Driven…

One thing that inspires me more than anything to continue to travel to Greece is to help raise optimism in people as well as being able to go to incredible places to capture images. My Greek quest started 2 years prior to the Austerity measures really taking a hold on everyone, and my God, the change was unbelievable, people that I knew that were once happy, outgoing, and loving life had suddenly changed to being worried, in most cases scared. They really did not know what was really happening to just to them but there home country. It was interesting for me, having the luxury of being able to travel around I soon realised by speaking to people that the whole picture was totally confused. Obviously all were suffering from the financial implications on a personal level which led to some very sad conversations that really got to me, but the story was different from town to town, no one really knew what was going on in Greece. It was obvious as to why due to everyone getting so hard hit paying more taxes, fuel prices escalating, floor taxes, food price increases, and the biggest hitter was for the public sector upon which most of the population at the time relied on for work, having to make massive cuts and laying off thousands of workers and giving them nothing for the time spent working or in fact any financial help in order to just survive. Why should I care? For me it was easy at the end of each trip I would jump on a plane and come back here to the UK, why should I concern myself so much in what happened to people I did not even know? That is a question I will never be able to answer, I think it was a conversation I had with a guy one evening in a bar, he had lost his business, he had to put his house up for sale, at a ridiculously low price in order to sell it to get some money, his family had to move back to his parents home along with the 3 kids, and the guy was the same age as me. I asked myself. “How would you feel if it were you?” My God, the realisation hit me then, this guy was the same age as me crying his eyes out as he did not know what tomorrow would bring. The outlook was bleak to say the least. I spent a good 2 days thinking it all over, what the hell can I do? Is there anything I can do? YES??? Tell people, tell everyone, not just in Greece but everywhere, put the word out on the real crisis in Greece and let us see what the reaction is. So then it started, I started to look deeper into places, not just talking but taking photo’s as I went, it all made sense, my moto, “Every picture tells a story” was suddenly making sense. I then undertook to keep an eye on Thessaloniki, being the nearest big city to where I stay in Chalkidiki any major changes would soon become evident there long before the smaller towns started to suffer, again it worked. I spent days walking the streets, not just the big, popular streets but the side alleys, the smaller streets where the real people lived. It was there I found a whole new sub culture of incredible people, each struggling to survive on the small family business they ran in the hope they could ride the storm, some did, but it is saddening to say most did not and that hurt me. From speaking to someone doing all they could to survive, wishing them well and then returning 3 months later to see the shop closed and boarded up along with many many others hit me like a hammer. But, I carried on, looking, watching, speaking and also telling people about the situation here in the UK, but on a one to one level, talking to them, not down to them as I noticed some folks liked to do to some that were down on their luck. I think it may this facet as to why most Greeks like me when I visit, for sure they are sad to see me leave as much as it saddens me to go, but, I have to move on, the gains I get are simple, it all boils down to the respect I get from so many in Greece now, many that know me appreciate me for who I am, as I do them, not what I am…. I am not unlike anyone else on this planet, just a human and that is how I like to treat others. Money, forget it, I am not interested, sure I need it to survive but for me it is just a means to an end that helps me invest in new equipment and more importantly helps me pay for the plane ticket to get back and be amongst people I have a lot of love for, why? Because in Greece I am me, and money just cannot buy that, I can sit and laugh, sympathise, respect and appreciate others for who they are as they do me and that is what I love. For here in the UK we are not allowed to be like that anymore. So it is simple, I am a driven man, purely by the actions of governments and the effects those actions have on everyday people.

So now, we are a few years down the road, I have travelled across Northern Greece extensively, from Aridaia in the north to Athens, visited Corfu and in a few days’ time, Lefkada, but my love is with Thessaloniki, and Chalkidiki itself, as well as Halkidiki. I am looking forward to returning to Nea Kallikratia to be with friends yet again, as well as going to Meteora for the first time, and all the while I will be watching, listening as well as photographing all the places I visit, yet again I will be me.

As far as the photography goes, well, all I can say is that I am still at the start, as time goes on I learn more, adapt and try to convey that in the images I get. This year has in itself so far been nothing less than incredible, but, not just by what I am getting. I am a member of a lot of online clubs, Facebook pages, Google+, Twitter etc. the standard of images now coming out of Greece is phenomenal, there are some incredibly talented photographers in Greece who like me just love to take incredible shots and show the world just what Greece has got apart from the Parthenon, to which most of the planet think of as soon as you mention the word Greece to them, however that soon changes when those that don’t know first take a look at the images and the response is always the same.. A solid NO!!! Until they read info with the image they really do not believe the images are from Greece. Add to that the sites such as Living-Postcards of which as far as I can see are still the leaders telling us of everything Greek which in the last year has excelled and is now gaining some good recognition and respect from others is something I love to see. As with Reveal Greece, considering how many companies and individuals out there that we see little if anything, from these two sites within their own right constantly bring us something fresh, new, original and most of all Greek. My hope is that now I want the corner to be turned for Greece, for it to now gain strength and to fight back against all those that ever doubted its ability to do such a thing, I may be wrong, I am not an economist, but, compared to how things were just 2 years ago there is an air of hope, but, no matter what, I will carry on, I will travel to the places that most know little of, continue to capture images that do not just amaze but I hope to inspire or even educate those that live close to where I have been to do the same as is the case with Nea Kallikratia, for them to do the same and carry on something I hope I may have started, for sure it will do nothing less than show us all the real Greece.