BH Neely's Photography

Flowers, Studio, Athens, Greece

Amongst the many great things about living in Greece is that it's the end of November, and I can still get a wide range of fresh flowers at the laiki (folk or street market) for 2-3 euros/bunch. Because I'm a fairly regular customer, the dealer will throw in a bunch of roses at no charge. But this isn't about roses (obviously). I've become fascinated with making ... I don't really know what to call them ... abstract/surrealist/impressionist/pictorialist still lifes. There's no digital trickery - I shoot them with my Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens and convert them to b&w using Lightroom's Grayscale function. Then I tweak the color filtration a little, et voila!

These daffodil-like flowers were shot using rapidly-fading natural light and a Mag-lite, 2 D-cell flashlight. 1/25 sec at f/1.8, ISO 100. I should be doing a small gallery from the same shoot at www.facebook.com/bhneely later today.

Camouflage, Imeroviglio, Santorini, Greece

I was going through some Santorini pictures to make a gallery at www.facebook.com/bhneely for a friend, when I came across a series of four or five shots of this same meadowy lot. I could not figure out what the hell I was thinking, because all the shots have the same composition and exposure. It took a minute to find what was so important.

In a related note, do you know why tabby cats are orange, black and white? Now you do.

Amelie: Ensemble Deux, Studio, Athens, Greece

  As Amelie and I talked about her first sitting, she expressed dissatisfaction with my work. I'd made her "cute" and "soft." She wanted a shoot to express a more powerful her. I'm not sure that this one is more powerful, but there's a coquette in that smirk. And with Amelie's hairstyle and dress, I'd have to say that this photo expresses all that was good about the 70's.

More in Amelie's gallery at www.facebook.com/bhneely.

Orchids, Studio, Athens, Greece

One of the things I love about my 50mm f/1.4 lens is the softness it gives when I'm shooting wide open. Only a very shallow plane is in focus and even then just barely. So I get to do these impressionistic black & white shots.

Emporio, Milos, Greece

  One of the best things in traveling is staying at a small hotel and getting a recommendation from the owner about where to eat, where to see the very best sunset and so on. Anezina told us about Emporio, so we went.

What you are looking at is the road into and out of Emporio, on Milos. The drive there included a few miles of dirt road that stained our car red for the rest of the trip. As we got out of the car at the taverna, where our table was as close to the water as the car is in this picture, I heard the jangle of goat bells. On the menu they had roasted goat, and it seemed to me that if I couldn't get good goat here, I couldn't get it anywhere. It was, without a doubt, one of the 5 best plates of meat I've ever had. And all I needed to do to get it was drive on the edge of the sea.

White Cliff, Sarakiniko, Milos, Greece

  Look at all the layers of eruptions that were set down. Pebbly perlite at the bottom, smooth white chalk, more pebbly stone...like layers of cake with smooth white frosting. Landscapes like this move me like no man-made objects can.

Several photos from a sunrise shoot I did at Sarakiniko have been added to my Geology album at www.facebook.com/bhneely.

Sarakiniko, Milos, Greece

What incredible natural beauty. And the girl in the bikini isn't bad, either. Milos is an island formed over 14 million years, ending 90,000 years ago, by volcanic activity. As a result it has a range of incredible landscapes made up almost entirely of varied volcanic rocks. Sarakiniko's soft, white, chalky layers contrast incredibly with the blue sky, the turquoise water and the violet bikini.

Popova Kula Winery, Republic of Macedonia

  It means Priest's Tower. It's a nice little winery, about an hour south of Skopje. They make a good range of both whites and reds. How good? We bought a mixed case of bottles and a box of one of the reds.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Homeless Dogs, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

  I hesitate to put this in my series of Adespota pieces, because I don't know what relationship Macedonians have with their street dogs. Is it the love of the animals that Greeks have? Is it the fear mingled with hatred that often appears in the former Soviet Union? Is it apathy? In any case, this troop was patient and moderately cooperative...ignoring me as I clucked and whistled to get their attention, but eventually looking up to see what I was doing long enough to get a couple shots.

Autumnal Stairs, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

  Yeah, a black & white photographer on an autumn day is gonna take pictures like this.

Archaeological Site, Stobi, Republic of Macedonia

What I like with this is the painstaking reconstruction of 2nd C CE electrical lines at the edge of the site.
My apologies to those who visited this the first couple of days it was up. The town is called Stobi.

Flag, Stobi, Republic of Macedonia

The Macedonian flag is beautiful at sunset. Even better was the wedding that we were there for.

If you were at the wedding, visit BH Neely Photographer on Facebook. I guess, even if you weren't at the wedding, you can visit, but the people & activities in the photos probably won't mean much to you.

Amelie II, Studio, Athens, Greece

  As soon as I saw Amelie's boots, I knew I had to get a shot with them, somehow. Footwear and jewelry don't work very well for the intimate sort of portraits I usually like to do - it can be challenging to get a good look at a person's face and their shoes simultaneously. But this time it worked out beautifully.

There are more Amelie portraits at www.facebook.com/bhneely.