The past 6 weeks, September and October 2023, I spent on holidays in Athens. After two and a half years of Covid related asbsence, it was time to revisit the place where I used to live from 2015 and to visit the friends that I had made during that time.
So I arrived and got in touch with my friends. And then it became crazy. And amazing. And exhilarating.
Thekla, the actress that I had my very first motion blur nude photo shoot with back in 2019, had created her own dance and acting studio called “Experimenta” in Athens. She opened the studio 4 months before my arrival and she had already assembled a group of dancers, actors, body movement teachers, healers and experimentors around herself and the place.
Thekla asked me if I could photographically support her and her concept for the studio by taking pictures of the teachers she is working with. She wants to use the pictures to promote her studio on posters and online.
So all of a sudden I got into semi-professional photography and for 3 weeks I had shooting after shooting, all in all over 10 appointments with people who were willing and interested in showing themselves and performing for the camera.
This was an amazing opportunity for me to develop my portrait shooting skills on an improvisatory basis. This was not about people posing for the camera. This was the camera following the performers, trying to catch them in the act and to reflect the atmosphere of creativity and passion that is happening at this studio.
Although happening at a studio, this was not a controlled environment where I could direct people according to my photographic ideas. It were rather spontaneous performances where the photographer was the audience and could participate by recording the events. Technically this was immensely challenging as movements and to a big degree light conditions were out of my control. But having the chance of observing and recording these performances of professional artists was a unique and immensely satisfying opportunity.
I also had the opportunity to do several Inner Core shootings and to try out this concept with my participants.
All of a sudden, during a holiday in sunny Greece, my dream of a creative artistic environment came true and I could use my cameras for both, my own artistic purposes and for somebody who wanted pictures for professional reasons.
I am a lucky, happy man…..