A T H E N S
The first short travel in 2019 led me to Athens. The origin of democracy is well-known for its antique sights such as the Acropolis, the Stoa of Attalos and the Parthenon. In contrast, contemporary buildings such as the Acropolis Museum and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center show the modern side of Greece’s capital. Both – the past and the now – play an essential role to Athens identity. I realized this very fact after visiting the historic Panathenaic Stadium as well as millennial Athens Olympic Sports Complex for my Athens Photography trip. Get ready for a quite the ride through Athens.
#MartExploresAthens
| Impressions |
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| Shooting in Athens |
I define my photography style as Creative Minimal Architecture, which naturally does not easily line up with shooting historic sights. However, I challenged myself to find perspective twists and opportunities for minimal pictures throughout the city. Moreover, I traveled together with a good friend of mine who also works as a teacher. Jan (IG: @jan.is.not.at.home) and I decided to get away of all the carnival chaos in my home town Cologne. Instead, we spent a long sunny weekend in Athens. Traveling together makes exploring so much more fun, especially since we combined touristy sightseeing with exploring non-touristy places. Also, Jan made quite the great model for my #MinimalPeople shots. As a bonus, he wasn’t shy enough to do all the silly things I asked him to. Check out the Featured Photograph section. Thanks for that Jan!
Shooting in Athens means that a lot of the buildings and backgrounds are in some way or another white, grey or yellowish. Since half of my Instagram feed uses heavy white and grey tones, this would blend in naturally. Thus, I decided to focus one part of my Athens photography trip on either iconic buildings or simple monotone bright backgrounds with the added subject of a passing stranger.
The image above was shot in a back area of a car park of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. The bright grey concrete walls stand out from the dark black street and roof. After trying out a few different perspectives there I realized that a lot of sporty people were passing by. Some of them were riding bikes and skateboards or running. Therefore, it took only a couple of minutes to get the composition for the picture right and another few minutes until I took this shot. I cropped out the left side of the street to add a bit of depth to it. Who thought a car park could look like a sports complex?
It has become quite one of my dominant features of my feed to play around with perspectives. I flip images 90 degrees, 180 degrees or rotate them to create diagonal lines. The twist usually comes from the human element in the picture. On first glance you will just see me standing and leaning against a wall. On second glance you then notice that something quite doesn’t add up. You start to wonder what’s wrong with the image until you find a specific element in the picture which looks familiar.
In the photograph above you might find the fence stand out first. If you look closer you will even find several cars. People usually comment that they tilt either their phones or heads to figure out the perspective twist until they realize how the shot was actually taken. No, I am not leaning against a wall, I am actually laying flat on the ground with my left foot touching a wall. So, did you rotate your phone or your head now or maybe both?
One quite memorable moment of my Athens Photography trip was exploring the Olympic Sports Complex. Summer Games were held there in 2004 and it has since been become sort of abandoned. A couple of people use the outdoor area to ride bikes, go inline-skating or running. However, several indoor halls are closed and unused and a huge swimming pool is empty and the spectator seats just rust away.
The image above was shot at the entrance of the Olympic Sports Complex. It is characterized by a number of high-reaching arcs which are connected with each other by smaller poles. To emphasize the scale of the arcs, I decided to wait a while until I was the only human element in the frame. In addition, by rotating the image by 180 degrees and posing like I am being drawn to the bottom, I added another level of depth to the image – gravity.
| Featured Photograph |
I usually take the photograph which received the highest engagement on Instagram as my featured photograph for the Athens Photography travel post here. However, this time I decided to use my personal favorite since I just love how silly it is. Inspired by a picture of Instagrammer @ma_faba I decided to create an adaption of it. The parallel sunlight and human element make great leading lines to draw attention to the focus point. The subtle monochrome colors in the background give the image a minimal feel.
If you compare the Before and After edit of the image below, you will notice only minor edits. I cleaned up some of the dirty areas of the ground and walls to enhance the minimal touch. In the end though, I love this photograph because of its silliness. Who does ask his friend to lean against a wall with his head? I do. I want to take this moment to say my deepest sorry to all my friends who I ask to do silly things for me. As my very own way to thank you, I have created the Hashtag #TheSillySeries – Let’s be silly together.
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Special Thanks to my friend Jan who joined me on my trip to Athens.
