A photo of Oia, Santorini at dusk.
Oia’s sunsets are nowadays a tourist attraction, gathering thousands of tourists every evening. I ascended a high-vista point where I could have a good view, early in advance and before the sun set.
Thousands of tourists were around me. All with their cameras, P&S, DSLRs, long “L” lenses…. whatever, you name it!…. They were shooting ferociously at the sunset…. Bursts of photos, thousands of merciless clicks towards the sun…
No point! The high contrast was killing their scene.
I could see them…. Instead of enjoying the moment, they were absorbed by their camera LCDs, mumbling dissappointed, and saying things about the “damn camera” that could not capture the sunset.
When the sun set, they all left… like they where vaporised! I was left there alone, with another enthusiast photographer. A total stranger to me….
Both of us with our humble amateur-ish cameras. Mine a Canon 350D. Himself with a Nikon D40. Both of us on tripods. Both of us with our ND grad filters. And watching there…Alone! In silence…
The moment was delightful! We didn’t speak to each other… But we looked in understanding, just shaking our heads…. “how foolish are they! To travel so many thousand kilometers to come here, to pick the vista point, and to leave like flocks at the most precious moment?“
Two shots was all I needed. Alone. In silence…
Thank you Photography, for letting me chase the moment.
