BH Neely's Photography

Out of circulation for a bit

I am away from a reliable internet connection for a while, so I won't be updating until sometime around July 1.

Things are very exciting for me right now. I'm doing some photography of minor historical significance, the details of which I can't really discuss. It's very cool, but keeping me ridiculously busy. Then I get an evening, a night and a morning by myself, to shoot on my own time, in one of my favorite landscapes on the planet - Meteora.

Next week I'll be posting photos from Corfu's Venetian downtown as well as from Meteora.

Thanks for your patience,

BH Neely

Tomatoes, Markopoulo, Greece

People who know me know that I don't suffer from a great deal of false modesty. This is one of the best photographs I've ever made. Tell me you don't feel like you can reach into this and grab one of these tomatoes. I bet you didn't even notice it was black & white. Yeah, baby! I love it when everything comes together. Man, I'm getting hungry.

Fish at the Laiki, Markopoulo, Greece

I'm putting together an exhibition called: Markets: Marco Polo to Markopoulo, which includes pieces shot at the Kashgar Sunday Market in western China and the weekly folk market in Markopoulo, Greece. Most of the photographs in the impending exhibition are from around Greece, but it's an ongoing project, and a larger exhibition would include Turkey, Kazakhstan, the US, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, um, other places too, which I'll remember as I look through negatives (that's right, I'm keeping my negatives).
Anyway, these fish were in Markopoulo (just in case the title didn't make that clear). The street markets here always have a couple of fish dealers. They keep the fish on ice, which they refresh almost continuously during the summer months. Look at how beautifully clear the eyes on these fish are - I bet you could make sardine sushi if you were so inclined.

Spin Toys, ?, Greece

I don't remember where I took this. It was February 3rd of this year, and I emailed it to myself from my phone, so that means I didn't have my camera along, so we were probably going to dinner somewhere in Athens. That much I do know. I like the repetition.

Feeding an Adespota Cat, Markopoulo, Greece

I'm working on a series of street market photos, with a small exhibition in mind for next month. The series is called Markets: Marco Polo to Markopoulo, with pieces shot around the world. In Kashgar, China, I went to a market that Marco Polo wrote about, and this picture is from some work I recently did at the folk market (laiki) in Markopoulo, Greece. The fish vendor saw me trying to get a good shot of the cat, so he entertained the cat with a spare anchovy.
The exhibit is limited to 14 pieces, so it will concentrate on a couple from Kashgar and the rest from around Greece (it is, after all, for a Greek audience). I keep thinking I ought to toss one in from Pike Place Market in Seattle and one from the Spice Market in Istanbul (though I'll call it Konstantinoupoli for the Greek viewers). I have to decide by Monday so I can get them all printed and mounted in time.

Deformed Ball, Athens, Greece

A curious thing happens in sports photography. I've heard of it, but never experienced it myself with slow sports like basketball (I got to shoot a NASCAR race a couple years ago, and experienced it at ridiculous speed). The ball (or whatever is moving fast) looks deformed as a result of the speed at which it crosses the film plane. I think it's pretty cool.

Greek (Turkish) Coffee, Santorini, Greece

One of the skills I've picked up in Greece is that of making what we'll call Mediterranean coffee (the Greeks call it Greek, the Turks call it Turkish, the Lebanese call it Lebanese...). I love this stuff. You can buy the ground coffee plain, with cinnamon, cardamom or mastiha (a flavoring agent from the sap of a tree related to the pine on the island of Chios, it's a delicate, sweet, spicy, surprisingly delicious flavor).

Shadows on a Roof, Ia, Santorini, Greece

I've been shooting shadows and reflections for years. Most of them astonishingly bland and lifeless, but I keep doing it. And this is why. The crazy geometric shapes combined with the flower shadows, the layers from different objects and light sources, the curve of the roof they're projected on, all work to make a beautiful shadow piece. Finally.

Oh, and the town at the northwestern tip of Santorini is spelled Oia, or Ia, and it's pronounced EE-uh.