BH Neely's Photography

Bicycle, Nafplio, Greece

I'm not sure what it is, but I can't help but photograph bikes sometimes. At least, in my defense, this is black & white, and, uh, it's not the whole bike. I don't think it looks like the standard American-shooting-an-old-bike-in-Europe picture, hopefully you agree.

Mistras Castle, Mistras, Greece

You're probably tired of staring at Aphrodite and are looking for something else. (Who am I kidding?) But really, if I show you all the great photos I shot with Gina, you'd go insane trying to pick the best one. But such is the sad, sad life of an art photographer. Don't pity me, though, I've chosen this for myself, and I must bear the weighty burden.
A few kilometers west of Sparti, in the shadow of the mountain where the ancient Spartans would leave their weak babies to die, is Mistras Castle. It was built in the 13th C. CE, and looks quite formidable, even in its current ruined state.

Gina #4, Aphrodite, Studio, Athens, Greece

And this one. Wow. When Aphrodite was borne up from the foaming sea, this must be what those lucky Cypriates saw.

Gina #3, Aphrodite, Studio, Athens, Greece

Really? Did I get to make this portrait? There's nothing better than a beautiful model, perfect light and that one moment. Except, of course, for all the other things in life that are just as good. But seriously, I can't believe I get to do this.

Gina #2, Aphrodite, Studio, Athens, Greece

See, look at Gina's eye, is that not a gorgeous shade of nearly black? Wait until you see both eyes - they're like two demitasses of the darkest espresso. This portrait is probably in 5th or 6th place for use in Portraits of Aphrodite, but it could go up. I like the composition quite a bit.

Aphrodite #2, Studio, Athens, Greece

I had an Aphrodite shoot this weekend with Gina. She was incredible - she has the ability to switch from laughing to smiling to not smiling with no difficulty. And her not-smiling looking is amazing. With probably 60-70% of people, when I tell them to not smile, I get something between a frown and a look of hostility, but with Gina there was all kinds of nuance - some smoking sensuality, some looks that asked, "Oh, really?" some simple, frank looks. We shot for about an hour, getting 130 frames or so, and on first edit, 34 of them are good. This is one that's good, but won't make the final cut, because while I like the beatific look, her eyes will blow your doors off.

I bet you're wondering why, if I only have a 30-40% success rate, do I ask people to not smile? It's worth it for that .350 batting average. Besides, it's only film or memory. Gina's rare in that she looks great with all kinds of facial expressions. Others only look good when they're smiling or laughing or not smiling.

Dyma, Studio, Athens, Greece

During an Aphrodite shoot today, Dyma decided he wanted to participate. So I got right down with him and shot this portrait. It's only taken me 10 years to get a picture I like of him.

Yellow Sunrise, Tolo, Greece

With that fierce pride common to those of us who still strive for photographs rather than digital art, I would like to point out that other than using settings that would make the colors similar to a saturated, warm Kodak slide film, I've done nothing unnatural to this scene.

And "Yeah! I finally shot the yellow exotic destination sunrise!" When I first saw this in Lightroom, I thought it incredible that in a dry place like Greece I was able to get the tropical look of a SE Asia travel photo.

Surreal, Tolo, Greece

I don't want to cheapen this one with too many words.

Nafplio, Greece

The view of Nafplio from the Palamidi fortress is pretty wonderful, even in the harsh light of early afternoon.

Fish Farm, Saronic Gulf, Greece

I'm not sure where exactly this is. It's on the road somewhere between Corinth and Epidavros. These fish farms are everywhere in Greece.

Sunrise, Tolo, Greece

I love a black & white sunrise. Especially when the colors are as soft as they were that morning. It was a more muted pastel than an episode of Miami Vice.

Flower & Shadow, Silver Mine, Lavrio, Greece

Anne Baker. When I uploaded from the card to the hard drive, the series I had shot of this flower was upside down. A minor irritation, but I'd have to invert all 8 or 10 renditions to get them right. Anne Baker said, "That looks cool. You should leave it like that...I think you should also leave it in color." She was right. Twice. Anne Baker.

car window, Kavala, Greece

Well, that's one way to fix your rear window...

Mistras, Greece

I'm finally getting to some work I shot a month ago. This one's a work in progress. It's a nice shot as is, but there's a lot of selective darkening & lightening I need to do yet - darken up the clouds, lighten the village, darken most of the landscape - I want the village to really pop. When I saw this scene, my first thought was of Hobbiton, even though I don't traditionally associate orange and olive groves with The Shire. The view is just very Hobbiton-like. I've been looking for this picture for years. Once I've got it right I'll post the new version.

Sunflower, Studio, Athens, Greece

Y'know how when you're pretty good at something for a long time, but you can't quite reach the level that you can see just past your fingertips? I reached it. For the past few weeks I've been able to make photographs that I had dreamed of, thought about, visualized, for years. It feels good.

Now, I'm going to out and run my first 10K. My goal is to finish.

 

Aphrodite #3, Studio, Athens, Greece

One last one with Christina. I'm at one of those moments when none of the words I can come up do the photo justice, so I'll just let you look at it and decide if you need your own story for it.

Aphrodite #2, Studio, Athens, Greece

I was quite taken with Christina's eyes. Which isn't to say her other features aren't equally lovely, but her eyes sparkle, even when she doesn't have 800 watts of light blasting at her.

Aphrodite #1, Studio, Athens, Greece

I've been talking about doing a set called "Portraits of Aphrodite." Mostly, it's an excuse to make portraits of beautiful Greek women, but also it's a reason to explore ways of making various types of studio portraits. Christina was skeptical about holding her hair across her face like a veil, but I think it worked extremely well. Thanks Christina. You make me look good.