Santorini 2014

Clean

Another astonishingly clean stairway in Santorini.

Santorini!

Breathe deep and drink in that clean Mediterranean air. Feel the sun on your face and just close your eyes. Paradise.

Church dome

One of about a zillion domed churches on Santorini. Most have a sky blue dome but this one is a bit different. Everything looks freshly painted even at the end of the tourist season in October. Wonder if the Chamber of Commerce gives the paint away for free? It's clearly a stroke of genius combining whitewashing, bright colored trim and gently curving buildings. The domed churches are actually status symbols. They have been built by individual families to show their devotion as well as affluence. They are rarely open to the public and often have rusty gates that look like they haven't been opened in a long time

Dog in Ia

This dog was sitting on the wall along the caldera trail in Ia. She was completely unimpressed by the view and didn't seem to mind the height either.

Caldera trail

Having some fun with a leading line and a cruise ship in the background

Alley in Fira

Narrow lane in Fira. This was a charming spot but it had two stainless steel pipes in the window opening on the left. Used the content aware patch tool in Photoshop to remove them.

Fira

Buildings – houses and hotels – spilling down the rim of the caldera in Fira.

Entrance

Here's the entrance to a hotel on the rim of the caldera in Fira.

Nea Kameni

The roof of a restaurant on the rim of the caldera in Fira. The dark island in the center of the screen is where the volcano has been active most recently.

Linen man

The linen shop owner along the caldera with his cat which seems to have the same facial expression. This was taken right at sunset and had so much color saturation that I had to back it off a bit. It still looks almost surreal.

At sunrise. Love the shapes and textures. Also the hazy gradient in the distance. It's a nice contrast.

Pyrgos rooftop

Rooftop in Pyrgos with Mickie's shadow

Pyrgos

The early morning light gives a golden glow to this great stairway in the village of Pyrgos. The blue passageway to the right is actually the walkway down to the next level in the village. The house is built right over walkway which is been painted an almost electric blue

Stairway

This is what happens when you build a village on top of the hill and there's no native wood so everything is built of stone.

Cat lady in Pyrgos

It was 9:00 AM in the village of Pyrgos. The owner of this gift shop was putting out her racks of souvenirs and sprinkling cat food behind them. We asked her if they were her cats. She smiled proudly and said yes, they were. "How many do you have?" we asked. She said she didn't know. Had to be at least 20. She smiled and picked up this orange kitten. She said with a big smile that he was her favorite but he was kind of naughty.

Laurie with the cats

Laurie photographing cats in front of the gift shop in Pyrgos.

Two gentlemen in Pyrgos

Laurie on the left was our instructor. He's a fantastic photographer living in Israel. The craggy guy on the right was sitting on a wall in the village of Pyrgos. Several of us took his photograph and then Laurie sat down next to him to say thank you for being so gracious. He asked him if he had a wife at church this morning. We had seen a bunch of women in the local Orthodox church around the corner. He looked a little puzzled by the question and then pantomimed swimming. I think we had a failure to communicate although there was no failure in communicating the goodwill. Laurie thought his nose look too big in profile so I used to liquefy tool to gently reshape it. Also dropped the background out and made it a toned monochrome. In the original it was a hideous pink building.

Ia - the classic Santorini picture

You walk along the main street in Ia and turn left down the narrow alley. Go to the end and then turn left again and it's right there. You can't miss it. Blue domes in the foreground and Imerovigli and Fira in the distance.

Six Bells

This is the biggest church in Ia. It's got six bells and all but the top one have a rope so they can be rung.

Panorama from the castle in Ia

Easy, in-the-camera panorama of Ia taken from the castle which is actually a series of ruined buildings on High Point at the West End of the village.

Ia

Another shot of Ia taken from the caldera trail looking west. Can't help but wonder how they keep the property lines straight as one building's roof is the next one's floor.

Selfie at sunset

The shopkeepers said thank goodness for the Chinese tourists in Santorini. Many of the women wore formal gowns as they walked around the town. Everybody was taking selfies. The scene is at the Castle in Ia at the northern tip of Santorini.

Tourist watching in Ia.

Two Greek gentlemen doing a little tourist watching in Ia on Santorini. It's got to be endlessly fascinating for them. The guy on the left looks like he might be resting his eyes for a bit but the guy on the right has definitely seen something interesting.

Sunset in Ia

A few moments after the sun set, this woman hopped the wall and walked out on a narrow rooftop. She smiled at her friend with the camera and said, "Do you want to see me jump?" He said sure, of course and she went for it. About five times. Hey, it's only 40 feet down to the next roof

Fishing boat at Monotheos

I'm convinced they paint these just to attract photographers. The Chamber of Commerce hands out free paint every spring in anticipation of the tourist season.

It's a squid!

We watched the sunrise from the little port of Monolithos on Santorini. About a half hour after sunrise, this little fishing boat chugged into the harbor. The fisherman seemed to love the attention as five photographers snapped away as he worked through the net looking for the morning's catch. When he discovered a squid about a foot long caught in the net, he picked it out and put it in his mouth as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world to do. He never grinned at us as though this was a joke or anything. Apparently that's just what you do with fresh squid when it shows up in your net. Who would've known…?

Liora and kitten

Liora found this beautiful doorway and enlisted the help of a calico kitten to advise on framing and composition.

Barbara in Exo Gonia

Barbara was our tour guide to Exo Gonia, a medieval hilltop town in the center of the island. She had the most amazing eyes

Greek three wheeler

This is the front end of a three wheeler truck that has been out in the sun for a long time. Love the license plate!