This is an epithet usually reserved for Paris, but I’ve had a 15-year love affair with the light in Athens, which is scheduled to end on 13 August, when I leave (the affair, not the light that I’m sure will carry on quite well without me).
I thought it would be more interesting to process these images with a high contrast, mono approach. Call it bloody-mindedness, but I imagine you’re all immune to azure skies and golden orange sunsets. If you’re not, click here [photoblog.com], or anywhere in my blog, really. Besides, I didn’t want to make those of you experiencing a daily deluge (hello, Ted) feel jealous.
Nearly everything’s in boxes (including my camera equipment), but life goes on, and so does work, which means these are all reposts dug up from my laptop’s hard disk, while I carry on working, the king of the cardboard box kingdom.
The two images where colour makes a timid appearance are there because I found all that harsh, strong light rather unrelenting (a bit like the real thing here). Photoblog, unlike life, can be made to vary…
Forests around the city burned in August 2007 as exceptionally strong winds blew and exacerbated the situation that ultimately cost lives. This is the firestorm seen from my office window sweeping across the city.
Taken at dusk from Lykavittos (see post of same title). The bright blob to the right of the bell tower on the left is the Acropolis
There's almost a medieval feel to the proximity of the 1950s buildings in Athens. People who have seen York's Shambles will know what I mean.
It's usually too hot or dusty to see far across Athens. (Ancient Athenians claimed they could see the bronze roof of the temple at Sounio from the Acropolis 70 km away…) Once in a while, after the occasional shower, the sky is very, very clear.
The showcase view from the new Acropolis museum that opened last month
Putting an old photo to work
My soon-to-be-ex-neighbourhood is being gentrified. Sometimes the contrast can be quite interesting.
Athenian architecture doesn't enjoy a good rep - and deservedly so, but the mundane repetition of the same block construction serves a purpose; it's reasonably quake-proof and look what little gems are hidden here. I call this one “Jacob's Ladder”
#1 and 2 have a very good composition, like d depth in 5