At 1975, Gentle Giant released ‘Free Hand’. It was an album of wild experimentation, even if it’s considered ’softer’ compared to some of their earlier stuff. It’s one of my all-time favorite albums, too. Complex vocal harmonies, crazy arrangements and some of the most thoughtful lyrics. Here’s an example.

“Make me someone else, put me up on a stand.
Something that I don’t really want on my hands
Use me, idolise all you can understand
Don’t you see that I’m just doing what I want to do
Nothing more and nothing less than you
Read no thoughts I didn’t think myself
Just the same as anybody else“
—-Gentle Giant, ‘Just the Same’

That lyric is stuck in my mind ever since I first heard the words. The ‘read no words I didn’t think myself’ part is what fascinated me the most: it’s such a inverse way to describe what causes many, many problems in today’s society — judging others based on only your personal experience, feelings and thoughts of who they are and what the heck they’re doing. That’s the position I’m at, today. So here goes.

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Yo Motherf*cker!
Originally uploaded by Sino Banes

I’m not a big street shooter. I do love street photography, the idea of capturing the soul of a city — the human life and the surroundings, all blended magically into an image. Thing is — I’m not there yet. I haven’t even started the trip. Street photography is hard. I mean, if all the stuff that I do is titties showoff, street has to be full hardcore double-penetration porn. The light, the focus, the exposure, the framing — all have to be perfect, for a street shot to speak clearly to my eyes. And when we’re done with the techie stuff, there’s emotion. What the fuck would any shot depicting human beings be without a strong emotion coming from it?

So, I practice. I’ve got this Canonet QL17 GIII, a classic camera for street and snapshots that I love more than all of my super auto program focus crazy “click and I’ll do the rest for you” cameras and lenses. It sees a lot of use, but I’m not sure if most of what I do with it is worth it or not. As an example, I loved seeing Shallow’s negative come out of the tank, and had a hell of a time printing it — I even printed it as a 30×40, a size I almost never use (too damn big). The whole thing had to do with people in the city but, more importantly, plants in the city.

Anyways. I’m just moaning. Again.

This cutie and her friends fell right on our table, when me and my girl were on a trip to Thessaloniki. We stopped at Monastiraki, Athens for an hour or two and headed straight over to Mpairaktaris for souvlaki. There’s thousands of immigrants there, mostly black people, roaming the streets and selling all sorts of stuff. Monastiraki is a great big bazaar actually; everyone’s selling something. From coconuts to genitals, if you look close enough in just the right corner, you’ll definitely find what you’re after.

So we’re just sitting there, biting our beloved souvlaki and having our beer, and she’s walking down the street with the fellas behind her. No music yet. And I look at the Eminem t-shirt and smile. And she heads to our table, starts dancing, an all-obscene mix of hip hop and kalamatianos, and the guys behind her take off their “organs” and death-folk-metal poses. Man did I fall in love with the lady!

Music Day at Chania was fucking awesome. There were a couple of bands that blew us out, like Modus Vivendi & Soundtrap. I was so impressed by the latter that decided to shoot their show — most of which consisted of the guys smoking and drinking beer whilst playing their stuff.

Well, here you go. Have a look!

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The numerous emails, polls and petitions caused no change in Polaroid’s decision to stop manufacturing their instant films. Maybe because they are so easy in filling out, or even easier to dismiss. Maybe an analog way will work better, when trying to save analog materials.

Please fill-in, print & send the following: Polaroid Survey. It might as well change something