It is my pleasure to welcome Gianni Giatilis as our latest guest curator. Until I asked him for a bio to post in this introduction, I only knew him as a clever photographer and all around nice person from interacting with him online. It turns out that he has been hiding most of his accomplishments from us, but now the cat is out of the bag:

 

Gianni Giatilis was born in Piraeus Greece, now lives just outside Athens and has been taking photos for forty years. In 1983, after some business studies, he attended a Cinema College where he studied Cinema Direction. His education at this college included the study of Photography, which enabled him to further develop his technical expertise.

 

In 1982 Gianni became a Professional photographer and started to work for Art Galleries where he photographed sculptures and paintings. Later in the 80s he had the opportunity of shooting some fashion and advertising. Eventually he was captured by Photojournalism, and this became his passion and main area of activity from 1993 to 1997 working for Greek photo agencies and newspapers and also as a stringer for EPA (AFP) and Reuters.

 

In 1997 he was offered a job in a totally different sector and started a new career in Advertising sales and Marketing for a major Greek print and online newspaper.

Sixteen years later he returned to photography as an "amateur" shooting for his own pleasure. Joined 1x in January 2013, now rediscovering inspiration and started shooting and printing again, exploring new dimensions in photography.

 

Gianni will explain how his batch is going to work. It may take him until tomorrow to post here because it is 2am in Greece and he is either partying or sleeping, but not reading 1X forums. I am looking forward to our first professionally curated batch! Thank you for taking this one, Gianni!

 

Thank you Martin.

In addition to all the accomplishments you mentioned he speaks Greek also. If by chance anyone reading this is not convinced what a skill that is - try it and get back to me in about 10 years.:)

 

Looking forward to your Curating Gianni.

 

Marvelous. Ka-ta-plee-tee-ko.

 

Have fun Gianni!

 

Ms. Athena

 

Hi everyone,

I had to think a lot before I started this batch so finally decided to go for a theme, although this might narrow the contributions but I see themed batches had a lot of success up to now, so why not.

The theme for this batch is DARK.

I was always attracted by low key images and also think that using minimal light is challenging, either in shooting or composition; at the same time this theme it's not so restricting as most of us may have a few "dark shots".

I am not a religious person but one way or the other (the scientific one) Darkness seems to pre-exist Light:

Genesis 1 The Beginning :

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”...

You are free to interpret this as you like, portrait, landscape, street or doc, abstract or still life, architecture or creative edit, I am looking forward to your fresh "Dark" submissions and I hope the theme is attracting to you.

As usual, the Batch will stay open until there are enough contributions according to the group rules.

 

Thanks Martin for the wonderful and "flattering" introduction, just to add that I am more of an "amateur" in thinking now than ever before. I also would like to thank Ms Athena (Phyllis) for the warm welcome, and I hope this is not Greek to you all :)

Gianni

I'll go first-

 

http://1x.com/photo/226924/all:user:418768

I'll be next with my "Dark Rose."

 

http://www.1x.com/photo/198630/group:160:all

 

Gianni, I am very much looking forward to your curation.

 

Best Regards

Thomas

Here is my contribution which I have titled "Fence noir" as a play with words on the "film noir" term.

 

Looking forward to seeing all the other contributions and the curation of this batch!

 

http://www.1x.com/photo/328068/all:user:259729

Hi Gianni

 

You have set a theme that will be very popular, I think!

 

Here is my contribution - a ziggurat structure in Budapest which I visited last week: http://1x.com/photo/334252/group:160:all

 

Enjoy your time as guest curator!

 

Best wishes,

 

Linda

My contribution is called "Corridor".

 

http://1x.com/photo/337388/all:user:9331

 

Dan

Hey,

 

I'm glad you chose this theme, Gianni :) That way I can show some shots of a "dark" series I have... OK, I'll stick to 3 images only:

 

http://1x.com/photo/126859/group:160:all

 

http://1x.com/photo/129260/group:160:all

 

http://1x.com/photo/129262/group:160:all

 

These are very important to me, because it's the first time I've worked in a "series", meaning, going different days to the same place, with the same gear (lensbaby) and the idea to make something coherent instead of just random shots which is what I do all the time.

 

Hope you like it. There's not much done in post-processing, the blur and the "grain" comes from shooting with the LB and high ISO mainly.

 

Cheers,

paco.

Hi all,

 

Here is my contribution with this mysterious view from Mono Lake (Eastern California)...

 

http://1x.com/photo/337978/group:160:all

This looks like such an interesting them! Congratulations Gianni, looking forward to seeing more, I am hoping to find something to contribute.

A special picture for me, because it was my first curated here at 1x, and apparently also selected for the yearbook (I'll have to see the book to really believe it, hehe).

 

I think it fits the theme... in remembrance of dark days:

 

http://1x.com/photo/76818/group:160:all

 

Interesting topic, and many different interpretations possible. I would like to submit two images.

The first one being a long exposure image taken while driving through a tunnel. Light painting. very dark, few lights. "Let there be light".

http://1x.com/photo/167582/group:160:all

The second one was submitted earlier in Batch 7 and made it into the Honorable Mentions. I could not submit it a second time, but I think it fits very well under the "Dark" theme. For the first was the image taken indoors, with limited light available. The topic if the book the person is reading is also very dark, as is the development.

http://1x.com/photo/168574

Best regards,

Frédéric

 

My second contribution is "The Dark Side of the Moon." I am particularely pleased with my picture because it is the first I developped in Lightzone, a RAW-converter that has become freeware in the current version 4.0 and which I have started to learn.

http://www.1x.com/photo/301873/group:160:all

Nice Topic and great contributions so far!

 

i will add this one: http://www.1x.com/photo/178910/group:160:all

Something fun from 2009:

 

http://1x.com/photo/339585/group:160:all:admin:1972

 

In February 2009 NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory. This was taken from the palisades in Santa Monica, CA. The launch was from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, CA. Sadly the mission was a failure as the satellite failed to separate from the missile after the burn and fell into the ocean near Antarctica. Details here:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/oco/main/index.html

 

This is stitched from four 30 second exposures. The gaps are where different stages of the rocket burned out and another ignited.

 

Very cool!

 

Or very hot!

 

Or very dark!

Darkness under the warm glow of sunshine...

 

http://1x.com/photo/304315/all:user:235988

 

This was taken in 2007. I was trying to take a photo of Mt Semeru in Java erupting. Unfortunately, the mountain refused to cooperate and it just smoked for most of the night. In order to get the best eruption photo I set the camera to 30 second shutter speed and just kept taking photos. As fate would have it, that night was also quite good for meteors. This was the brightest meteor I have ever seen, and I happened to be pointing a camera at it with the shutter open. I don't think I can claim any great planning here, but I even think the composition is about right.

And here's the photo

 

http://1x.com/photo/271789/all:user:269613

 

Great catch Steve!!

Hi all,

 

Here is my contribution :

 

" Dawn Blessing "

http://1x.com/photo/288359/all:user:421622

Another one that matches the theme-

http://1x.com/photo/343777/all:user:418768

Another contribution to the "dark" theme from me.

 

This image was captured on a recent visit to Budapest.

 

The dark in this case is the rather brooding atmosphere created by the threatening sky and as the fierce-looking statue of Almos, Grand Prince of Hungary, who stands guard at the foot of the steps leading to the top of the Fisherman's Bastion.

 

It seemed to me as if the visitor felt intimated by the larger-than-life statue as he tip-toed slowly and quietly passed Almos to reach the top of the bastion........But perhaps it was just my imagination was working over time!

 

http://1x.com/photo/344839/group:160:all

Can it be "dark" as in dark humor?

 

If so:

 

http://1x.com/photo/342692/group:160:all

 

You might consider limiting the number of uploads Gianni, because I've already added 5... sorry!

No problem Paco, the more we have the better :)

I see we have some good contributions up to now,

keep submitting everyone.

Gianni

Vision

 

http://1x.com/photo/346593/all:user:45800

 

A dark, mostly purely black picture. The mood? Not dark but not light either...

 

I like it. It reminds me the work of Brett Walker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettwalker/ which Steve Hill linked me to once in 1x V2 forum when I was asking stupid questions about composition and portraits. His answer as I recall was more or less: whatever works! :)

 

Anna - I really like your picture, very interesting approach to a portrait, and Paco thank you for posting that link, also some very interesting portraits. As someone who has never done a portrait (and truth be told I am not usually moved by most portraits) these different approaches work for me and open my eyes to new possibilities. For me personally Anna's and Mr. Walker's portraits not only show the personality of the subject but also appeal to me as works of art.

Paco, Paula, thanks! I like many Brett's portraits as well. I learned about him after I did this portrait. Have to credit my uncle, a graphics artist, for my love for prints, or anything that looks like prints.

 

My portrait is not a portrait verbatim, meaning it's not that much similar to the man himself. We have a mutual agreement though that his picture served as a basis for this work. I have a feeling that it should be the case with some Brett's portraits as well. But then again, how many 20th century portraits did not quite reflect how the models looked like?...

Something different to most of the contributions so far: Dark and light. The title "KRY" comes from Blac(K), (R)ed and (Y)ellow, the pictures' only tones.

http://www.1x.com/photo/344941/group:160:all

shot taken in Varanasi, night, on the Ganges. It was a boat of Japanese tourists on travel. And just that night there had been the big earthquake in Japan. Their songs and prayers filled the whole universe that moment, still giving me chicken flesh

 

moments of prayer

 

http://1x.com/photo/348229/all:user:13704

 

http://1x.com/photo/345964/group:160:all

 

The interior of the building is in almost complete darkness, with just a dim lampshade visible in the background. We can only really appreciate that it's a restaurant because the sun is illuminating the cloth covering a table by window and the edge of an empty chair.

 

The lone diner has departed, leaving a crumpled napkin on the seat. A hand appears from out of the gloom to remove a small flower vase, the only sign of life in this otherwise dark place. Meanwhile life goes on as normal outside, as people pass by oblivious to the lonely little scene being enacted in the restaurant window.

 

 

...And now for something completely different, inspired by Gianni's "Dark" theme:

 

http://1x.com/photo/351732/group:160:all

This is the last call for the "Dark" theme. This batch is going to close by midnight on Wednesday, Central European time (Sweden time as the site is based there).

Any members who want to participate please upload your photos to the gallery and post the link here.

I think there is a lot of work for me to do because there are already some nice contributions

Gianni

 

I had uploaded my submission but think I forgot to put a link in the thread.

 

http://1x.com/photo/85453/group:160:all

 

You certainly will have your hands full on this, so many wonderfully dark images! Paula

 

My first humble try. Sunset scenery near lake Balaton in Hungary. There is a small basin (Káli medence) not so far from Balaton. It is surrounded by small volcanic mountains, and in the very midst of it a small lake. The subject isn't of course the lake but a sunset scene on its shore with tree enigmatical scultures and bikers equally waiting for the magical scene, the approach of darkness to happen.

 

http://1x.com/photo/357077/all:user:81833

 

Oh I like that one! Very rich silhouettes!

Hi all, tomorrow it's closing time. Just to remind you, don't forget to put your photos on to the group gallery.

 

 

Hi Tibor, please upload your photo to the group gallery. You can do this by going to the cog wheel on the bottom right part of your monitor, then select Add to group gallery, and select Fresh ideas.

 

Thanks

Gianni Giatilis

wow, with all these great works. Well, I'll try to enter this one. 'Dark' is not usually my cup of tea, but what the hell, one must leave the comfort zones from time to time. Hope you like it.

http://1x.com/photo/352962/all:user:242908

buah, I've just realized I'm late XDD well, will just stroll around and enjoy the beautiful scenery :D great works

 

 

I don't think you are... ;)

And here is my try for the topic. In my head it is a dark (much black and a little white) tribute to Jan Vermeer´s "girl with a pearl earring", but i am not quite sure if this is still valid outside of my head.

 

hahaha thanx. My maths are this pathetic :D

 

Hi there... it seems you've forgotten to upload the pic :( at least I see no link.

Sorry, forgot to paste it into my post. Here it is:

http://1x.com/photo/348138/group:160:all

Thanks for telling me, Olga.

One last contribution from me...

 

http://1x.com/photo/358433/group:160:all

 

Memorial to the 191 people from all over the world who lost their lives in the Madrid train bombings, March 11 2004....a dark day indeed.

 

And on that sombre note, I hope that someone submits a "dark" image with a lighter mood before the theme is closed in a few hours time.

 

a tough image in its simplicity.

It's been rumored that Bob works for the NSA:

 

http://1x.com/photo/190219/group:160:all:admin:1972

 

hahaha... do you think Bob is going to seek political asylum in Russia ? :)

 

Believe it or not, I drove by there a couple of days ago and all that was left of Bob was a rusty pipe...

Hi everyone,

This batch is finally closed. Please check again if your photo/s are in the group gallery.

Thank you all for your contributions, I will be with you again in a few days for the results.

 

Gianni Giatilis

 

According to some unconfirmed information Bob became gay and went to Amsterdam to get married :) :) :)

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202537849433497&set=a.1056731904557.2010060.1413656879&type=1&theater

 

He also appears to be eating fewer Big Boy Burgers!