Continuing my review of the the past decade…

2003 marked the year that I moved solidly to digital. I still had my F100 and shot film on assignment for publications that hadn’t themselves transitioned to digital yet, but for my stock work — and especially international travel — I was 100% digital.

The images in this post come from a trip to Greece and Turkey in May and June of 2003. I had a Nikon D100 and traveled with a Mindstor portable storage device and a 12″ Powerbook for back-up. I remember it was startling how easy it was to pass my entire camera bag and laptop through the airport x-ray equipment without a worry of images being fogged. I was done flying with film and I’ve never looked back.

I loved Greece and only wish I’d had more time there. With just a few days in Athens and Delphi, then a short cruise to the islands of Crete, Patmos, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, and a quick stop at Ephesus in Turkey, it was a lot packed into a short time and there was never time to wait for good light. I took what I could get and considered it to be a great scouting opportunity. One day I’ll go back and spend a few days each in one or two places but I now have a much better idea of where I’d like to spend that time.

Of the Greek islands, I think the Cyclades were my favorite. Mykonos and Santorini belonged to this group of rough and rocky islands and I found them to be endlessly photogenic with their whitewashed jumbles of blocky houses and shops.

These two are from Mykonos. My research had told me that there were a row of windmills on the far side of town from the docks so I made my way immediately in that direction to catch sunset. There’s no direct route to anywhere on Mykonos but wandering the narrow streets was half the fun. The shot looking up through the balconies was taken on the walk back to the boat.

One other lesson learned on this trip: it was during this time that Athens was gearing up for the Olympics and that meant that everything was under construction or renovation. Probably not the best time to visit a place for stock photography. There was scaffolding everywhere. The construction also meant that many images would be dated almost immediately. Still, there’s so much to see in Athens that I wasn’t short of things to photograph. The highway construction that was going on between the city and the airport did make for some nervous moments before catching the flight home, though.