Words are poor to convey the atmosphere of Symi island.
Symi photos do a better job!
Yet, I think that the Symi photo slideshow (with relaxing music) does it justice! I have uploaded it to youtube for easier viewing.
Hope you enjoy!
Words are poor to convey the atmosphere of Symi island.
Symi photos do a better job!
Yet, I think that the Symi photo slideshow (with relaxing music) does it justice! I have uploaded it to youtube for easier viewing.
Hope you enjoy!
Posted in photography | 2 Comments »
During the summer of 2009, I visited Symi island (Greece). Symi (or Simi as is often spelt) belongs to the Dodecanese islands complex and is famous for its architectural beauty, its traditions and its majestic viewpoints.
As a Symi visitor I had read many things and had seen quite a few Symi photos of the place. And then I thought I was ready to confront its beauty! Or at least, I thought so!!!
The truth is that when I entered the Symi harbor, I stood in awe! Any Symi view is magnificent and to make a difference as a photographer, you have to treat every corner with utmost care!
I elected to search (and find!) new views and high vistas, to depict the island’s beauty.
Watch for yourself! Find the result at my Symi photos, now enriching my portfolio.
To feel the atmosphere of Simi, you are also invited to download and watch the relaxing Symi photo slideshow.
Liked it? Any critique? Post me your critique at the photo guestbook!
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I am always fascinated by pieces of art, be it photographic or cinematic.
But this time, our real-world reality is “touched” by the awesome work in computer-generated animation.
Like you, I have watched quite a few films with stunning graphics and 3D models that seemed realistic.
However, the magnificent work of Alex Roman has me standing in awe!
His work seen in the above clip is one of the most artful examples of how computer-generated animation, can indeed create pieces of art that combine architecture and photography together.
At first I thought it was just a beautiful film! But then, I saw the “behind-the-scenes” version which showed how it was created… Just awesome! Kudos to Alex Roman and his great work!
Just make sure that you enjoy it in full screen with the sound set to on!
Posted in photography | 6 Comments »
Since the day of its launch, I have set my eyes upon the new Canon 5D MkII camera… Apart from its excellent quality of photos, Canon 5D MkII was the first to introduce real High-Definition video capturing. Well, to be true I am a passionate photographer but not fond of video capturing…
But then what do i know?!!
My mind changed when I saw the work of Khalid Mohtaseb, who made an excellent montage of scenes from Egypt and Lebanon. Khalid captured Cairo and Beirut, using Canon 5D’s excellent capabilities, but his “film” has so much power emitting from people’s faces, that reminds me how life very frequently makes pictures by itself. It doesn’t matter whether it is photography or video. It’s life that interests me after all…
Watch it! You will be amazed! Congrats Khalid!
Posted in photography | Tagged Beirut, Cairo, Canon, Canon 5D MkII, Egypt, Lebanon, video | 7 Comments »
Today, I want to share with you what I think is a really amazing talent of our times… I just have no words to describe…
24-year-old sand artist Kseniya Simonova was the winner of the Ukraine TV Show “Ukraine, you have talent”… But she is NOT an ordinary winner…
Her sand artwork made the whole Ukranian nation cry and brought chills to millions of Internet viewers worldwide….
See for youself here in the video above!
In this magnificent piece of sand art she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. Ukraine suffered more than 20% of its population in war losses in WW-II.
She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman’s face as war planes dominate the skies; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a baby brings again joy but war brings again destructions and sorrow. A weeping widow morphs into the obelisk for the Ukrainian unknown soldier.
Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes – with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going.
She moves the judges and the whole Ukranian nation to tears as she subtitles the final scene “YOU ARE ALWAYS NEAR“.
I, personally, just have no words….
Just an infinite admiration for her work.
Please see for yourself. You will be touched.
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Judging from the final result of this photo shot at picturesque Burano (Venice), you would imagine that all the time of the world was at my disposal to make this picture of utmost calmness. It is almost obvious that the absence of any distractions whatsoever, was reflected at my eyesight and then to the quiet moment that I chose to capture. I could have leisurely taken my spot, delving concentrated into another moment of loneliness that contributes to deep thoughts, and then to photos.
But -as known- reality is harsh, for this photo was the result of an anxious search for the best point in the island, including some instances of fast-paced run I shall admit! You see the boat that brought me to Burano, had intermediate stops that I did not plan! I was there barely on time to set up tripod. And then I had company! And I mean quite a large company bugging me from my self-inflicted mission!
A bunch of little Italian boys and girls, kids in their early school years, were playing along the canals of this magnificent fishermen island, a few meters away… Kids’ curiosity is of course notorious! Spotting me with my bulky bag and tripod while selecting my spot on top of their wooden bridge, probably triggered some of their most sociable neurons. They all run to my place on the bridge, some 10 or 15 of them! It seems I was becoming part of a game that they played with tourists!
“Sei Italiano?”… they asked!
Their sincere eyes and the tone of their questions probably triggered my own childish neurons (if any left!) deep in my own mind. I had decided to play their game! My role, I supposed, was to let them find by themselves where I was coming from. “No, i miei amici!” I responded in bad Italian, taking turns in their game! And then there was this bees-like assembly, with various nationality-words being thrown on air, in Italian. Every now and then, another question arose as if a decision was made: “Spagnolo?”, “Francese?”. My negative responses where becoming even more anxious…. but not due to the fact the “Greco” was not an obvious choice for my little neighbors… I was eager to participate, yet I was losing the click for the light that I planned, with tens of kids around me asking words!
I juggled between answers and camera settings, letting half my brain respond to the game and the other half making aperture adjustments. Two clicks were my only harvest from this beautiful point while praying to have made the right camera choices through this game! Yet, my little friends kept asking and asking with increased speed, as light was taking its final dip behind the colourful fishermen houses. “Greco” I said, and suddenly the game was over!…..
One of them, a little boy that had probably guessed right, was the winner! He raised his hand in celebration of his victory, even though he was never heard aloud! They acknowledged the result and all together, the fifteen of them, started to run in great speed to the place they had come from, the victorious one in front with the hand still up reminding his victory at this great game!
It was my turn to pack my equipment and continue my stroll, following the other direction of the bridge. I heard a very loud “Grazie” from the last kid of this swarm, while he turned to me to thank for enlivening their game. “Grazie”, I responded and continued my walk.
Too pity that I was not sure whether I could also raise my own hand to celebrate a great picture. I was distracted, yet I enjoyed, and my sole two photos from the wooden bridge could not be judged until later, while at the hotel.
Meanwhile, a bit farther away another couple was approaching the bridge. The little voices were heard…
“Sei Italiano?!”…
A lonely photo, it was not!
Posted in Yannis Larios photos, photography | Tagged Burano, Burano photos, Italy, Italy photos, travel, Veneto, Venice, Venice photos, Yannis Larios photography | 5 Comments »
It’s amazing how many photos are being shot these days, thanks to the digital age! It is also amazing that few of them will ever find the way to a print and thus will remain in the hard disks or the social networking sites that we use, like Facebook.
However, I would like to predict that in the years to come we will be experiencing the first painful losses of photos, due to the lack of proper backup and storage practices…
Most people give attention to their photos up until they see them on screen! However, few of them take proper measures to store them or back them up to prevent loss.
Well, I had made my own backup plan but then I found in one of my favorite blogs, Epic Edit Weblog, a complete guide to photo backups written by Brian Auer.
The guide is offered for free, both as a series of articles and also as a free e-book that you can download as pdf (2.5MB).
It covers things like… What it is a photo backup and how much it will cost you, how disaster strikes, what are your options and how you should approach your backup strategy… all in very simple terms!
I would strongly suggest that you read this excellent guide, and that you seriously consider that memories are not saved just by clicking the camera shutter, but also by making sure that you preserve your digital content for ever! The first might be the camera’s duty… The second however, is your duty!
Posted in Yannis Larios photos, photography | Tagged backup, photography, photos | Leave a Comment »

“Does anyone still believe that the camera never lies? With Photoshop, you can now never be sure. You need a skilled eye to tell whether any of the photos here is true.
While that might be a creative opportunity for artistic photographers and designers, for news editors, it can all be a bit of a nightmare — and for readers too when the photos skip the newspapers and land straight in your mailbox…”
One of my favorite blogs, Photopreneur, has a nice post on the world’s most famous photoshop fakes.
Posted in photography, photos | Tagged photoshop | Leave a Comment »