"I traveled to Greece last May with three other photographers and
all of our film was subjected to no less than 7 rounds of x-rays from
Detroit to Amsterdam to Athens to Santorini and back.
--Robert A. Zeichner
I went to Greece in December through Frankfurt. I took my Kodak
Master 8x10 and a buttload of film.
--Tony Karnezis"
So, how was the experience of spending time photographing in Greece?
You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn
I went for the month of December with my good friend Cara who is also a photographer. Before I get into the photography, let me just say that we had a problem at customs since neither of us had any documents for all our equipment. They were worried that we were going to sell our equipment and not let the government take their fair share. Because we arrived at 11pm, they wanted to hold our luggage overnight until certain officials returned to the Customs office in the morning. Luckily my Uncle is an attorney and brought the necessary forms and collateral. I've never had this happen before, and I still don't know what forms we should have brought from the US, but just make sure that you're prepared for this sort of event.
As for the photography, it was wonderful. For those interested in going to Greece, the summer is very hot, dry, and the peak tourist season (ie. more expensive and very crowded). Spring and fall are ideal in that the weather is not as hot and it's not as crowded. The winter rainy season can get in the way of a lot of shooting, but we were fortunate in that it started a couple days before we left.
We keep a car in Greece, so we loaded up on gear. I brought the 8x10, Ries tripod, 8 film holders, and a couple lenses, together with my Canon DSLR kit. Cara brought her Pentax 645 and a Voigtlander rangefinder. We spent most of our time driving around the Peloponnese, where most of my family lives, visiting small villages and coastal towns. If you're going to photograph major tourist sites or any archaeological sites, you need a permit to bring a tripod on the premises. And with the concern for terrorism (with the Summer Olympics), the officials at the tourist sites are very wary of "unusual behavior." This means taking photos of nontraditional subjects, as in most of my subjects. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm Greek, we would have been asked to leave from a several places because they didn't understand why I wanted to photograph certain things. Just a word of caution.
As for the villagers, I guess the Golden Rule goes a long way. People are generally happy that someone would fly half way around the world to photograph a place that many Greeks don't pay attention to. However, the combination of a view camera and my choice of nontraditional subjects (closeups of crumbling houses, etc.) often attracted attention ranging from intense curiosity to outright distrust. Call it a general phobia of the unknown, I guess. The old timers were generally much better about it, nostalgic about view cameras since that's what all their class photos were taken with way back when.
I've bored enough of my friends with the trip, so I won't go into detail. Please ask me any specifics, and I can comment on them. I know people's styles vary, but I've always been one to see fewer places more thoroughly. I guess that's easy for me to do since I know I'll be back. But take the time to get to know the people too and I think your photography and the entire trip in general will be so much more gratifying. Cara and I both shot much less than we expected because we had the pleasure of enjoying the relaxed company of loved ones. And the real kicker--because we stayed with family, the ENTIRE one month trip (excluding airfare) cost us each less than $500. That leaves more money for film and paper!
"...and I still don't know what forms we should have brought from the US, but just make sure that you're prepared..."
afaik, the form you need (at least in Europe) is something what is called here "ATA karnet". Over 60 countries world wide are accepting that document, you can find a lot of info on google: http://www.atacarnet.com/, http://www.iccwbo.org/index_ata.asp...
"ATA" is combination of french “Admission temporaire” and english "Temporary Admission". Paper is valid for one year, and, at least here, you have to pay every time to some bureaucrats for "evaluating" your stuff... Anyway, if you have really valuable hardware (cameras, musical instruments...) that is the best document to have for going outside your country.
I've visited Greece on many occasions, it's become a second home. I love the people, the food, the landscape, the architecture, but above all the diversity of subject in relation to photography. In fact the only thing I can think of that I dislike apart from the scorpions on the bead head in the middle of the night is the intense heat of high summer; avoid!
Generally speaking I've found the people to be fascinated by and very tolerant of photographers, particularly on the smaller islands. The older folk in particular have a pride for their tradition and culture which they are keen to share.
My advice would be to avoid the main tourist areas and find the real Greece. This doesn't necessarily mean avoiding certain islands. Corfu for instance has the unfortunate reputation as a tourist island full of larger louts which is a great pity as the island itself is stunningly beautiful. Drive inland a mile or two and it's like going back in time; bliss.
If anyone is interested below are a couple of links to some of my work from Greece.
The experience was a truly amzing one. We spent 15 days shooting the architecture of the Cyclades. Eight different towns on three islands. The springtime weather was very comfortable, the food and accomodations were excellent and most importantly, the people were very warm and friendly. I taught myself a few key phrases and some other basics via the internet prior to going and what I found was that a smile and few kind words were all that were needed to get into anyplace we wanted. On at least two occassions, while photographing some whitewashed buildings, total strangers came out of their houses with refreshments for us. No questions, just "here, have something cool to drink". As far as getting equipment in and out, that was no problem either. We were carrying two 4x5, a 5x7 and an 8x10 with all the associated gear for 4 independent shooting outfits with film. We all had US customs forms listing all our stuff by S/N and were never asked to produce it or anything else to prove ownership. The results of this adventure are about 30 B&W prints that have already hung in three shows and one that has won a couple of awards, so you can imagine how much I want to return to the Aegean. Here's a link you might be curious to look at: http://www.detroitfocus.org/Issues/0504/DearbornShow/Photos/Photo_02.html
I travel to Greece about once a year, and often take a 5x7 camera, 5 lenses, several film holders, etc., or a Mamiya 7 and assorted lenses. I've never had a problem with customs in the past.
The Greek islands are very very nice indeed; but I agree with Struan that you should consider Northern Greece: aside from Meteora, where you have a tremendous amount of photographic opportunities, there are also some 46 villages nestled in mountains very close to the Albanian border known as Zagarohoria: Vikos Gorge, the villages of Papiko are just two areas in this region of Greece known as Epiros, where the photographic possibilities are endless, especially from late Fall to Spring when the mountaintops often have snow, and generally, the weather can be unsettling. It goes without saying, with B&W film you can come away with some dramatic images.
Yiasou, Nick. My father's family is from Silimna, a small village outside of Tripoli. I've visited Mystras several times, so I've been down in your neck of the woods. My mother was born on Cyprus but grew up on the island of Xios (Chios), midway off the coast of Turkey. As for Meteora, we were going to drive up there from Athens through Delphi, but it was at the end of our trip right when the torrential downpours started. Next year. I've never explored Northern Greece, but it's very different from the Peloponnese which is very rocky and mountainous. I keep saying I'm going to explore the North, but I haven't done it yet. And then there are the Islands. Everyone should try to get to Santorini in the off season, when it's not so crowded. It's truly a uniquely beautiful island.
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