I love photography, more specifically I love taking photos. I don’t often like being photographed, but I will often take photos of myself. I do this not out of narcissism or the like, but rather as “proof” of being somewhere, or with someone, doing something, at sometime. The Art of Photography captures time. Time is ultimately life. Life is about time - how we spend it and what we do it with it. The camera is our witness to life.
I make no apologies for taking my camera everywhere and taking ridiculous amounts of photos. ( I have 2GB memory card in my digital camera, in addition I have about 4 memory cards, and tens of gigabytes of digital photos stored on hard disk drives, and albums upon albums of print photos).
I like capturing memories and moments in time especially of places. To be honest, even this blog is more about me wanting to show off my photos rather than writing. I’m not much of a writer, but I do enjoy taking good photos. They say a Picture speaks a thousand words, which is why I allow my writing skills to remain somewhat deficient.
More recently, I have recently developed an interest in taking photos of food - my other passion in life.
Today I went on winery tour in the Yarra Valley, one of which was Yering Station. There, was a small black and white photography exhibition of Nikolaos Karantonakis.
I quote below the Artist Statement which I too share but could never eloquently state as Karantonakis has. His ‘Artist Statement’ captures the essence of photography and life:
“Everything changes. The world is in constant flux and movement. Life evolves. Time changes all, and although I struggle to comprehend the concept of time itself, I do understand that timelessness exists within us all.
Our surroundings may change and so may we as humans, but the core of what we really about will never, can never change. We yearn for love, happiness, peace, truth, wisdom, simplicity. We are searching to discover ourselves, regardless of who we are, where we live and “the time” we are living.
These aspects of humanity are ever present - timeless.
By freezing life’s constant changing moments, - the art of photography itself, - I attempt to give the viewer an insight into my world, my search, and perhaps aspects of all of the above. The viewer is free to interpret as he or she wishes.”
(Words: Nikolaos Karantonakis)
