Midnight Smoke

Midnight Smoke

This picture is the result of a late night shooting session in my backyard, weapon of choice, my Mamiya c220 w/ a flash unit attached to it.

A few months ago, Josie and I were watching TV in my living room and for some reason I decided to drag her outside just after midnight and shoot her. Why not do a little night photography? So, I told her to take off her clothes and just leave her bra and undies, then gave her my jacket with the white leather sleeves. I pulled the jacket down to make it drop off her shoulders, gave her a cigarette, and told her to light it. I remember distinctly how it was really hard focusing because it was completely pitch black outside, and from what I recall I focused on the flame cause it is the only thing I could see. Once I was focused, I snapped the picture because lighting a smoke doesn't take to long and you have to be quick. I was trying to capture the raw, and vulnerable state of an addict getting their fix very late at night. We took a few pictures but this is the one that really stood out, and out of all of them I think this best represents that state of mind.

Just before we finished the roll of film, Josie looks up and sees that one of my neighbours lights had just turned on and then saw someone looking out the window and staring at her. That is when I realized that every time I shot a picture the flash probably went into people's houses because it was so dark outside. So thinking that I just woke up my neighbours, had them see Josie standing outside half naked was probably the best time to wrap up the shoot and so we did. This was my first attempt at using a flash with the Mamiya and trying out night photography.

All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.

Standing On The Shore

STANDING ON THE SHORE (6/6)

This is the final image of the images that were in the 'Face & Film' photography exhibit. I took this photo kind of discreetly because I didn't know how this guy would feel about me taking a picture of him and his daughters. I found this guy very interesting, he wondered along the beach for probably half an hour talking on his phone the whole time, while his girls just climbed and played on everything on the beach.
There are a lot of things I like about this picture, I'm going to start with the guy's pose. His pose is quite unique, his whole body is in a sort of 'S' curve, and then his one arm matches the placement of the other arm. There's quite a bit of balance in this photograph, if you notice the sky takes up half of the image and the earth takes up the other half. Let's talk about colour, there is balance there too, quite a bit of blue and different kinds and it is balanced with yellow. There isn't the same amount but because yellow is such a strong and bright colour it doesn't take much yellow to balance out the blues. I also love how the guy's shorts has the exact same blue of the sea and exact same yellow of the boat, it almost connects them all. I would also like to point out the almost inter-positioning that takes place with the surf boards and the yellow boat, also has to do with lens-to-object distance. It goes larger white surf board, big yellow boat, and then finally smaller white surf board. It almost creates a sort of linear perspective too.
I'll end with giving you a sort of description of why we were there. It all started with the boys wanting to go windsurfing because they had seen a advertisement in a flyer that said 25 euro(40$) for an hour of windsurfing. They got all hyped up and I drove them to this beach which might I mention was quite far from where we lived, even if it is just an island. We got there and I realized that it was a beach that I had not been to since I was a kid, i remember going to this beach and going horse back riding. Anyways, we get to the windsurfing place and we ask about the cheap windsurfing, but apparently if you have never windsurfed before you have to have a private lesson for half and hour and then you go on your own for the other half an hour. So the boys didn't want to do that, especially since it turned out to be even more expensive. We didn't let that bum us out, so we just relaxed on the beach listened to 'Standing On The Shore' by Empire of the Sun and watched hippie jesus-looking people go by with their butt-naked kids. The end.

All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.

Walking On A Dream

WALKING ON A DREAM (5/6)

Funny thing about this photograph, I took it just to finish my roll of film, the night before we left from Mykonos to go back to Athens. I had just bought the sunglasses that I am wearing, and after taking night pictures all night, I had one last photo left. I went into the bathroom to see what the sunglasses look like and noticed that the bathroom had this very interesting blue glow that was on the cool side, I guess that's the beauty of fluorescent lighting. I decided to try something and figured since I had one shot might as well use it up. I grabbed my camera, wound the film, flipped it so that the lens was facing me, opened the viewfinder and since its a Mamiya 220 the viewfinder is on the top of the camera so you look down. I tilted the camera so that I could see and focus through the mirror in the bathroom. It was challenging but I got it, I framed myself, fine focused as much as I could, and took the picture. I had to shoot at 1/60 because I was indoors and the light wasn't very bright, which is why the image is motion-blurred but I knew it would turn out like that. I like the fact that it's blurred and the tip of my glasses is the most focused part.

If you examine the reflection in my glasses you can see a lot of different things, the mirror starts where that green beam is, then you can see different soap containers along the bottom of the reflection, and finally you can see me shirtless holding the camera. Also, the reflection of the beam and the white sides on each side make it look like the eyes of a night creature. It was an interesting process but it turned out better than I thought it would. When I was taking this photo, I never thought I would be using it in the show but once I saw it I found it very intriguing. I decided to name this 'Walking On A Dream' because I feel it symbolizes me 'walking' on the dream of being a professional photographer. May sound cheesy but it makes sense to me. It's named after a song by again, Empire of The Sun. You should check it out, I like this song more than 'We Are The People' but that's just me.

Happy thanksgiving!

All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.

Can You Remember The Human Life?

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE HUMAN LIFE? (4/6)

This photograph was taken on a beach just outside of Downtown Athens, Greece. Now I just want to say straight off the bat that I love the colours in this photograph, they look good together, they feel good together, they compliment each other, and they are just so simple. Anyways, we were on this beach because my sister (Tess Spentzos) was having a test shoot for a movie she is currently working on. I brought my camera with me to take a couple of shots with the film that I had just bought. The funny thing is that my camera happened to be the camera that would be used in the movie by my sister's character, so it was used as a prop during the shoot. While it wasn't being used as a prop, I was taking pictures of the different people we were with. Just before we wrapped up to leave I told my sister to stand by the shore and then I got real low and told her to point into the lens. Now i believe she gave me something special in this shot, her expression is very deep and full of sorrow. When I look at this image it makes me think of our world, how corrupt some things are, the pain different people experience both emotionally and physically. The fact that she is pointing down puts her in a superior position and with the sky being the only apparent background it gives her an almost higher being power, she is a 'goddess' pointing down to humanity. But thats just what I think, maybe you'll see it too if you listen to 'We are the people' by Empire of the sun, that is where this picture get its name from.


All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.

Lost In Your Eyes

LOST IN YOUR EYES (3/6)

This is a particularly interesting shot just because of the expression on Graeme's face. It surprises me and Graeme because it is not exactly an 'everyday' Graeme expression. When I first showed Graeme he was thrown back cause he himself thinks he can never make that face ever again. It looks like he is in deep thought or deep emotional pain when really he is just chilling on the front patio of my house in, again, Mykonos, Greece, probably while the rest of the guys are passed out inside. And while we were there just hanging out, i told him not to move and i went and grabbed my Mamiya. I then framed him in my viewfinder, told him to look out into the distance and SNAP. And that was that.. Thats the beauty of photography, you can capture some of the most intense looks, expressions, moments, and have the viewer think one thing when a completely different thing was going on during the shot. Anyways theres not much else i can say about this shot, other than maybe the green cacti in the background that add to the whole feel of the photograph and to his eyes which are green as well, other than that it is what it is.
If you still haven't checked out the song 'We Are The People' by Empire of the Sun, then heres another chance to do so cause this is named after some of the lyrics in the song.

All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.

Break Your Happy Home

BREAK YOUR HAPPY HOME (2/6)

This photograph was also taken in Mykonos, Greece. Around the same time 'We Are The People' was shot. I love this picture because nothing about it is planned, other than putting my friend 'Dimo' there and telling him to hold a bottle that was a few feet away. It is a true representation of what our summer was like, i mean think about it 7 boys living in a 90 square foot apartment on an Island, it just reaks chaos. It may have been chaotic but we got by, sometimes we'd have people staying over which made it 9 people in that small apartment. It was craziness! The background is so dirty with the cracks on the wall, the little tiny door is off its hinges cause its broken, the gas tank is hanging out, the broom is there cause there was broken glass outside, the body wash is there cause sometimes we'd go and shower by the pool right by the beach, the puddle is water from the air conditioner, everything is just there. So i thought the background fits very well with the lifestyle we had, which was constant drinking, i mean you can put the two and two together. He is feeling hungover and probably still drunk he just doesn't know what's going on, it's not exactly a happy home. Which comes to the reason i called it 'Break Your Happy Home', it's lyrics from the song 'Dance With Somebody' by "Mando Diao", a swedish band. Not only does it fit the picture perfectly it was also one of the songs we listened to while getting ready to hit the town and party!

All images © Christos Spentzos 2009. These images may not be used without written permission under any circumstances.