters this morning. I even converted these pics to black and white to try to convince myself they are better than they are.

So I put away my camera, ate, drank, hung out, said yassus to my friends and headed back to my room with roundabout uhill climb and a quick stop at the cemetery. Good day to do laundry, read and sleep. I slept the entire afternoon rising in time for the color of peace.

But first, this morning …

I mean, I think I was even trying to smile, look like crap … not happy with way the morning was going. Why do I torture myself ;-) I have no choice, I must make pictures.

Like I said, a good day for laundry. Good travel tip … shower with your clothes, courtesy of David Alan Harvey. It works :))

Greece - Day 6 - The Boatyard

September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, greece | Leave a Comment

Next to the big shipyard on Syros in Ermopoulis is a colorful little boatyard …

the space between …

Greece - Day 6 - A day with the living and the dead

September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Cyclades, Syros, Uncategorized, greece | Leave a Comment

Met my favorite priest today. Actually we’ve met briefly twice before but this time we talked. He is the Greek Orthodox priest with the church on the hill above Ermopoulis. Yesterday though, he had duty with the dead at the only Greek Orthodox cemetery on Syros. But he’s not at all morose, particularly serious or at all what you would expect, he’s more of a comedian and very helpful. “Yes, yes, it is my turn to sit this week here with the dead. I much prefer the living,” he says with a big smile. “It is much better down here than it is up there,” his finger pointing to heaven. “But what are you going to do?”

You can find him at the only Greek Orthodox cemetery of Syros during the day. Here’s there all week.

Greece - Day 5 - Iconic Nights

September 24, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Ermopoulis, the city on Syros, has an incredible marble town square sitting in front of an equally impressive neoclassical town hall. I mention marble like it is something unique but of course this is the Cyclades and everything is marble, many of the streets and all the winding, narrow ancient lanes that twist around like snakes entwined. It truly is amazing.

Last night I went to the town square to sit, and wait, observe and ponder … and take a few pictures. I got impatient, I wanted something remarkable to happen … a simply wonderful juxtaposition of elements, a perfect moment, would suffice. Patience, patience I kept telling myself … slow down, be here now …. so I sat pondering what it means to be Greek, the symbols that are uniquely Greek and the icons. Then I heard the band which flowed onto the square, a group of priests and navy men in tow carrying an icon, townspeople, politicians, generals following. Everything in the square surged forward to this religious and cultural rite.

The band leads the procession …