GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. September 2013. People working at the University of Crete are almost two months on strike because of massive layoffs. Employees from the 8 bigger Universities of the country fighting for their jobs. Employees walked 7km (4,35 miles) from University headquarters to Crete Region headquarters. University of Crete: 17000 Students, 500 Teachers, 1 Hospital, 360 Employees More photographs from the event...

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. September 2013. People working at the University of Crete are almost two months on strike because of massive layoffs. Employees from the 8 bigger Universities of the country fighting for their jobs. The dean, the professors and employees of the University of Crete made a big event at Municipality Gallery of Heraklion to communicate Universitys' last 30 years achievements. University of Crete: 17000 Students, 500 Teachers, 1 Hospital, 360 Employees More photographs from the event...

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. September 2013. People working at the University of Crete are almost two months on strike because of massive layoffs. Employees from the 8 bigger Universities of the country fighting for their jobs. University of Crete: 17000 Students, 500 Teachers, 1 Hospital, 360 Employees

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. A young couple during a music performance. Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. Playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). George Manolakis (lute), Manolis Giannadakis (lyre) Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. Playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Vasilis Stavrakakis (singer), Manolis Giannadakis (lyre). Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. The lyre player Manolis Giannadakis, playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. Playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. Playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. Playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Vasilis Stavrakakis (singer), George Manolakis (lute), Manolis Giannadakis (lyre) Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. The lyre player Manolis Giannadakis, playing and singing through the narrow roads around the village in a "kantada" (serenade). Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

GREECE, Crete, Houdetsi Village (Music Festival). August 2013. A young couple during a music performance. Houdetsi Festival is a 4 day celebration of Music, Food and Art that takes place in the little village of Houdetsi located 23 klm due south of Heraklion, on the island of Crete. Has been an international attraction for musicians since 2002 as Labyrinth Musical Workshop organizes seminars and master classes with musicians from all over the world for the last 10 years. Houdetsi Festival as well as Labyrinth Musical Workshop's activities are an initiative of Ross Daly who is also the artistic director of both. This year, the Festival attracted almost 23,000 people from all over the world! (www.houdetsifestival.com)

- I struggled only, not to make compromises and weaken my work! - You have to pay if you want to do what you think you can do best and your hart is in it. Then you pay a price. You get less money really. If you have a job you have a security, and I never thought about that when I was young. Robert Frank

GREECE, Crete, Itanos beach. August 2012. (Itanos, an ancient coastal site in Eastern Crete, is located close to the unique in Europe Vai Palm Forest. Was founded in prehistoric times and was one of the strongest cities in Crete, especially during the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman times. The name comes from its founder the Phoenician "Itanos". The Minoan settlement was called Utana. Herodotus recorded that the settlers from Thera (modern Santorini) who founded Cyrene in Libya owed their knowledge of the coast to an Itanian trader named Corobios.)

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. December 2012. Tereza Tzouliadaki during a break while rehearsing on "Puck" from A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, at Kyklos Grafis theatre group. "Kyklos Grafis" theatre group (cyrcle of writing), is a theatrical group founded by Marina Spanaki giving performances, workshops and other similar events.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. December 2012. Vasilis Papas performing Oedipus The King, by Sofoklis, at Kyklos Grafis theatre group. "Kyklos Grafis" theatre group (cyrcle of writing), is a theatrical group founded by Marina Spanaki giving performances, workshops and other similar events

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. May 2012. Elias Staras performing Nikolai Gogol's "Diary of a Madman". Elias, a 48 years old amateur actor, was working in a lumber yard but he was fired in 2007 and since then he is still unemployed, victim of the political and bank crises in European Union.

My Story (...so far!) 

Γονείς κατά της Τέχνης
"Χρησιμοποιώντας τις αντιδράσεις των γονιών όταν ανακαλύπτουν ότι το παιδί τους παίρνει ναρκωτικά, μια σχολή καλών τεχνών δημιουργεί μια έξυπνη παρωδία" 
(http://www.doctv.gr/page.aspx?itemID=SPG3762)

• Την πρώτη φορά, τελειώνοντας το λύκειο στα 18, που είπα στους γονείς μου ότι θέλω να γίνω ηθοποιός η μάνα μου έπαθε κρίση και φώναζε ενώ ο πατέρας μου σαν πιο ψύχραιμος πλακώθηκε στις μπουνιές μαζί μου. Έτσι συνέχισα να το κάνω "ημι παράνομη" χρήση σε ερασιτεχνικές ομάδες.
  
  

• Τη δεύτερη φορά, στα 24, που δήλωσα στο μηχανογραφικό, πρώτα, όλη τη Σ.Γ.Τ.Κ.Σ. -εφαρμοσμένη τέχνη. Όταν πέρασα Φωτογραφία, ο πατέρας μου με ρώτησε "Και σου αρέσει τώρα αυτό;" ενώ η μάνα μου σαν πιο ψύχραιμη του έλεγε ότι θα μου ανοίξουν φωτογραφείο (Γάμοι, Βαπτίσεις, ...). Πάντως λεφτά μου έδιναν. Για 4-5 χρόνια ζούσα σε μια νιρβάνα. Νόμιζα ότι θα με εντρυφούσαν στα άγρια μυστικά της Τέχνης, αλλά οι περισσότεροι ήταν δημόσιοι υπάλληλοι. Πιο πολύ σαν φάρμα των ζώων έμοιαζε. ΒΕΒΑΙΑ όπως όλα τα καλά τα ανακαλύπτεις μόνος σου, με καμιά 10/αριά φίλους που ψάχνονται και 3-4 πεφωτισμένους δασκάλους. Ότι έμαθα και ότι είμαι το χρωστάω σε αυτά τα 15 άτομα !! ΑΞΙΖΕ ΛΟΙΠΟΝ ΣΙΓΟΥΡΑ ΤΟΝ ΚΟΠΟ !!
• Σ.Γ.Τ.Κ.Σ. (ηρωϊκή): (http://www.teiath.gr/sgtks/index.php?lang=el)

Διαβάστε το πλήρες κείμενο ...

"Η ΜΟΝΑΞΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΣΚΟΤΕΙΝΟΥ ΘΑΛΑΜΟΥ"
(Ή Το Τρισυπόστατο Του Φωτογράφου στην Ψηφιακή Εποχή)

(Ξεκίνησα ένα Σαββατιάτικο πρωινό να διαβάσω/δω το φωτογραφικό άλμπουμ του Θανάση Lomef Ζαχαρόπουλου 11x11. Μόλις διάβασα μονάχα την πρώτη πρόταση από την εισαγωγή, μια έκρηξη πλημύρισε όμορφα μέσα μου και αμέσως άρχισα να γράφω αυτή τη σκέψη, αυτή την ιδέα: "Η ΜΟΝΑΞΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΣΚΟΤΕΙΝΟΥ ΘΑΛΑΜΟΥ ή Το Τρισυπόστατο Του Φωτογράφου στην Ψηφιακή Εποχή"

"While technology was facilitating the escape of painters from their studios into the brilliant sunlight, early photographers remained sinister lonely alchemists sitting quietly in darkened rooms… " by Anurag Jain).

Τι απέγινε η δημιουργική μοναξιά του φωτογράφου στην ψηφιακή εποχή; Τι απέγινε η μοναξιά του σκοτεινού θαλάμου; Τι απέγινε η σχεδόν ψυχαναλυτική, ασκητική πολλές φορές επαφή του φωτογράφου με τον εαυτό του και το έργο του. Αυτή η ταυτόχρονη αποκλειστική επικοινωνία τριών σημείων. Των τριών "παράλληλων κόσμων" που ζουν μέσα στο φωτογράφο και μόνο σε αυτόν από όλες τις άλλες κατηγορίες καλλιτεχνών. Του Φωτογράφου, του Εαυτού του και του Έργου του.

(Εκδόθηκε στο φωτογραφικό περιοδικό ΑΝΤΙΛΗΨΕΙΣ, Τεύχος #25 - "Μαύρη Καλλονή", τον Απρίλιο του 2011)

Διαβάστε το πλήρες κείμενο ...

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. March 2013.

TURKEY, Smyrna (Izmir), June 2011. A stray dog.

TURKEY, Smyrna / Izmir, June 2011. A stray dog.

GREECE, Crete, Drakona Village. October 2010.

GREECE, Agios Thomas, Crete, Greece. September 2010. Olga's wedding.

GREECE, Crete, Sivas Village. August 2010.

TURKEY, Constantinople / Istanbul, (Fatih). September 2009. A stray cat.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. March 2009.

GREECE, Crete, Toplou Monastery (Orthodox Dogma). August 2012. Religion, through human history, always have two totally different dimensions. From one is people's need to communicate spiritually with their supreme being to gain a better mental and life quality and from the other is the exploitation, for money, of that need from the corrupted piece of the highly priest system.

TURKEY, Constantinople / Istanbul, (Fatih). September 2009.

TURKEY, Constantinople / Istanbul. September 2009.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. July 2012. Gay Pride party.

GREECE, Crete, Itanos beach. August 2012. Self Portrait. (Itanos, an ancient coastal site in Eastern Crete, is located close to the unique in Europe Vai Palm Forest. Was founded in prehistoric times and was one of the strongest cities in Crete, especially during the Hellenistic and Greco-Roman times. The name comes from its founder the Phoenician "Itanos". The Minoan settlement was called Utana. Herodotus recorded that the settlers from Thera (modern Santorini) who founded Cyrene in Libya owed their knowledge of the coast to an Itanian trader named Corobios.)

GREECE, Crete, Ini vilage (Heraklion Province). August 2010. Local festival.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. November 2011.

GREECE, Crete, Psiloritis mountain. August 2010. Local festival at the foot of the mountain, pit of Mygerou, (Rethymno Province).

BULGARIA, Thompson. August 2012. Crossing by train the Balkan mountain near Thompson. The Balkan mountain range (Стара планина, Stara planina, "Old Mountain") is a 550km long granite mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. Cuts right across Bulgaria from the border with Serbia to the Black Sea coast.

TURKEY, Ankara Province (outside Polatli). April 2012. During a train travel.

GREECE, Athens. April 2012. At the underpass while I'm waiting for the midnight train to Orestiada. Athens - Orestiada is a "long", 17 hours by train journey.

GREECE, Crete, Ini vilage (Heraklion Province). August 2010. Self portrait.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. December 2012. Maria Daskalaki rehearsing on Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth", at Kyklos Grafis theatre group. "Kyklos Grafis" theatre group (cyrcle of writing), is a theatrical group founded by Marina Spanaki giving performances, workshops and other similar events.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. December 2012. Tereza Tzouliadaki rehearsing on "Puck" from A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare, at Kyklos Grafis theatre group. "Kyklos Grafis" theatre group (cyrcle of writing), is a theatrical group founded by Marina Spanaki giving performances, workshops and other similar events.

GREECE, Heraklion, Crete. December 2012. Vasilis Papas performing Oedipus The King, by Sofoklis, at Kyklos Grafis theatre group. "Kyklos Grafis" theatre group (cyrcle of writing), is a theatrical group founded by Marina Spanaki giving performances, workshops and other similar events.

GREECE, Heraklion. July 2012. Gay Pride party

BULGARIA, Botevgrad. August 2012. Crossing by train the Balkan mountain near Botevgrad. The Balkan mountain range (Стара планина, Stara planina, "Old Mountain") is a 550km long granite mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. Cuts right across Bulgaria from the border with Serbia to the Black Sea coast.