“I’ve been photographing people visiting the island for 44 years. Back in the old days no more than 10 tourists per day came from Rhodes to Symi. The last couple of years, however, thousands of them come to visit. They stay for an hour and they leave again by boat. I hurry up to have them photographed as soon as they reach the harbour and instantly print the photos. I place the photos on benches for them to see as they leave and buy them as souvenirs. I also get some help from my son Michalis, who is a photography school graduate. Since he was 8, he has been hanging pictures on tenters with me”.

Slave during the summer

Sotiris Alexopoulos, from Symi, is a traditional photographer but of a high level. When George Bush senior visited the island and saw the stone house that was built inside the rock, he was amazed and stood with him for some time.

“The traditional building where the store is housed cost me a fortune. If I had rented it out, I would make more money. We have lots of expenses and we do everything on our own as if we were slaves. Every 15 days the machinery needs service. If it goes out, we’re doomed. Last year, a technician needed to come and fix it three times. He worked for 100 euros per hour and we paid for his hotel and travel expenses. Symi is not like Rhodes, which has 200 photo shops, each one printing thousands of photos per day”.

Sotiris has worked with old historical camera models. He uses them expertly. The same goes for the lenses. He loves the normal lens the most, because it “sees” like the human eye and does not distort the image. He also has a motor-drive which automatically loads the camera and prevents his hand from getting tired, but he is not really keen on it.

Closed for the winter

When autumn comes, work is nowhere to be found, and during the winter the shop remains closed. Instead of photographing 2,000 persons a day, he only takes shots of “halata” (demolished houses) and a few photographs for ID cards. Every October he goes with his son to the mountain to burn the photos that were never bought. They stand next to the fire until everything turns into ashes.

They do not want to keep photos of people, as somebody might use them for a bad purpose. Up there on the distant rock of the Aegean Sea with the exquisite houses, there are still people serve photography honestly. They have nothing in common with paparazzi, who invade houses without permission and stick their cameras on people’s faces.
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

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A photo shop carved on the stone.

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