A lot of people have asked me to tell the story behind my photo “Old Friends”. So here it is….It was incredibly hot that day on Naxos, an island in Greece. We were travelling around in a rental car in the middle of nowhere on our way to nowhere. We approached this tiny one goat town called Mesi’. I’ll never forget it. Hotter than hades, these women were sitting in a circle on large stones, telling stories….all dressed in black (in parts of Europe, the women dress in black when their husbands have died as a sign that they are widowed). For some reason I was in awe of them. I made the driver pull the car over so I could get out and photograph them. I got out and signaled to one of the women that I wanted to photograph them by somehow conveying my respect for them and gesturing toward my camera. Neither of us spoke each other’s language…I had this old Yashica twin lens reflex with me and some medium format film. I had two shots left on the last roll. The strong woman, took the hand of her elder, and made her come over for a portrait. And that was that. When I got home and processed the film, I was struck by the strength in the women’s hands, and the beautiful wrinkles around the eyes telling many stories of wisdom and perseverance. Thank you beautiful Greek women for haunting me forever.
Pin it“Old Friends” ~ Mesi’, on the isle of Naxos, Greece
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