I was there too
A couple sitting at an outdoor table in a little café in Athens, Greece about a year ago. Their body language couldn’t be more different, and every time I look at this image, I wonder what they were talking about.
Their roles in this conversation are opposed. He appears relaxed and confident, while she is reserved, nervous, maybe defensive?
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
While wandering around a market in Athens, I saw this man sitting on the ground outside his tool-filled shop. He seemed very relaxed and was chatting to a nearby man. I hope that beer was nice and cold as it was quite a warm day!
The Areti beer seen in the photo is a Greek pale lager produced by Zotos Ltd., known for its light body and low alcohol content (3.5% ABV), making it a popular choice for casual daytime drinking in Greece
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
It was a blisteringly hot day in Athens when we were walking around the ruins of the old city when I saw this woman in a bright yellow jumpsuit approach.
That yellow colour jumped out at me, but it was only later I noticed the man behind her carrying her bag. Is that a charging cable going from her phone to the bag? Nice to have someone else carry your bag on a hot day, with a battery for your phone too! 🙂
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 16mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Off Monastiraki Square, Athens, along a narrow street filled with small shops, I found a man leaning on the door of his shoe shop.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
A cat we found in Athens, just cleaning himself in the middle of a car park, without a care in the world on a warm May afternoon last year.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 240mm |
| ISO | 1250 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
Off to the side of Monastiraki Square, near the train station entrance is a Flormar store, and I when I saw what you see above I had to get a photo.
If you go there now, you might see that man. He was attending to a local stall and stepped away for a moment.
| Aperture | ƒ/1.7 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 6.3mm |
| ISO | 32 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
Monastiraki Square in Athens is a busy area for tourists, right next to many of the ancient sites of the city. It’s a bustling area, full of interesting characters, both local and foreign, and a great place to visit for a street photographer!
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 35mm |
| ISO | 125 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
I was lucky he didn’t spot me taking this candid photo.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.2 |
| Camera | Galaxy S23 Ultra |
| Focal length | 2.2mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/35s |
One of the sellers at an antique market in Athens watched us walk past on a sunny day in May 2024.
| Aperture | ƒ/8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 35mm |
| ISO | 2000 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
We were on our way to lunch when I spotted this gentleman sitting on a crate, chatting to a person in a newspaper kiosk.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 800 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
While waiting for the train in Athens, I spotted a pigeon walking around the station, calm as you can imagine, as if he owned the place.
A few minutes later, a train rolled in, passengers started moving, and the pigeon flew into the rafters. Observing all that he rules.
| Aperture | ƒ/2.8 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 500 |
| Shutter speed | 1/500s |
If you visit the Acropolis in Athens, be prepared to join the crowds of other tourists visiting at the same time. There’s an insatiable interest in the area, of course, because it’s so well known.
First you walk up the side of the Acropolis hill, and enjoy nice views of the city, including the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and the modern buildings surrounding it, and then the crowd bunches up as you enter the ruins, with tour guides holding flags up and lots of chatter from everyone.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got up there. The smooth cement ground pictured above continued through the middle of what turned out to be a massive construction site, with scaffolding around a few of the buildings. Those paths made the site more accessible for everyone, which is to be commended.
Walk to the side, and you were on rougher ground, on gravel and bare rock, with construction materials and tools seemingly left unattended, within roped off areas.
If you’re hoping to get photos of the site without other tourists, you’ll probably have to go early in the morning, with a tripod to take multiple photos of the same photo and remove people digitally.
This is a long exposure shot of the Parthenon temple. There were loads of people around. A huge group was congregating to the far left of this photo, and another group was heading over from the far right.
On the way out, when I wanted to take a photo of the Erechtheion, a smaller temple apart from the Parthenon, someone else wanted to pose. Our bus was waiting for us below, so there was no time to waste. Afterwards, I liked seeing the human element in this photo.
If you’re visiting Athens, a trip to see the Acropolis has to be high on your list of things to do. I only had an hour or so there, but I’d love to return and spend more time there taking photos.
As an aside, I find it funny that the Unesco ID for the Acropolis site is 404. No chance this place will go missing.
This is the last post of the year 2024 here. The Acropolis has been around for thousands of years. What will human civilization look like in another two thousand, five hundred years? What will happen to all our digital records? Who or what will be remembered of us in that era? Not much survives over those time periods.
| Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
| Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/1000s |
