This was the third year in a row that I attended this fair and although it takes place on the same streets and the vendors that sell their goods, are more or less the same every year, it looked different. At least to my eyes. I am trying to figure out if it was me, having lost the enthusiasm of the first years or if it was different indeed.
I know that it is very tiring for the street vendors, sleeping in their cars for three nights and working very long hours, it has always been like that. But as I remember them from last years, most of them were cheerful and humorous, teasing one another, as well as their clients. That's the way fairs are. Loud, outgoing, joyful.
But not this year.
This years I saw tired faces, stressed, moody people, performing their duties in a soulless, forced way. And it's not that I passed by for a few minutes and it was a vague impression. I went three times and each time I had the same sentiment. As everyone was obliged to be there, without really wanting to. Including the hundreds of people that were walking up and down, checking out the merchandise and shopping some stuff.
I don't want to be unfair to anyone. Maybe I was in a mood and I didn't manage to catch the vide of the fair but this is my blog so I guess that you are expecting to read my thoughts, don't you?
So when I finally decided to take a few pictures, just a few hours before they start packing everything and get on their way to the next selling place, I had a shooting plan in my head. I took with me only a fixed 50mm lens and I knew that I'll edit the pictures in a nostalgic b&w style. I had in mind the images I shared in this post, which are taken with b&w film, many years ago.
So apart from the aesthetic part, I also made a technical bet with myself, if I can recreate the feeling, as well as the imperfections, of the film photography of my youth!
I used my dslr very casually, almost like a point-and-shoot one. I wandered around with one hand in my pocket, raising the camera with the other, when something was catching my attention, taking the shot almost without looking. I can't say that they are my best pictures ever but I think that they transmit the feeling I was aiming for and there are two or three of them that I like a lot.
Not bad for a hasty shooting that I wasn't very fond of!
I am also putting the links of the posts that I wrote in 2023 and 2024 if you like to make a comparison.
The camera that I used is a Canon EOS 6D mark II with an EF 50mm f1.8/L STM lens attached. I edited the photographs in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic
All the pictures and the words are mine.
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
Amazing photographs, and I really did get a nostalgic feeling when scrolling through them. Almost like you took me to my youth with similar types of markets and stalls. I really enjoyed the photographs.
But I also get the feeling you are talking about. It is almost like everything changed so suddenly. Here in South Africa, every small town imports so much stuff that has nothing to do with the town (for example, there is a "fly fishing and trout" town, and when I visited the town, there was more plastic toys imported from all over the world, and almost no fish products and minimal mention of anything fly fishing except for one sign. The general feeling the town was also the same you described above.)
We are indeed living in strange times.
On a totally different note, me and my fiance are planning to potentially visit Greece in the future. I am wondering, would you be available on Discord (or something similar) to give us some tips of where to go and where to avoid, and so on? Your posts about small towns have inspired us so much, and we would love to travel to some of them, if they are still worth it.
I hope you are doing well!
Your comment is upvoted by @topcomment
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Yes, it looks like a global thing. The world is changing rapidly (for the worse) and we are struggling to keep up!
I'll be glad to help you with your travel plans and who knows even meet up when you'll be in Greece :)
I am not getting along well with discord but you can find a link to my website on my profile page and there, my contact info.
Cheers!
I think your goal is very well achieved: the light, the bodies that look like shadows, the facial expressions clearly marked by tiredness, and vague thoughts... time frozen in a place where people need to go to earn a living and others to find something they need or simply indulge themselves... or to walk and escape their routines.
Sometimes I don't know how to talk about melancholy and sadness on my blog, recreating the atmosphere, because not everyone likes it, but you said something very true: it's our blog and our shared intimate space...
Excellent photos, and your idea is very well achieved... Congratulations.
Thank you very much, I am glad you liked them :)
Well we can't always write about happy things. Sadness and melancholy are part of life too and we are only humans!
That's rights!!!
Maybe it’s just the global mood at the moment? We’re all feeling a lot of kilter. With that said, I think your photos are excellent and I’ve done a similar thing before to help me look more nonchalant rather than seeking posed photos.
Thank you!
Yes, sometimes we shouldn't take the role of photographer too seriously and just go with the flow :)
I loved the photos😍. The bokeh achieved in some of them is really beautiful. I really like the foreground blurs in turn.
Out of all this one is my favorite:
That one, and the one of the older lady in the foreground.🙌
Yes I like that one too but I think that the one with the lady is my favourite one :)
Thank you for stopping by!
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STOPEloquent photos, brilliant use of grain to generate textures, both vertical and horizontal framing turned out perfectly...
I am glad you liked them! Thank you for your support :)
love the market vibes
Thank you for stopping by :)
Thank you very much @qurator and @brumest for your support, much appreciated!