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Milky Way over the island of Kea

The Milky Way is a galaxy with a diameter between 100,000 and 180,000 light-years which contains 100 to 400 billion (yes, billion!) stars.

If you are in an area which is dark enough and the weather is clear, if you look towards the south you can see the milky way especially during the nights before, during or just after a new moon, when the moonlight is not strong. 

I consider myself lucky: the skies above the Kea island, where I spent my summer holidays, were dark and clear enough to make the milky way clearly visible even to the naked eye. 

So I couldn’t help myself. I am posting below the result of some nights’ work. Enjoy!

Lighting up the Milky Way

Last week I managed to shoot a photo of myself “lighting up” the milky way.

I always wanted to make such an image - I even bought a high-end LED flashlight for this reason (the Fenix PD35TAC which is mainly used for military and law enforcement purposes). 

So last week, under the new moon, I found an area with a southern orientation which had both a clear view of the milky way and relatively limited urban lights, I set up my camera and tripod and tried several versions of the photo.

The one to the right is the one I like best. 

Beware: my intention is to try various milky way images this summer, so stay tuned :-) 

(More info: Canon 5d mkIII, Samyang 14mm, 20 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 3200, the lights in the background are from Ioulis, the capital of Kea island) 

New additions in the "Window Seat" collection

I travelled quite a bit recently so I added new photos in my "Window Seat" collection.

Three Honorable Awards in the Fine Art Photography Contest

Happy to announce that I received three Honorable Awards in the “Fine Art Photography Awards” 2017. This year the contest received 6335 submissions from 89 countries around the world. Winners were selected by highly acclaimed panel of international judges, including: Tim Franco, Nadia Dias, Liza Van der Stock, Matilde Gattoni, Amélie Labourdette, Valery Klamm and Pierre Abensur. My awarded images were:

The beauty of the Grand Place

I have been many times in the past (and most probably be many times in the future) at the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium, and always wanted to capture the beauty of this magnificent place in images. My favourite time is dusk, when the square is illuminated both by the setting sun and the artificial lights of the buildings. I tried to capture the essence of the place with multiple image panoramas, which will allow me to to print really large prints, as well as single shot images of specific details.

See more at my Grand Place gallery.  

The Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Three Honorable Mentions in International Black and White Photography Contest

Thrilled to announce that I received three Honorable Mentions in the “Monochrome Awards” the International Black and White Photography Contest.

The 2016 Monochrome Awards received 8122 submissions from 81 countries around the world. 

The awarded images were:

  • the image “Shipwreck” in the “Fine Art” category
  • the image “Nocturnal” in the “Landscape” category
  • and the image “Bird on Rocks” also in the “Landscape” category. 

Four Honourable mentions in the ND Awards 2016 competition

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Happy to announce that I received four Honorable Mentions in the ND Awards 2016 competition. The awarded images were in:

Four Honourable Mentions in the 11th Annual Black & White Spider Awards

Excited to announce that I received four nominations at the international contest “11th Annual Black & White Spider Awards”: 

Black & White Spider Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography. This year there were 7,556 entries from 71 countries. The Jury represented the industry's biggest names and tastemakers who reviewed the entries online before making their nominations and honoring 627 awards and 951 nominees in 31 categories.

Exhibition "Travelling" at Blank Wall Gallery

Shipwreck "Dimitrios"

This is “Dimitrios”, a shipwreck stranded since 1981 on a beach near Gythio n southern Peloponnese, Greece.

Its rather bizarre to see it perched on the beach.

With my black and white interpretation I tried to strengthen the surreal feeling it generates.

Selfie under the milky way

Self-portrait in the car under the milky way.

(could not find any interesting foreground element for the milky way, so I thought "why not myself in the car?" - certainly not the most interesting foreground, but that's what I had available at the time :-)

Perseid meteor shower

Perseids from yesterday’s meteor shower: one (very) big and three smaller meteors brighten the night sky as they burn up during their entry in the atmosphere.

Awarded entry in the International Fine Art Photography Awards

My series "Nightscapes" was awarded nomination in the Night Photography Category in the 2nd edition of the international Fine Art Photography Awards competition. 

In 2016 Fine Art Photography Awards received more than 3994 submissions from 83 countries around the world. The winners were selected by highly acclaimed panel of international judges, including: Qingjun Huang, Carolyn Guild, Klaus Kampert, Pini Hamou, Rupert Vandervell, Pongsatorn Sukhum, Kilian Schönberger, Peter Kool, Lara Zankoul and GMB Akash.

See the awarded entry at: http://fineartphotoawards.com/winners-gallery/fapa-2015-2016/amateur/night-photography/hm/1936. 

Three Nominations in the Moscow International Fotography Awards

Three honourable mentions in the Moscow International Fotography Awards (MIFA). 
MIFA’s jury panel is comprised of an international pool of photography industry professional from photo editors, art directors, gallery owners and curators.

All three of my awards were in the “Fine Art - Landscape” category of the contest. These three projects were awarded: 
- Nightscapes
- Tranquility at the lagoon
- Bird on rocks. 

 

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