The Big Church - Oia, Santorini

The Church of Panagia of Platsani

Don't worry if you can't remember this church's formal name. Everyone calls it The Big Church. It's a well-known landmark in Oia, a spectacular cliffside town on Santorini. 

If you arrive in Oia by bus, you'll enter the square after passing a row of shops. It's a popular meeting point for tourists and locals alike. It's a busy place. Neighbors chat with neighbors. Travels share stories of their adventures in Greece. Tour groups listen to their guides while snapping countless photos.

The Church of Panagia of Platsani - Oia, Santorini

If you want take a picture of The Big Church without a single person in the frame, you'll have to be patient. Set up your tripod. Compose, focus, and meter. And then wait for a break in the continuous waves of foot traffic - five, ten, fifteen minutes...

And when you meet with that fleeting moment when the square clears, hope for perfect light and maybe a big, fluffy cloud passing behind the church.

Then there's that tree on the left. It actually sits directly in front of the church. I had to use a special optical technique in order to capture the entire front of the church. 

Effectively, the image that you see is the left side of a larger, wider image. I didn't want to sacrifice resolution by cropping out part of the frame, so I used a special "perspective control" lens. This allowed me to capture the important section of that larger image without the penalty of cropping. 

Santorini is filled with beautiful sites, the Big Church is unmatched for elegance and charm. This was not an easy photo to capture - I had to put some time and thought into it - but in the end, it was worth it.

Camera: Nikon D800E
Lens:     Nikon PC-E 24mm f/3.5 II

Light happens.  Be ready.  Shoot hard.

Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. South

http://www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved

Be Ready

Political Rally - Athens

After an all-day drive from the north of Greece, I entered Athens at rush hour and worked my way toward the center of the city. Heavily armed police were everywhere; they seemed to be anticipating trouble.

I learned that the prime minister was about to give a speech in Constitution Square, just a block from my hotel. I wasn't sure whether it would be safe, but something compelled me to go out anyway.

Political Rally - Athens

I lined up with the other tourists to take some photos of the changing of the guard, but I noticed a crowd gathering in the square. I attempted a photo of the group against the color of the setting sun, but the difference in lighting was too extreme. The colors of the flags weren't registering.

When the prime minister made his entrance, two of his supporters lit flares. The flares provided enough light to make the shot work against the gradually darkening sky.

There was a lot of traffic on the street. I clicked off several shots, but most of contained at least part of a passing automobile.  Two unobstructed exposures were all that I could manage.

The flares produced a lot of smoke very quickly. Within a few seconds, the entire scene was obscured by a thick cloud. I had taken my shots at just the right moment, a moment that would be impossible to repeat.

Be ready. It's in my signature because of the number of photo opportunities that I've missed by failing to follow this simple axiom. I'm fortunate that I didn't miss this special moment in Greece.

Camera: Nikon D800E
Lens:     Nikon 70-200 f/2.8G AF-S VR2

Light happens.  Be ready.  Shoot hard.

Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. South

http://www.dansouthphoto.com

All Rights Reserved