Inspiration

One of the joys of having moved to my apartment is that there is much more wall space suitable for hanging pictures. I've been able to put this print in my hallway, facing the front door. It gives me a great deal of pleasure every time I look at it, and I think the dark blue wall paint really sets it off. It's one of my oldest pieces of art, a print of a photograph by Georges Meis, a Greek photographer whose work is sold by the ton in tourist spots in Greece: prints, calendars, postcards. I must have had it for over forty years, bought as a memento of a Greek island holiday. (I'm a great fan of that 'Greek blue' you see everywhere on the islands.) 

It's associated with very happy memories for me and yet... more than that... It's hard to describe but in many ways it represents the first time I became interested in photography as an art form, rather than simply a record or snapshot. There is something about the liquid quality of the print, almost as if it was shot underwater, and the way that the shadows blend with the cracks on the wall so that you can't really tell which is which. The whole has a kind of balance, lyricism and movement that appeals to me. I think it was where my own photographic journey really started, and so it means a lot to me.