Greece: Day 3- The Iakovos Kolanian Photo Shoot

Today's destination was the seaside city of Nafplio, Greece. The main attraction in the city is the fortress that towers above the ritzy town. The two hour ride there was a pure joy in terms of seeing Greece outside of Athens. Photographer Kevork Imirzian was definately pumped about the upcoming photo shoot. We would be there during prime light hours, between 8am and 10am and between 2pm and 4pm. I can't explain the lighting process with photography, but, I was assured that these were the best times during the day to shoot. During the ride to Nafplio, it was amazing to think that I was actually going to be in the Peleponesis section of Greece next to cities such as Argo (Jason and the Argonauts), Corinthia, etc. These were historic places that you read about in school. Now, to be near the locations was pretty cool.

As the owner of a record label, you hire the best people you know to do the important work on the album that you cannot. I've know Kev for almost 17 years and the one thing he can do (as well as many others) is do photo shoots. Both he and Iakovos were preparing for the upcoming sessions while getting out of the car and into the main square in Nafplio. Being a good leader in any industry requires that you let the pros do their thing. So, I gave the photographer and artist plenty of space to map out their plan for the next few hours. My role would be to carry bags and a guitar case for the afternoon and keep my mouth shut.

The photo sessions of Napflio consisted of three parts. The first part was capturing Iakovos in intimate narrow streets while heading uphill. Kevork knew exactly that Iakovos would gravitate toward standard poses. Cleverly, Kevork got Iakovos to loosen up and got him to be photographed in some unusual backdrops. Since this city had an element of intimacy with their streets being narrow and with no cars in some areas, the colors and scenic settings seemed to have Kevork in full inspired mode. Iakovos in the meantime was enjoying the spotlight. He had never had a weeklong photo shoot before and was happy that we would have many choices of photos in the end.
The trick of this photoshoot for Kevork was that we are releasing an album of music whose composer was from Paraguay. Thus, we had to had to have dynamic photos without a hint of Greece in them. Given the bountiful scenery in Napflios, that would not become a problem. Once we were done with "street scenes", a trek up by car to the Fortress of Napflios was next. It took about 5 minutes to get there and once we did reach the top, it was time to step into our blockbuster find of the day.

Although I didn't completely grasp the whole history of the fotress, it was built by the Greeks, taken by the Turks, and then captured again by the Greeks where it now stands. How these people built these things back in the day is beyond me. But, it had everything you can imagine in a fortress. Lookout towers, openings in the walls where ammunition can be fired, the imposing high wall, prison cells, everything. Kevork and Iakovos were able to get in some very good shots with that rough wall exterior in the background. The light was perfect and the seas shining in the background.

After a full day of shooting, we headed back down to the center of town and went into a restaurant that Iakovos knew well. A rather portly waiter/owner of the joint came in and without even giving us a menu said in one long sentence, "Where you from, OK, we have lamb, you want lamb, I will get you lamb, what else, some bread, don't worry you will like it, also we will get you dolma, OK?" I looked at the guy who looked like a character out of "The Sopranos" and said , "I'll take your Greek salad and beef steak.". Luckily Iakovos filtered by English to the man and we had a very good dinner. There were about 5 people in the whole place with more workers there than patrons. Neverthreless, the casual nature of Greeks was on display and again I got that fuzzy feeling of seeing this before in Armenia. And, just like in Armenia, I believe they overcharged us. That's OK, it was the theater of the situation that amused me.

After a great dinner, we drove home pretty wiped out. As others went to sleep, I was told by Iakovos and Kevork that there was a George Dalaras concert on at around Midnight. It eventually came on at 1am, and I watched my favorite Greek singer belt out song after song. If Iakovos is the great classical gutiarist in Greece, Dalaras is the king of the Greek vocals. I don't know about you, but, when I watch a good movie or see a fine concert, the creative ideas come forth fast and furious. I got that feeling watching Dalaras. Only this time, that familiar feelings of needing to score big on this trip with a lucky contact with a big name came through again. Aside from the photo shoot, I was in Greece to study and understand the music market. How, who, why, and where. Iakovos had mentioned during the day that there was a very outside shot of meeting a big name composer and impresario later in the week, however, he doubted we could get a foot in the door. He would try and contact them on day 4 of our trip and see what happens. Before I went to sleep, I was pressing for creative ideas on how to market and promote the Barrios album by Iakovos. I stayed up later than expected and starting pouring through niche classical guitar magazines to understand how the market responds to CD's, etc through advertising. Exhausted, I went to bed and could only hope Iakovos could come through on his mention of meeting the VIP's of the music world in Greece.

Day 4 would be a free day for everyone as Iakovos had students to tend to, and me and Kev decided to call on a few old acquantances in Athens within the Plaka. For Kev, it would give him more ideas and free shots of Athens. For me, it was time to visit an old friend's father.

Top Photo taken by Kevork Imirzian inside the Fortress at Napflio, Greece. Posted with permission. The rest were taken by me. As you can tell, big difference in quality. Kev is the pro, I was the tourist.