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Panos Skoulidas
Wandering in Greece
…I lived half of my life in Grecolandia…& half in Los Angeles….
Half of my life i was dressed up in sheep-skin and half of my life in plastic…
Half of my life i was riding donkeys and half driving wild mustangs…
Half of my life i was staring mustaches and half staring at platinum blond highlights..
It wasn’t curiosity that brought me back…im not here anyways but i’m not there either…
Homer made it back to Penelope..Made it back to Ithaca…
but Homer was a lier in the end..He lied to please the king…
but Kavafis…ahhh Kavafis told the truth…Its all about the travel..not the destination…
it’s the doomed , the holy trip to that imaginary Ithaca…the El Dorado does not exist…
it’s the search for the El Dorado that counts…
When i left from the “sheep” city to find my “el dorado” i made it to the “plastic” city…
Half of my life i was believing in Homer…
Half of my life later i realized that there are no El Dorados..Its just a vast endless ocean ahead..
that leads nowhere but …but im not afraid anymore..i can accept it now..im not scared..
Things dont change..but we do..
Almost a month ago my boat decided to revisit…
Highway 61 Revisited as my good friend Bob Dylan said…
Above (essay) is what i saw..how i got connected with Grecolandia in the period of a month…
I’m riding a tired donkey once again…
I left my pirate ship back in venice beach to take a break…
Now im on the fast lane of that Grecolandia Highway 61 , speeding…on a slow donkey..
Reuniting, reconnecting with my family…
whats not to love?
Enjoy…because i dont know how long my “donkey” will last…
Bio
Panos Skoulidas bio,
or
the story of “Till Eulenspiegel”…
…According to the tradition, he was born in Grecolandia around 1300. He travelled through the Holy Roman Empire (Americanlandia , especially Northern US, but also the Low Countries, Bohemia, and Grecolandia. He is presented as a trickster or fool who played practical jokes on his contemporaries, exposing vices at every turn, greed and folly, hypocrisy and foolishness…With Eulenspiegel’s death occurs the entry of the embodied trickster-animus into the medium of things spiritual, the form of existence of pure spirituality so that the soul has seen through itself by way of its own spirituality and knows itself as living spiritual life: Eulenspiegel is still alive.The literal translation of the High German name “Eulenspiegel” gives “owl mirror”, two symbols that identify Till Eulenspiegel in crude popular woodcuts. However, the original Low German is believed to be ul’n Spegel, meaning “wipe the arse”.
Related links:
picasaweb.google.com/innerspacecowpanos
web.mac.com/innerspacecowpanos/Panoblogomania
web.me.com/innerspacecowpanos/VENICE_BEACH/ORGY_IN_VENICE
homepage.mac.com/innerspacecowpanos/iMovieTheater17
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4sXRxs_8qg
Editor’s note:
Comments are wide open on this essay.. Panos will surely jump in whenever he can..
Many thanks… david alan harvey
Paul T
Loved flying space-hoppers.
Geez Paul I hope there is more to your life than being attached to a dumb box…………
What if we had an occasional “Edit War” on Burn or another site? Take the same pool of photos, then show the essay as arranged by 2 different editors – unveiled at the same time. …Ford vs GMH vs Toyota bullshit
Oops, thought I was in “working”
Ford vs GMH vs Toyota bullshit
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laughing,,,,,,,,,,what is wrong with toyota btw?:))))))))
Toyota makes money………. GMH takes money……….. perhaps a Toyota edit will lead to a m9 for all the wanna be’s. look at me look at me!!
With souls burning under the moonlight
Let’s dance naked ’round and howl
Claim mediocrity as greatness
Loudmouthness as wisdom
And let’s invent new languages
To use without a reason…
Thodoris
To appreciate the best of what Photographers like Eggleston, Panos, Bob Black, Ballen produce …………… their photographs are best viewed as a body of work not singling out a random single image.
that pigeon on the table look under-cooked.
To appreciate the best of what Photographers like… produce …………… their photographs are best viewed as a body of work not singling out a random single image.
Imants, I agree with that, but when someone makes an editorial choice with a photo I think it’s fair to ask about the editor’s thought process. Inquisitively, I should stress, not inquisitionally. And typically, that’s something editors can verbalize. I would never question why someone took a picture of a kitten, for example, but I’m interested in why an editor would choose to publish a particular image out of hundreds of other possibilities. With the kitten example, I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been chosen, I can think of several rational explanations for why it was, including Bob’s, but it’s a fair question. And I think it’s an interesting question that has the possibility of having an enlightening answer, should David choose to enlighten us. Twenty percent of the photos in the edit are animal photos. It strikes me as a theme. I see other themes as well, both narrative and visual. Am I seeing what was meant to be seen or simply finding my own way? The answers don’t matter, but the questions are a big part of why I love photography.
Bob, well said as usual. Let’s grant that any kind of enforceable rules would never work, but do you not think there are valuable guideposts for good photography as there are for similar arts such as literature or painting? In the short time I’ve been paying attention I can’t recall you ever offering a single piece of constructive criticism, much less any kind of negative reading, about the work of any photographer. I guess I just figured you were a “if you can’t say something nice, say something nice anyway” type of guy, which I would consider to be an admirable trait. But do you believe, as I think you imply, that there is no such thing as objective quality in photography? That it is entirely subjective and that each opinion is as valid as any other? I can see making that argument in a philosophical sense, but in practice I see that some work is better than others and believe that there are at least some objective explanations for it. Isn’t that why we have museums, galleries, prestigious publications, academics and critics? Is the whole intellectual edifice nothing more than wankery?
Regarding the edit thing, I didn’t take it as an invitation to a pissing contest. Sounds like my kind of fun, actually. I wish I had the time to take a whack at it. I enjoy editing large projects like that but fortunately have my own editing to worry about and too much other life right now to devote the massive amount of time it would take to do it right. Of course I would always lean towards helping someone if asked or taking an editing project on as a job, but neither of those cases apply and unfortunately “for fun” is just not on the table at this moment.
Imants, it’s not about the box.
You are still teathered to it and that is restructive!
You are still teathered to it and that is …….restrictive!
Bob, thank you for your thoughtful reply. I definitely agree with you that most edits will reflect more about editor than than the photographer – I thought that it would be interesting & educational to see the differences in where the editors are coming from… indeed, if two edits were closely the same, I think that I would be disappointed. Definitely no replacement for “true” edited essay with the photographers approval. I will have to go back through the archives to read the discussion from the previous Burn “edit war”.
Imants, I guess we could put you down as “not interested”? :-)
Michael, You are absolutely correct. Not a pissing contest, and as Panos previously wrote “not necessarily competing with DAH or anything like that”. No disrespect intended to the current edit of Wandering in Greece – just thought an “edit war” (tongue in cheek title) sounded like fun.
No “not interested” is more like why piss up the wall when gravity is doing the job
…….. attitudes like this
“indeed, if two edits were closely the same, I think that I would be disappointed.”
……make the process a bit suss, the images may dictate the edit, this means the photographer is more than capable of communicating her/his intent.
“the images may dictate the edit, this means the photographer is more than capable of communicating her/his intent”
Fair enough. Point taken.
Paul
You are right, it is not about the box. Hard to explain to non-photographers. More akin to ones’ chosen musical instrument.
So Gordon you are striving to become one of “The Chosen”
i think any photographers output is best viewed as a body of work – individual singles and even ¨stories¨ on a website do not hold the same interest unless they can be seen in that context.. a continuing theme..
the greatest of ¨long projects¨ is life.
I think that people before writing should think better.
This peace it’s probably one of the most difficult to realize, one of the most powerful, and complex I ever seen.
The photographer show us a kicking-ass style, that it’s consistent in every single image, and it’s quite really strong.
I would love to photograph how he does, it’s so complicated that I even can’t imagine what he’s thinking when it’s taking the picture, and at the end, it’s just perfect.
Really impressive, I love this work.
Jacopo
“Isn’t that why we have museums, galleries, prestigious publications, academics and critics? Is the whole intellectual edifice nothing more than wankery?”
Kinda makes me smile.. :)
Kookie plopz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pehHOqx7JXg
gotta love david firth.
Morning Panos, it’s probably already been said, I’ll read the statement and all 122 comments later :), but for me this just shouts ‘happy’.
This is all about the photographer and I love that, you just come across as so likable, energetic, enthusiastic and joyful, and you also take great pictures!
morning Vicky..:)
morning America…:)))
raining in athens… i just came back with one more photo …
lemme make a coffee first , clean up the bathroom of the friend house that offers me this week’s couch…
and i’ll return with the photo i shot today…
stay..
Jacopo..
humbled…:)
ALL…now i need your intuition…
I shot ONE photograph today..BUT..in two difference versions…
which one do you prefer????????
(both photos, plz click below)
http://picasaweb.google.com/innerspacecowpanos/Jpeg03#
Hehe, Panos, that’s easy: what do YOU want to show?
P
beauty
AND
the
beast
:)
http://which–one.blogspot.com/2010/03/raining-in-athens.html
“Which One”?
Imants
It’s not about being “chosen” either.
Compulsivly making photographs, like the compulsion to make music, or to dance, is an activity that is hard to explain or justify to people who do not get it.
It is not about the “box”, the musical instrument, or the dancing shoes. It is about a way of experiencing our lives.
You yourself have a compulsion to make images, though it seems you view making photographs only as a way of collecting raw material for them.
Panos’ essay here is not just a set of images, the evidence of a pysical and emotional journey. In large part his camera has led him on that journey. A camera may be just a box, a flute is just a stick with holes in it, but both can take you places.
You are only tethered if you allow yourself to be.
Finally got through all the “feedback.”
Panos: Congrats on the press pass thing. Happy for you. Dropping a note to say you’re not missing anything on the left coast, so relax, and really sink in to the new (old) world.
Laughing through the comments. ;)
I really like #1. It’s tight, well-composed and evokes the melancholy drabness of the rainy day in the title. Number two is also tight and well-composed (in the traditional sense (both fit rule of thirds!)). It’s funny and perhaps evocative, but not really evocative of the rainy day in the title. Based on my taste and aesthetics and my observation that you do very well by having, mostly, though not entirely, opposite aesthetics, I’d say you should probably go with #2. Unless you have a third one that’s not so tight and (traditionally) well-composed ;).
(Note: for the record, that’s the first time I’ve ever used a smiley. It feels so wrong…)
As an essay, it is certainly ‘loose’. Granted, so is Panos. There are some fine photographs here…maybe #1, certainly #2, 6, 13, 18, 19, and 20. Personally, I don’t think the others measure up to the quality of these. And so, why show the others together with these? So we “get” Panos? To “round out” this impressionistic sketch of Greece? Or to “round out” the personality cult of Panos as some kind of lifestyle icon? Do we really need to see a ‘body of work’ every time, or just the best that someone can do?
Nothing personal against Panos (I buried that hatchet a long time ago), and nothing against this whimsical and at times lyrical essay. More I guess about the discussion up till now about this essay. I’ve always been a heretic on the subject of ‘authorship’, at least in some of its manifestations and towards some of the justifications for it. DAH has generously put up with my heresies for a long time (but even his magnificently patient tolerance probably has a limit). I don’t expect my quirky outsider views will have much influence, and heaven knows I sympathise with the plight of anyone who is trying to make a name for themselves and support themselves primarily or solely through photography. (Just FYI, I am a ‘part-time’ pro… I get about one third of my income from photography these days). I’ve always felt that the business of the ‘artists’s unique personal vision’ thing, especially in photography, which is at root a very technical process, is overblown and exaggerated… part of a serious cultural imbalance rampant in modern Western culture that glorifies radical individual egotism and the cult of celebrity for its own sake. If a photographer’s vision were really ‘unique’, it wouldn’t resonate much with a wide audience. And all of us are bundles of influences, moods, our parents and lovers and friends, and all are products of history, place, and time. All stand on the heads of many, many who have gone before. And all are in constant flux.
I have become a grudging supporter of Panos, not because of his lifestyle or looseness or because I think he’s cute, and certainly not for his past written style of expression here (won’t rake up the old embers), but because he is dedicated, and much more because he has shown an ability to grow… to see new things, to reach new understandings, to evolve and learn… in other words, to not keep on being ‘Panos’ the rogue caricature cutout, but to transcend his persona and grow into new understandings… and I suspect from his trajectory that he will continue to grow and learn and ultimately become a very different Panos from the one he thinks he is and many people here have known him as. The greatest thing I could wish for anyone is to grow beyond who they think they already are. I see that in the photos I listed here above.
Michael, the former smiley virgin,
I like #2 as well, but would love to get the original file into photoshop. Panos, your grey vignettes are a bit ham-fisted I’m afraid. This image could sing.
The out of focus cat picture, #8 seems to be a favourite for some. It doesn’t work for me. If it were in focus, it would be just another cute cat snapshot. What is it about subject out of focus, sharp background that seems to turn some folks on?
There have been some very succesful examples of this technique over the years, Kliens menacing kid with the toy gun comes to mind, but it seems to have become over-used of late.
I suspect it is a result of all those poor folks whe can’t afford auto-focus cameras and have to make do with those clunky rangefinder cameras where everything looks sharp all the time in the viewfinder :))
you’re not missing anything on the left coast, so relax, and really sink in to the new (old) world.
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Jared thanks… u know me well..& u know how much i worry about my beloved “left” coast… i feel better now:)
I’d say you should probably go with #2.
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Michael..yes i agree with this choice (beauty & the beast) as Wendy also suggests..
http://picasaweb.google.com/innerspacecowpanos/Jpeg03#
Hehe, Panos, that’s easy: what do YOU want to show
————————————–
although the quote of the day comes from Eva ;)
I suspect it is a result of all those poor folks whe can’t afford auto-focus cameras and have to make do with those clunky rangefinder cameras where everything looks sharp all the time in the viewfinder :))
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Gordon cool…;)
Michael , do u see now why “smileys” are so important????????
;)
I have become a grudging supporter of Panos, not because of his lifestyle or looseness or because I think he’s cute,
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what do u mean? of course i’m cute…:)
Anyway, big hug Sidney.. you made my day (night)…
Sorry, I left out #7… it is also very good.
Panos,
Back from Hawaii and just got the first chance to look at your essay (damn iPhone and no flash).
Yes, it feels like you are happy. Some wonderful images – and a few I would lose. The kitten can go – too easy a target and devalues the others. Love the men in the truck – it’s what I think of when I think of Greece (though it’s been 26 years since I was there). Great to see you shooting and developing your style. Keep it up brother!
CP
Charles…:)
how was the tsunami???
” is an activity that is hard to explain or justify to people who do not get it.” ………. Nah I don’t buy that God like thinking Gordon, got better things to do, I don’t have intimate relationships with a lens less camera nor a flute ……………. a bassoon well now we are talking.
No I don’t have a compulsion to make images, it is no different to sweeping a floor, walking a dog, building a stone wall, having a crap, looking out the window etc, it is just stuff to do.
Tsunami was a no show thank god. It was windy and heavy surf but a fantastic time nonetheless. My first time and won’t be my last. Got some great Felix pics frolicking in the surf. Ate lots of tuna, mercury be damned!
:)
He Panos is this evidence of a physical and emotional journey, that deep and meaningful stuff (aka Dali Lama and the Hollywood cronies style) or are you taking happy snaps ?
YES!
more explanation below
gotcha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dRHuchU1nA
“No I don’t have a compulsion to make images, it is no different to sweeping a floor, walking a dog, building a stone wall, having a crap, looking out the window etc, it is just stuff to do.”
OK Imants, ..good to know where you are coming from.
gotcha
That girl has a compulsion to drink a lotta milk!
Nah she is just winding some of the wanna be’s up, ask Alice
Michael , do u see now why “smileys” are so important????????
No, I think the text should communicate levity, or any other feeling or emotion. But enough railing against the modern world. Time to join it. ;(