Tag: Photography

During one of our visits to the Kitros salt pit in Pieria, a pintail (type of duck) was flying over our heads, ceaselessly quacking. At times, it flew so close to us that it hit the top of our heads with its beak. We then realized we had accidentally come close to its nest and its ducklings and was trying to drive us away. We felt like rude intruders and sheered away.

If someone goes to Lycabettus right after the sunset, he'll be surprised by the pictures he will see. As darkness spreads the impersonal buildings of Athens disappear and the eye goes up to the sky which is set on fire by the colours. The only human creation one can see there is the silhouette of Acropolis.

Many Greeks of the diaspora who passionately love Greece visit www.greecewithin.com. One of them is Dimitris Rellos, who was born in Kleitoria, Kalavryta, and migrated to New York 43 years ago. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science and became a manager in large U.S. companies, as well as owner of his own software development consulting firm. Every year, he visits his home village and reunites with family and childhood friends. We recently communicated and learned that he is a master of expressive photography and maintains the notable website www.DimitriRellos.com. We asked him to send us a series of photos he shot during his travels in Greece and to accompany each photo with a caption that describes his emotional response to the visual stimulus of each subject captured. The results are striking and affecting.

When you knock on someone's door in Crete a smiling face comes into sight saying: "Welcome, have some raki". Offering raki is like an invitation to a more intimate approach and communication among people. Especially people who take part to the production “ritual” of the drink reach high levels of comradeship.

“I woke up one morning and found a small camera next to my pillow, a gift from my uncle who was a photographer. I immediately went out and took photos of the neighbourhood. I remembered that film is light-sensitive, so I entered a closet and unfolded it, thinking that this way I will get to see the pictures. But I wasn’t able to see in the dark so I opened the closet's door a little, but still I couldn’t make them out. Completely disappointed, I headed to the neighbourhood photographer, in Heraklion of Crete. I showed him the unfolded film but instead of photos he 'treated' me to a rude gesture. He teased me relentlessly for years, even more so when I became a known photographer”.

“I began taking pictures of the island in 1987. Back then I was living in Athens and I wanted to prove to everyone I knew that Lemnos is a very beautiful island and that it was unfairly described as a barren land inhabited only by soldiers”.

“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”.