100 things: 100 photos - photo 4

I have fallen hopelessly behind on my 100 things. I have fallen hopelessly behind on many things. My to-do list is only getting bigger and bigger, and no matter how much I try I don't seem to be making even a small dent in it. I really don't know what is wrong with me, except for the fact I need a holiday. I have booked a flight to go to Greece in the middle of september for a bit of a rest, and hopefully some sea and sun. Until then my 100 photos will be a countdown of summery images of Greece. This photo wasn't actually taken in the summer, but the spring. But it makes no difference. It is the view from the beach under my greek grandmother's summer house in Dilesi. Dilesi is a village opposite Evia, which means the sea is closed in and there are no distant horizons. Where ever you look there is land near by. My grandmother got swindled and was persuaded that buying a plot of land in Dilesi to build a summer house would be a good idea. As a result we have ended up with a summer house that is slowly slipping down the cliff in a very boring part of Greece next to one of the worst seas in Greece. The house itself is nice and fits a lot of people. When I was young we would often go for weekends. More often that not together with a bunch of relatives and family friends. So I have a lot of memories from this place. The house in the photo isn't my grandmother's house, I am standing on the beach under her house looking to one side.

100 things: 100 photos - photo 3

I am really behind on my 100 things. I have got to step it up, or I will never finish! I am thinking that since it's summer and I am stuck in this miserably wet english weather they call summer here, I will just inundate you with photos from better climes and better times. So be prepared for lots of summer vacation holiday photos! Every summer I always used to spent at least a week on an island or somewhere by the sea in Greece. When I was a kid with my parents, and since I turned 16 with friends. Sometimes it was just a week, other summers I went for as long as a month. Prices used to be cheap, both boat fares - especially if you had a student card - and rented rooms. Then when prices went up, I started going camping. Sometimes organised camping and sometimes free camping. This will possibly be my first year of not going anywhere. Even last year, I pitched a tent in a forest on a small island for a week before coming to the UK. So yeah, summer with no sun and no sea is not really summer for me. This is a photo from August 2010, taken on the seafront promenade of the village of Panormos in Tinos. It is such a typically greek summer vista. It is evening, as you can see from the long shadows under the chairs. After a long day of sightseeing - we had rented a car to see the island - and swimming, we finally sat down on a seafront taverna to eat. I took this photo while sitting down at our table. The sky is typically cloudless and the sea dark blue. What you can see of the island is barren and arid, as the Cycladic islands are. And of course boats... Okay, now I'm getting maudlin and home-sick.

100 things: 100 photos - photo 2

Today I chose something simpler and easier. A digital photo I took in 2008. I have long had quite an obsession with reflections. I love photographing reflections in mirrors, windows and puddles. I actually have a whole series of self-portraits taken in reflections. The more broken up and complex the more I like them. This particular photo was taken in one of the side streets in Monastiraki flea-market, one of the more colourful and interesting places in Athens. I always liked visiting Monastiraki, Thuseio and the environs for the shops, the atmosphere, the food, the antiques and the photographic opportunities. And the three years I lived in central Athens it was ridiculously easy for me to get there. On one side it's me - with my old discrete wire-framed glasses and before I cut a fringe - and on the other side there's my sister and two of my best friends. In the middle is a photo of the old king. I am rather proud of this picture, I think in captures the moment and the location quite well. I even submitted it (together with two others) in a photographic competition of city photography in Athens. I got shortlisted and my photos were exhibited, but of course I wasn't one of the finalists. >

100 things: 100 photos - photo 1

I am going to be contrary and start off as I DON'T plan to continue. I mainly photograph cityscapes, landscapes and buildings. On occasion I try my hand at portraits, but I'm not really a portrait photographer. Also I am going to mainly post digital photos, and thus relatively recent ones. I used to be an ardent black white analogue photographer and I have a huge backlog of traditional photographs. Unfortunately I have hardly scanned any of them. The following photo is one of a huge series I took of my friend Dimitris in his home in Athens. It is rare that I find a model as obliging or as photogenic as Dimitris. His only demand was that I also take a couple of semi-nude photos as well for him to use on gaydar. (Yeah, as if you can score guys using arty b&w photographs! He quickly replaced them.) I used my father's Leica M6, which is an absolutely gorgeous camera. I used it for many many years and loved it to bits. If I remember correctly I had the 50mm lens on, which was my absolutely favourite lens. I will never enjoy photography again as much as I did with the Leica and b&w film... I even developed and printed my own photographs for a couple of years...

#100 things: 100 photos - prologue

{Take the 100 Things challenge!} Yes, that means exactly what you think it does. I am jumping on the bandwagon and will be posting my own 100 things. Since you all know how sporadic and un-scheduled my posting is, as you can imagine it will take quite a while. But I have chosen a subject that I will definitely not run out of before I reach 100, so hopefully I will finish this long challenge. Enough about that. My subject is 100 photos I have taken, and the story behind them . It's not a very exciting and original subject - I'm not a very exciting and original person. But, hopefully, it should prove interesting enough for you lot - not to mention voyeuristic enough, you kinky buggers. I'm off to look through my giant photo archive and start choosing my 100. If I'm good I might even make my first post tomorrow!