Canon 5D MkII video – Egypt/ Lebanon by Khalid Mohtaseb

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!

Magnificent sand artist Kseniya Simonova makes a nation cry…

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.

A lonely photo, it was not! – Stories behind photos #9

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!

Can you imagine what a travel photo entails?

Symi, Greece - Yannis Larios Photography

I was recently reading a great article of Gavin Gough on Digital Photographer about Travel Photography. Gavin stroke a chord by saying that ….

“Ask many people to describe the life of a travelling photographer and the odds are that they will conjure up images of a dapper fellow dressed in khaki, sporting a Panama hat and stepping jauntily along a sun-kissed, tropical beach, occassionally lifting a Leica camera to the eye to snap another award winning frame before retiring to the bar for a Pina Colada. The truth, sadly, is somewhat different from this idyllic fantasy.

Travel photography is hard work [...] It demands a unique blend of stubborn determination and unflinching optimism“.

Now Gavin’s words were echoing in my ears everytime I ascended another hundred of steps with my 8kg photo backpack and 3kg tripod to search for the high-vista with a brilliant view of Symi island! Everytime that the 39 degrees Celsius, collided with a dead-end alley that permitted no view, and thus was a lost battle, I was remembering this “unflinching optimism“… There has to be something better. I have pre-visualised it! I shall not quit!

And even after you have sweated (literally!) all of the 500+ steep stairs high above, and even after you have walked and trekked, and researched and carried all this weight, and even more after you have found a rock’s corner that resembled the sweet-spot that you had imagined…  then probably it was already too late … because the light was not right!

But then comes this “stubborn determination“… It’s this strange urge that wakes you up at 6:00am next morning to push you again to ascend the same 500 stairs, to reach the same spot, but this time with the golden light that completes the picture that you already had in mind.

I dedicate the above photo, shot at 7:00am from a very high vista point of Symi island, to all fellow photographers (pros or enthusiasts) that wake up early or stay up late and alone in search of the perfect light. To all those friends that carry tens of kilos in cameras, lenses and tripods on their back, just for this liberating moment when your vision becomes a reality… 

It’s a testament that stubborness and optimism, may after all be the ingredients not just for a unique photo, but rather for meeting your vision and your inner self. See you at the next cliff!

Questions unasked and unanswered – Stories behind photos #8

There exist those weird moments in life when pictures of the past, flash upon you and brutally drag you to younger ages!

 

A split-hair second becomes a time-machine, triggered by a smell, a reminiscent glimpse, a familiar face of a stranger. A typically indifferent moment, instead of passing by to its road to oblivion, decides to stay and play with you, your memories or your long-forgotten thoughts.

 

Memories that lay hidden at the deepest corners of the brain, expose themselves and pose all sorts of difficult questions…  Not personally to you! But rather to the kid that you always hide: When did I last meet this now-lost friend? What were my last words to him? Did I know back then, at this typical afternoon “goodbye”, that I would never see him again? Where is the toy that I cherished as a child? When I last placed it in the toy-drawer tens of years ago, did I know it would be forever? Why am I not missing all these? What has changed?

 

Questions unasked and unanswered.

 

Relations and emotional links torn apart, not by a firm decision, a powerful choice or a necessity, but rather by the strongest element of nature: Time. The long and winding road to the bottom of oblivion… And then! This tinker second… This powerful glimpse… This intrusive force that brings your lost childish thought or deeply buried picture back to the surface!

 

I was literally spending my last minutes in Nafplio town, the former capital of Greece. We were to depart in less than an hour. It was probably the eighth visit to this picturesque place, but this time I had my camera with me.

 

Magnificent scenes shoved over to my face, mercilessly. Beauty unleashed without any need to seek it. Nafplio photos easily captured but void of any feeling of success that comes after working hard for them. Scouting the place, chasing the light and being the first to conquer a magic moment is probably the thrust behind any photo venture. But without them? A feeling of “I have been here too…”. It’s like searching for a secret passage, only to find that it exists but it’s now a touristic highway with signs pointing to it everywhere.

 

But life when mixed with the ingredients of time and place, play games. And at the last corner, possibly at my last steps at the alleys of Nafplio, I was greeted with that tinker second, this time-machine of mine that brought me back almost 30 years…

 

A thought that re-surfaced. My bicycle that I had as a kid, standing against a wall. Or should I say still waiting for me… When did I last ride it? When did I last greet it? What roads did I last cross with it! Was I playing the good or the bad guy?

 

Questions unasked and unanswered.

 

Only this bike, serving to remind me what I had long forgotten.

And then these steps ahead, moving upwards. As if I had left my bicycle here in oblivion, to ascend life, exiting the childhood picture at the first alley. A place now empty cause I had to grow up. I had to grow up. And I had to change scene. Not that I decided it… But you see, it’s always this vicious element: Time.

 

This otherwise “indifferent” second in time, decided to play with me, bringing past moments and thinking that it would bury again to the deep sea of subconscious.

 

But I had my camera with me! And since it wanted to play with me, I wanted too! It was my spontaneous decision to hold this memory alive. A shameless decision to keep all these unasked questions at the foreground. Even if I could still not answer them!

 

I composed the scene to include the bicycle and the stairs ahead. I shot two photos of my childhood that later de-colored during photo-processing. I do remember capturing this place. I am not sure about the time though. Was it afternoon? What was the day? And the year?

 

One thing was sure… I had embarked on an unbalanced fight. I was challenged by this playful “second in time” and, on my part, I was determined to not let it go.

 

Can I please keep my bike or my youth reminiscence, vivid? I am not sure!

 

Despite my best efforts, it’s always this vicious element that’s going to tell: Time…

Photo backup! Save your precious memories…

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!

The World’s Most Famous Photoshop Fakes

“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.

Meteora-When only Photography captures the true feeling: Stories behind photos #7

(download and watch a full-screen high resolution version of my Meteora photo slideshow at my website here)

Meteora is a unique phenomenon in the world…   Unless you have visited it, you cannot imagine the awe and the contradicting feelings evoked by just being there. Contradicting because for one it’s the huge rocks and cavities that have been shaped in peculiar forms through thousands of years. A true feeling of smallness, in front of these titanic elements of nature. But also contradicting, because on-top of these rocks religious men built inaccessible monasteries. A strange feeling of greatness for mankind that conquers any peak. Such are the antithetical feelings evoked by this place, which is sculptured equally by the fierceness of time and the power of faith.

Nevertheless, access to this place is easier nowadays. Roads have been built and buses of tourists have access to almost any monastery. Traditional ropes and carts that helped you literally climb the rocks, gave way to stairs. Still numerous to ascend, but manageable. These days, faith is not the sole passport to this mysterious place.

This has brought inevitable change. Any attempt to re-live the inspiring experience of the landscape may be interrupted every now and then by the cheers of tourists. Any spiritual encounter that you may experience inside any monastery, might be broken by the next visitor laughing aloud at his mobile phone.

So is there a way to actually isolate the true feeling that the place inspires? Is there still any atmosphere emitted from the secret-corners of the monasteries, experienced only by the few that wish to seek them?

They say that photography struggles to depict a three-dimensional world at the two-dimensions of paper (or the screen nowadays) and it mostly fails. But I say that the viewfinder of my camera, has proven the only means that helped isolate the greatness of the place. Because I could depict on the same frame, the vastness of the land and the height of the rocks, and at the same time the smallness of man’s works, undisturbed. For it was my shutter that could imprison the play between elements of nature, the clouds and the winds, with the unique beauty of the monasteries. And it was my open-apertures that let me penetrate inside the true character of the monasteries, highlighting unique corners and the play of light without any need to hurry or to explain nothing to anyone. It was my camera that let me photograph not “what” I saw, but “how” I saw. The four corners of my photos, instead of limiting my possibilities actually proliferated my view. I had to focus. And thus, I was now seeing more…

The brief Meteora photo slideshow above, is my attempt to convey the experience of Meteora as I lived it. However, I kindly invite you to re-live the experience by downloading the higher resolution version from my website here…

Watch it with the sound set to on. And let photography convey the true feelings evoked from this place. For you will have never seen Meteora this way, even in real life, unless there was the need to focus meticulously and recompose reality…

“Faith” – Stories behind photos #6

 This Clarisses photo was shot at chapel in Ano Syros (Syros island, Greece) in summer 2008.

I found a small chapel and entered. No people were inside. There were just two nuns, hidden behind a wooden barrier and unseen. Two nuns, one playing the organ and one singing a chant with a glorious voice, praying alone inside. 

You could not see them but they were there, singing gloriously.

They had no audience, but they put their best for their faith. I stayed there for about 20 mins in awe, waiting to see any of them behind the barrier.

I kept waiting for a glimpse that could really depict the glory of the chant and of the moment. At the right moment I managed to capture this glimpse of their devotion.

Hope you like its symbolism…

PS: Ines, a “digital” friend was kind enough to e-mail me some further details on Clarisses. 

Ines wrote: “these nuns are called “Clarisses” (in UK “Poor Clare”) and as you can understand they are what we say in greek “eglistes kalogries”. They don’t go out and they make a great work for the poors. That’s what I know about them, (as I have roots from Syros) and I have also been told from relatives that they are very kind and their voice is something else!”

Indeed Ines, their voice was something else! Thank you!

“Can photography change the world?” Hosted in Digital Photographer magazine..

 UK’s fastest growing photo magazine “Digital Photographer” (issue 75), raised the issue “Can Photography change the world?“.

 

I was honoured to have my views hosted at the specific magazine issue, on the historic role of Photography.

 

As I was explaining….

 

 

 

 

“I could write thousands of words for the significant role of photography in shaping the history of mankind… but then I think I cannot! 

It’s a medium of only 160-170 years in age yet it has achieved what no other means has achieved for thousands of years: 
- to inform but also to manipulate, 
- to educate but also to support political propaganda, 
- to record the “cheesy smiles” at people’s gatherings throughout time but also to record the true struggles of life at the streets, 
- to record reality but also to “fake” events. 

It’s all that and even more. Of course one could argue that every other medium which could capture a picture could do that, be it photography, cinematography or even a painting… 

But there are actually two things which truly make photography a unique medium changing the world….. 

The first is the power of the millisecond. 

The ignored and unimportant millisecond which goes unnoticed and is squeezed relentlessly in everyday life, suddenly exposes its power through photography. This “unimportant millisecond” gets in all of a sudden a meaning of its own, and proves that so many marvelous things are happening during this tiny slice of time.

A glimpse between two people, a move, an interaction between strangers, a gesture, things which go unnoticed but are part of our lives, things which never become the center of our interest are put in full exposure…. 

Thanks to photography, we suddenly understand there is probably an added dimension, squeezed and lost between the hectic struggle of everyday life. And what happens in this dimension could probably influence attitudes, people and history more than other things… 

That’s why Dorothea Langue said: 

“This benefit of seeing… 
can come only if you pause a while, 
extricate yourself from the maddening mob of quick impressions, 
ceaselessly battering our lives, 
and look thoughtfully at a quiet image… 
The viewer (photographer) must be willing to pause, 
to look again, to meditate…” 

The second and equally important thing, which truly makes photography a medium shaping the world, is its unique ability to depict the true soul of people. 

I wonder which other medium, other than photography, could capture this flick of time with the anxiety of the mother in a bombardment running for cover with her daughter, like this classic photo of Robert Capa: 

…or this soul-capturing photo of Dorothea Langue: 

These two unique characteristics of photography, have undoubtably made photography one of the most peculiar yet most powerful forces of change, since the mid 1800’s… “

What do you think?