Poros Island Wedding Photoshoot Greece
A beautiful, romantic and natural wedding potoshoot, on the colourful stone-paved streets on Poros Island, Greece. Had a lot of fun creating these gorgeous images with Irina and Vlad.
Romantic and fun wedding photography on Poros Island, Greece
What are the ingredients of a beautiful wedding photoshoot I hear you ask? Well, you start by picking out a gorgeous bride and groom, you put them on a boat and you sail around in the Aegean Sea until you reach the beautiful island of Poros! From there on you walk around the winding stone-paved streets, and you end up on one of the highest points on the island. We were already familiar with the spot as we went there for the engagement photoshoot as well, so returning there in the evening allowed for exploring new ideas and do some more creative wedding photography.
The day started on the boat, on our way to Poros Island. This is where Ana, who is an absolutely amazing make-up artist, worked her magic on Irina, the bride. With a few strokes of her magical brushes she managed to turn an already beautiful woman into a drop dead gorgeous lady. Just like that, Poof!
Gorgeous isn’t she?
Fun and creative wedding photography on Poros Island, Greece
Walking around the town, there was no shortage of beautiful places to stop and take photos. At every turn there was either some funky coloured gate, or door, or a beautiful stone paved street, or a wall covered in vegetation and this is one of the reasons I love photographing in Greece, and especially being a Poros Island Wedding Photographer, as you can get very creative with your photography! So many places to shoot fun images, it’s literally impossible to run out of ideas. Perfect for romantic and natural wedding photography in Greece!
Once we got to the clock tower, we decided to just wait for the sun to go down. Spent some time just chatting and admiring the view, and what a view! Once it got dark enough I brought out a torch and tried some creative lighting, making the most of the gorgeous little lights in the background as well.
Tatton Park Engagement Photoshoot - Andrada and Andi
An absolute gorgeous engagement photoshoot, on a cloudy day, in Tatton Park, Knutsford.
Tatton Park Engagement Photoshoot, Knutsford
After having to cancel and reschedule this engagement photoshoot twice, due to bad weather in the UK, we finally managed to find a nice, dry afternoon at the end of August so we went to Tatton Park in Knutsford which is a brilliant park in Cheshire, where deer run around free and being used to people, you can get fairly close to them, which is an opportunity to get some awesome photos which you wouldn’t normally be able to get.
This is the engagement photoshoot I did with Andrada and Andi, who are getting married in Fethiye, Turkey on the 25th of October. Although it didn’t rain for most part of the photoshoot, the sun completely refused to show its face and instead we had a blanket of clouds to work with, but that meant the light was very soft and diffused which made for some really cool, moody images!
The third subject of this photoshoot was Salvador, Andrada and Andi’s adorable dog, who was rescued by them as a puppy, and sent to the UK all the way from Spain (Salvador = Saviour, clever eh? They saved eachother, as Sal definitely saved them from a much more boring, puppy-less life!). He had a pretty rough start, but he couldn’t have ended up with two better humans and now he is an energetic and happy ball of fur. During the photoshoot he was happy to just run around, chase squirrels and roll around in the tall grass. Ocasionally he stopped to pose for a photo, like the one below.
Creative Engagement Photoshoot in Tatton Park, Cheshire
One thing I absolutely love about a Tatton Park Engagement Photoshoot is how many different looking locations you can use within a small area. All in all I think we had to walk no more than 200 meters, if that, from where we started shooting, to where we ended and yet we managed to take photos in an open field, in a mini forest with tall trees, by a lake, in tall grass and so on. It’s a fantastic location for photoshoots and it looks great in all lighting conditions, whether it’s pretty dark and cloudy like it was in our case, or if the sky is clear and you go there at sunset when the light looks magical. There is so much to work with and you can really get creative with your images.
After running around for almost an hour, Salvador finally got a bit tired so Andi worked his magic on him and made him stay in one place and even lay down next to him an Andrada for a few “family photos”!
Ever seen a happier dog?
Romantic and fun engagement and wedding photography in Cheshire
Eventually, after about an hour of shooting, the rain finally decided to make an appearance and ruin the party, so we decided to start walking back to the cars. As we were slowly heading back, chatting and talking about how it would’ve been so nice to see some deer, surprise surprise, we found ourselves face to face with a few of the beautiful stags that live in the park which was a fantastic opportunity to snap a few really romantic and fun engagement photos to end an already amazing engagement photoshoot on a high note, with a few absolutely gorgeous images!
Castle Howard Photoshoot - Portrait Photography York
A mini, super-fun portrait session with Iulia & Sandra, on the premises of the majestic Castle Howard in York.
A few weeks ago, at the end of April, right before winter decided to make a comeback to England, I took a trip to the incredible Castle Howard in York, with Iulia and Sandra, two sisters who rarely see eachother, because one of them lives in Manchester, the other in Vigo, Spain. As Sandra came over to visit and this was the first time they were seeing each other in about a year, we did a mini portrait photoshoot on the premises of this stunning castle, so they have some great memories of their time together here, until the next time they see each other.
The girls decided to get matching outfits and they both looked great and had a ton of fun on this portrait session!
Don’t take my word for it though, just have a look at the photos and see for yourselves!
Portrait Photography Session in York
The 18th century castle is superb and the gardens are absolutely massive and full of little spots where you can take great portraits. Castle Howard is a brilliant location for any Wedding/Portrait Photographer based in York or the North of England. On the day we were there, the weather was so beautiful and the sun was really bright, but that was creating a lot of harsh shadows, which most photographers tend to run away from. However, in this instance I thought it was a great opportunity to play around with some off camera flash and try my hand at a couple of creative, “fashion” style portraits.
Click here if you want to see another photoshoot I did with Iulia a while ago.
Andreea & George - Wedding day
The wedding day of Andreea & George, who got married in Campulung Muscel, Romania. Great people, beautiful locations and a stunning vintage style dress […]
In 2017 I started collaborating with a media company in Bucharest, which specialise in video production, from weddings all the way to music videos, commercials and even tv shows, but also doing some wedding photography and portrait photoshoots. The company, Fulg Media, were really busy at the time, so they decided to outsource the post processing for some of the events they photographed and I was recommended to them by a friend of mine. I helped them with a few projects and about a year later they have reached out to me again, only this time they wanted to send me out to photograph a few events throughout the summer.
Unfortunately, due to the sudden decision to move the UK, I only got to photograph one wedding for them before moving away, but what a beautiful wedding it was!
Below you can see a collection of images captured at the wedding of Andreea and George, a lovely couple who I actually met a couple of weeks before, when I photographed the christening of their friends’ baby daughter, friends who became their wedding godparents!
They got married in the groom’s hometown of Campulung Muscel and our story starts on a rainy morning at the stunning 1910- built Vila Golescu, a neo-romanian style architectural gem. This was the location chosen for the groom and bridal prep and it was a fantastic choice. The location matched the bride’s vintage-style dress perfectly! About that, I thought that dress was absolutely gorgeous, I am always impressed when a bride decides to go with something different for the dress, which I am sure is no easy decision!
Barbican Fashion Photoshoot
This was my first fashion photoshoot ever and I can easily say that is also one of my favourite photoshoots I’ve ever done to date […]
Only two weeks after moving to Manchester, Uk and here I was getting out of my comfort zone once again. After doing a Dog & Owner photoshoot last time, this time around I was commissioned to do a fashion shoot, by Aida, a very talented young fashion designer, who wanted to showcase her fashion collection on her new Website.
The brief was pretty straight forward, with the main requirement being that the whole shoot had to have a brutalist feel and look to it. So for the location we chose the Barbican Centre in London. I had seen some photographs taken there and thought they looked good, but having never been there myself before, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. I was shocked by how amazing it actually is in real life and how incredibly well it worked with Aida’s collection.
Leaving aside the impressive architecture, the light in some areas was absolutely stunning!
This was my first fashion photoshoot ever and I can easily say that is also one of my favourite photoshoots I’ve ever done to date! I should also thank Joy, the model, who luckily for me knew what she was doing, so only needed minimal direction, thus making my job so much easier. With her taking care of posing, all I had to do was find the best lighting, compose and snap away.
Iulia and Oscar- Portrait session
This one is a bit different than the couple shoots I usually do, as in the couple is not actually a couple, but my girlfriend and her favourite ball of fluff […]
This one is a bit different. While my portrait sessions usually consist of photographing couples, this time I was asked by my girlfriend if I could photograph her and her favourite ball of fluff, as we were one week away from moving from Bucharest to Manchester, Uk.
Until this photoshoot, I never quite knew how tricky photographing dogs actually is. They get bored really quickly and getting their attention can be a challange.
Anyway, we headed out to a local park late in the afternoon when the light was soft and golden and this is how everything turned out. Enjoy!
Paula's Portrait Session
What was about to become a missed opportunity, fortunately turned into a great little photo session. Despite a massive storm which seemed to be heading our way, Paula insisted to come down anyway, and I am so glad she did because somehow that giant blanket of clouds slowly started turning away and ended up missing us completely! Within an hour the sky was nice and clear, which allowed us to take a lot of fun and beautifully lit photographs […]
What was about to become a missed opportunity, fortunately turned into a great little photo session. Paula contacted me through my Facebook Page, saying she's seen my portfolio and would really like an outdoor portrait photoshoot. So we scheduled it about a week in advance and agreed we'd do it late in the afternoon, when the sun is nice and low in the sky.
The day of the photoshoot arrived and the only problem was, when I left home to meet Paula, the sky had turned dark grey and thunders could be heard in the background. A massive storm seemed to be heading in our direction. I thought ok, I'll go ahead at the location which was Tineretului Park in Bucharest and see what it looks like from there, since it was in a different part of the city. I got there and it was still nice and sunny, but unfortunately the clouds were still heading our way. I called Paula and told her what I was looking at and even though I didn't want to, I suggested that we would better reschedule for a different day. Fortunately, she said she'd come down to the park and we'll see from there, despite me explaining to her that even if it doesn't end up raining, without the sun, the photos won't be that good. I am so glad she insisted to come anyway, because I am not sure how, but that giant blanket of clouds slowly started turning away and ended up missing us completely! Within an hour the sky was nice and clear, which allowed us to take a lot of fun and beautifully lit photographs.
Below you can see my favourite ones from the day.
Ioana & Radu - Portrait session
We just had the first real day of spring this year and I thought it would be a great opportunity to do a couple portrait session which, thanks to the golden light we got in the afternoon, turned out truly beautiful [...]
After 3 weeks without my main camera which had to be repaired, I was really excited to get a phonecall and find out it was finally ready to be picked up from the Fujifilm service centre. So excited in fact, that I actually decided to celebrate by buying another camera and a lens to supplement my current setup!!
So in order to test the new equipment as well as the newly repaired camera, I took advantage of the first spring-worthy day we've had this year and went out to do a couple portrait session with Radu & Ioana. The location was Herastrau Park in Bucharest, which was overflowing with people, but that comes as no surprise really, given the weather. The images turned out so beautiful thanks to the warm, golden light we had that afternoon. But don't take my word for it, just have a look below.
While some photographers would try to move away from the overcrowded areas, I saw an opportunity to create something a bit different, by actually using the moving people to compose my shot.
When having multiple cameras around , sometimes the photographer can become the subject.
Photographing Hiba and Shayan on their first visit to Romania
Photographing Hiba and Shayan, a mother and daughter from Beirut, on their first visit to Romania[...]
It looks like I am becoming preety popular in Lebanon as this was the third time someone from there wanted me to photograph them. This time it was Hiba and Shayan, a mother and daughter from Beirut. They were travelling to Amsterdam, but because they couldn't find any direct flights, they decided to stop in Bucharest and while here, get a photoshoot done.
They were only here for two days and because it was their first time in Bucharest, they wanted to see as much as possible, so in order to save time we agreed that we wouldn't go far away from the hotel where they were staying. Therefore I took them through the Old Town and showed them around a bit as we were shooting.
Shooting in the Old Town so early in the morning, around 9.00-10.00, was a good opportunity to get access to some cool little places which are usually buzzing with people. In our case all we had to worry about was the vans and small trucks making their way through some pretty narrow streets to make deliveries to the various shops, restaurants and cafés scattered around everywhere.
One place which they really liked was the Carturesti Library, which I shot in before, albeit only architectural photos, so I never thought of it as a great location for photographing people, but it was amazing and this is where I took some of my favourite photos from that day. Again, shooting there just after it opened helped, as this is another place frequented by a large number of people every day.
Before we met for the photoshoot, Hiba told me how much she loves nature and trees and that she knows Bucharest has some really nice parks, so for the second part of the photoshoot we went to the Cismigiu Gardens, which is one of the nicest parks in the city and the closest to the Old Town, which was perfect given the amount of time we had.
I guess it's pretty obvious in the next photographs, just how much they loved it!
Portrait Session at the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
A really cool portrait session at the JW Marriott Hotel in Bucharest. After photographing Helena, from the previous post, her sister, Nancy, got in touch saying she would like a portrait session as well [...]
After photographing Helena, from the previous post, her sister, Nancy, got in touch saying she would like a portrait session as well. I obviously said yes and we started discussing ideas for locations. Initially she said her preferred location would be the Capsa Hotel on Calea Victoriei, in Bucharest, because it has this beautiful staircase which she really likes. Unfortunately however, we tried asking for permission to shoot at the hotel, but they said no...So we had to come up with something else. Nancy mentioned that when her family is in Bucharest, they usually stay at the JW Marriott Hotel and no one has ever said anything when they were taking photos of eachother or of the hotel itself. Granted, doing a portrait photoshoot normally looks a bit different than just snapping photos with your phone, but we decided to give it a go anyway, this time without asking anyone about it beforehand. As Grace Hopper said, "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission." And it worked, we ended up shooting at the Marriott and no one even seemed bothered about us. Maybe they thought we were tourists staying at the hotel. The perks of shooting with tiny Fujifilm cameras and lenses!
Now I wonder whether taking the same approach with the first location would have worked.
Below you can see a selection of my favourite photographs taken on this photoshoot. This time I decided to try something a bit different and so I went with a Black and White edit for all the photos taken inside the hotel, mainly because the lighting was pretty poor and not very flattering, but also because taking the colour away removes all distractions and really adds to the images.
Enjoy!
Nancy wanted a few photos with her dad, so we got him involved as well and I am so happy with these next images as you can really see the love and special bond that they share.
For the second part of the photoshoot, Nancy changed her outfit and we headed outside of the hotel where we took a few more photos in which I wanted to get the city and traffic lights into the compositions for a nice artistic effect.
Photoshoot with Helena, a lovely girl from Lebanon
This is a photo session I did with a lovely girl, originally from Lebanon, who was in Bucharest and wanted a photoshoot trying out different outfits. We chose the Cismigiu Gardens as it is a great location especially in autumn [...]
I got an email recently from a young lady from Lebanon who said she was in Bucharest and would like a photoshoot in a nice location. I asked for a bit more information, about her, about what she wanted exactly, how she found me, etc. She said she found me on Instagram and that she wanted to be photographed in a few different outfits, kind of like a fashion shoot.
No doubt that initially I thought 'I am not a fashion photographer' and I wasn't sure I'd be the right photographer for her, but then I realised that she came to me after seeing my work so she must have liked my style so I said to myself 'why not, it could be fun'. And I was right!
Therefore, after exchanging a few more emails we agreed to meet in the city centre and go take photos in the Cismigiu Gardens which is such a good place for photoshoots, especially this time of year! - you can also see the 'urban ballerina' shoot I did in the same location by clicking here.
Below you can see my favourite photos from what was a really relaxing and fun photo session.
We even took a boat out on the lake which taught me that rowing and trying to keep the boat from spinning around while taking photos at the same time is not easy! Managable though with a bit of patience and definitely worth it as the lake looked lovely with the stone bridges going across and the willow trees hanging in the water. Plus the lighting! Oh, the lighting was just gorgeous that afternoon!
Urban Ballerina Photoshoot with the Fujifilm X-T2
Probably every photographer has at least one type of photoshoot that they've always wanted to do. For me it was an 'urban ballerina photoshoot' and after seeing a lot of amazing photographs on websites and blogs, I was very excited when I was finally asked to do one...
Having recently made the switch from Nikon to Fujifilm, I hadn't had the chance to take my new Fujifilm X-T2 for a spin on a real photoshoot. Therefore, I got really excited when I was asked to do this one, especially because it was one of those that I've always wanted to do: an 'urban ballerina' photoshoot.
Ideally we should have done this a week earlier, when the cherry trees were in full blossom, however, busy schedules made it impossible. Nevertheless, there was plenty of colour around and the Cismigiu Gardens, in Bucharest, was a great location!
So without further ado, I leave you with my favourite photographs from the day, taken with the Fujifilm X-T2 and 90mm f2/35mm f2 lenses.
I wanted to try my hand at some surrealist photography for quite some time, so I came up with a few ideas using an empty frame and I am really pleased with how these next two images turned out!
After shooting for a while it was time for a break.
Next, we decided to leave the park and go take some photos on the streets, in the surrounding area.
Working as an action and portrait photographer in Greece
This is my very first post here and hopefully one of many to come, so I'd like to start by welcoming you to my new blog!
As the title mentions, this article is going to be about working as an action and portrait photographer in Greece. The reason I decided to write about this...
Update 2018:
CE Photo are recruiting for summer 2019 positions right now. If after reading this article you decide this job is for you and want to apply, I would appreciate it if you simply mentioned that you were referred by me! If you want to apply, please do so here.
Thanks and good luck!
This is my very first post here and hopefully one of many to come, so I'd like to start by welcoming you to my new blog!
As you might have guessed from the title, this article is going to be about working as a photographer in Greece, which I did over the summer of 2015. This was a job which I got thanks to Clare Edmead Photography, now simply known as CE Photo (you can find all the details about the job and how to apply on Clare's website, including a really cool promotional video showing what working in Greece is like)
The reason I decided to write about this is because during that season I grew a lot as a photographer and had a blast as well, so I wanted to share both my experience and some of the photographs captured there. Also, the information in this post will hopefully be useful to whoever is interested in applying for the job and answer some of the questions you might have about it, questions which I know I had in the beginning, before moving to Greece. Therefore, I decided to go pretty in-depth with this article, so just to give you a heads up, this is going to be quite a lengthy read!
Let's get started!
I could say I got this job by chance, because to begin with, by the time I found the advert for the role, the applications had been closed for about 2 months. However, because I liked the promotional video so much I decided to ask a question and see if there was any need for another photographer. To my surprise, there was an available position...the only problem for me though was that the new photographer was needed there by the end of the month, whereas I was still in my final year in university, with around a month and a half to go until the end of the year.
Despite mentioning this, I was told to submit an application anyway. I did that and a few days later I had a phone interview, followed by a face to face one. Long story short, it all went great, but I ended up not getting the job because they found someone who was available to go to Greece earlier than I possibly could...bummer!...However, about a month later, I got another email from Clare, saying that a position had become available and it was mine if I wanted it. About a week later I was landing in Greece which became my home for the next 4 months.
Nikon D700 + 70-300mm VC | 70mm | f6.3 | 1/4000 s | ISO 800
Arriving in Greece
My position was in Limnos, which is a tiny island in the Aegean Sea and one of the 5 Neilson resorts where Clare sends her photographers every summer. It is a windy island and people go to that specific resort for windsurfing and sailing, but there is also waterskiing and wakeboarding as well as other activities on both water and land. Because I arrived in Greece some weeks after the season had started, I pretty much had to start working right away and I only had a couple of days to learn how things worked and what I had to do. If you apply in time and go there from the beginning of the season ( which usually starts in April) you will undergo a week of training at one of the 5 resorts, so you will be told pretty much everything you need to know, but also get to meet the other photographers and have some fun.
A day in the life of a CEP photographer
For the first two days I followed the other photographers around the resort trying to pay attention to how they were going about photographing the seemingly infinite number of activities that the guests were taking part in. I was given a rota which showed me exactly what I needed to photograph when, and that made things easier...once I had learned how to find my way around the resort.
Photograph by Joe Merchant
For example, one morning I'd be on ski, which meant I had to start the day at 8 and be on the ski boat all morning, taking photos of people waterskiing and wakeboarding until 12. After lunch, a different photographer would jump on the ski boat and I would go do something else, which was either beach or kids club.
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 200mm | f6.3 | 1/3200 s | ISO 800
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 270mm | f6.3 | 1/2500 s | ISO 800
When you are on the beach you basically have to capture everything that goes on there, which typically includes windsurfing, kayaking, sailing and paddle boarding (SUPs) and in order to get the best shots you need to get on one of the safety boats that go around making sure everyone is alright.
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 270mm | f6.3 | 1/3200 s | ISO 800
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 125mm | f6.3 | 1/1250 s | ISO 800
Now that can be a lot of fun, believe me, but once the wind picks up and the sea gets choppy, it all suddenly becomes really challenging...and wet. The sailing boats will capsize a lot more, so the safety boats will be on the move almost continuously, making it that much harder to frame your shots right while holding on to the boat and avoiding your equipment getting soaked at the same time. But it's definitely doable and the more you keep at it the better you get.
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 70mm | f6.3 | 1/1600 s | ISO 800
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 70mm | f6.3 | 1/1600 s | ISO 1600
Then there is the kids club which is a different beast altogether. This was arguably the trickiest thing to photograph, but also the most important one in peak season, which can be quite hectic, with hundreds of kids to photograph each week. The reason why it is challenging is because there are 9 groups of kids which are doing different activities at the same time, all over the resort (which is not small), and it is your job as the photographer to make sure you capture every single group doing different things. The schedule for each group was always written down on boards along with the time of the day when they would do each activity.
Therefore, before the activities started I would go around the resort writing down the schedules for each group and then sit down trying to figure out where I need to be and when, in order to photograph everybody.
At the end of each day, all the photographs had to be processed and uploaded to the computers in the pool bar, for guests to look at and add to their carts in preparation for sales day, which in our case was Thursdays (other resorts had different days). Generally, in order to save time, I used to edit all my morning photographs at lunchtime, so they would be ready to upload before I got to the afternoon ones - I should probably mention that one of the reasons I was doing that was because my laptop was tediously slow and exporting from Lightroom was taking very long ( about one hour for roughly 600 images). It was so slow I actually missed the beginning of our Photo Jolly towards the end of the season, because I had to upload my images but couldn't finish exporting in time.
Sales day was usually the longest day of the week, especially if you were on Ski in the morning and started at 8, because you would take photos until lunchtime and after that all photographers would start taking orders from the guests and burn photos to CDs, until 11pm. However, it did have its good parts, like talking to some cool people and having your work appreciated, which is always nice.
Portrait sessions
One of the things I really enjoyed was doing the family/couple photoshoots on the beach, at sunset. I enjoyed it because this was one area I was a bit scared about when I got there and by the end of the season I managed to improve so much. Up to that point I had only photographed friends or relatives and I didn't exactly know how to work with strangers and how to pose them. On my first two portrait sessions, I actually acted as a second shooter for another photographer in order to see how he interacted with the subjects, which places he took them to and so on.
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 260mm | f6.3 | 1/1000 s | ISO 1600
Once I started doing them on my own though, with each new photoshoot I was getting more confident and I was finding it easier to talk to the families (most of them, some were simply not very chatty by nature) and by the end of the season I was looking forward to each new shoot. The location was great too and there was something special about the whole place being soaked in that soft, golden light.
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 70mm | f10 | 1/250 s | ISO 800
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 130mm | f5.6 | 1/2000 s | ISO 1250
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 270mm | f6.3 | 1/400 s | ISO 1600
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 120mm | f7.1 | 1/400 s | ISO 800
Accommodation, internet and food
One of the nice things about this job is that you don't need to worry about finding a place to stay, as the accommodation is offered and paid for by the company. We were a team of 3 photographers and we shared a 3 bedroom flat in Myrina. Depending on your background you would have found the living conditions to be anywhere from poor, to actually quite nice. I thought there was nothing wrong with the flat, it fulfilled its purpose, which was putting a roof over our heads. Sure, it didn't look modern by any means, and the washing machine was leaking all over the bathroom everytime we'd use it, but hey, at least we had a washing machine. Most of the resort staff were saying how nice our place is, compared to where they lived and some would even come over to do their laundry because they didn't have a washing machine. I thought it was a decent flat and it even had a massive balcony which was a bonus.
Internet is quite a big thing, because at the flat it was non-existent, so what we did is bought Greek sim cards for our phones which we topped up with data only. There were a few different data packages to chose from and the one we went for had 6GB of data, which is not that much and at around €20 it was quite expensive too, but we thought it was the best option available. The way to make that last as long as possible was to not really watch any videos. There was wi-fi at the gyros shop on the corner of our street, as well as in the staff canteen at the hotel, so I used those as well in order to save data.
When it comes to food, we had 3 meals a day at the resort, which to me was great, although some people kept complaining about how bad the food is. I think they simply liked moaning more than they liked eating. I love eating and I found nothing wrong with the food. I found it tasty and varied enough to keep things interesting. The fact that it was a buffet and you could eat as much as you wanted was great because running around and photographing kids all day was no easy job and I was hungry all the time.
Leisure and free time
The work schedule was 6 days a week with one day off, which in our case was Friday. (for other resorts there were different days) Friday was transfer day, when the guests would leave the hotel and head back to chilly UK and be replaced by new guests. So there was no need for photos that day. Because some of the resort staff were off on that day too, we'd sometimes do things together and there is lots to do on that tiny island. You can hire cars quite cheaply in low season or get bikes and go explore the island which has a many other nice beaches, low mountains, waterfalls, caves, abandoned hotels and even a desert.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 18-35mm G| 18mm | f8 | 1/1600 s | ISO 800
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 18-35mm G| 18mm | f5.6 | 1/3200 s | ISO 800
There is kite surfing available, scuba diving and besides, you have access to all the resort's equipment so you can go sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, etc.
Photo by Jade Lara Jordan
Nikon D700 + Tamron Sp 70-300mm VC | 155mm | f6.3 | 1/3200 s | ISO 800
We even rented a big boat once and had a party in the middle of the sea. There is no shortage of things to do there. My biggest regret is that I really needed to save money and didn't see more of the island. Also, and this is quite ironic, I regret not taking more photographs outside my job.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 18-35mm G| 30mm | f8 | 1/2500 s | ISO 800
If I knew back then I would be writing this article now, I would have taken many more photos. In a way it's understandable though, because when you take thousands of photographs a week, you don't really feel like doing it again on your only day off.
Equipment
Lastly, I want to talk about an important part of the job and that is gear. What camera and lenses should you have for the job? Well, there are definitely many options available, but generally you want a DSLR which can track moving subjects well and a good telephoto lens. Full frame has some advantages, but some of the photographers used cropped sensor cameras and still did a great job. I am a Nikon shooter and the gear I had at the time was:
- Nikon D700 w/ battery grip
- D3000 as a backup body (never used it and actually sold it to someone at the end of the season)
- Tamron SP 70-300mm f4-5.6 VC
- Nikon 50mm 1.8G (never used it)
- Nikon 18-35mm G (never used it)
- Yongnuo Speedlite (never used it)
- a tripod (never used it)
- 3 batteries
- plastic covers (used when photographing from speed boats in order to protect the camera and lens from getting wet)
- protection/UV filters for the lenses (these are a necessity as no matter how careful you are, you WILL get small drops of salty water onto the front bit of the lens and it is better to wipe it off a cheap filter than off the glass element. they also do a great job keeping dust and sand away)
This was my gear at the time, plus a t-shirt received as a present, to go with it all.
When I took the job I was wondering whether the 5 fps of the D700 will be enough for shooting action, or if my £200 Tamron lens would be up for it. Well now that I have done it, I can confidently say that I would've been alright with lesser equipment too. I know other photographers who used cameras like the D800, or the Canon 5D mark 3. To be completely honest, I'd be a bit concerned bringing my £2000 camera on a job like this, because the conditions can be pretty harsh sometimes and getting your gear covered in salty sea spray can pottentially cause some damage in the form of rust or sticky buttons.
My D700 was great because it is an all weather sealed body made of metal so it can take a beating, but I am the kind of photographer who babies his equipment anyway so I kept it nice and clean all the time (which is a good thing because the better you take care of it, the longer it is going to last and also, the more it is going to be retain its value should you eventually decide to sell it).
You can definitely get by with a cropped sensor camera though, because 95% of the times you will be taking photos outdoors, under the hot and bright Greek sun. For the family photoshoots, done at sunset in dim light, the full frame sensor of the D700 was great, allowing me to push the ISO quite high with very little noise, but cameras like the D7200 or the 7D mark 2 could still work great for a job like this.
In terms of lenses, again, there were photographers shooting with 70-200mm lenses, that were worth at least double the money that I paid for mine. I got really sharp photos out of my Tamron 70-300mm VC lens, which in decent light has no problem aquiring focus precisely and fast enough. However, for Nikon shooters, I wouldn't reccommend any other budget, variable aprerture lens than the Tamron model I used (The Nikon 70-300mm VR could work, but keep in mind that it has a max aperture of f4.5, compared to the f4 of the Tamron, so you loose a bit of light).
Would I recommend the job to others?
Absolutely. You get to live on an island for up to 6 months, it is hot and sunny most of the time, you meet a lot of cool people, your food, accommodation and flights are all paid for and you get a salary on top of that as well as different performance related comissions. Sure, sometimes the working hours can be long and tiring and you don't take a job like this to get rich, but it can be a lot of fun and you get to improve a lot as a photographer, in an area of photography which is not within a lot of people's reach (talking about action photography here).
On the whole, it was a unique experience and personally I would go back there in a heartbeat if I had the chance.
Nikon D700 + Nikkor 18-35mm G | 27mm | f5.6 | 1/400 s | ISO 200