A few hours after our morning meeting, we met again at the old village of Vrondou to capture the trails of the stars. We chose to aim for the Polar Star so that the orbits of the neighbouring stars would form a circle around it. We set our tripod, adjusted our intevalometer and let our Nikon D750 camera capture about 250 photos. Thence using the program StarStaX we combined these photos and here's the result: Impressive, isn't it? Our three hours of wait time for the process to complete, there were quite a few so we played around with our Nikon D3200 camera creating photos like this one:  Here are the brave ones (the team's boys didn't follow us today) who defied the cold weather and took part in this activity:

Our team does not lose its inner stamina, not even on the on the brink of a holiday!   In fact, this Sunday we met earlier in order to prepare some calendars with our photographs, as we do every year. This time around we chose a picture of the Milky Way we shot. Afterwards we discussed about matters like “Where does an artist draw inspiration from?   And black & white or colour photography?   . Finally, we explored a technical subject regarding the lens of a camera (focal length and diaphragm). However, we are not quite done yet for today. We adjourned our meeting until the evening. We set a meeting point the old town of Vrondou. Our goal to photograph the trails of the stars…

Another Sunday morning was full of life for our school thanks to the Photo Club meeting! Many new members attended, so we focused on the basics regarding the body of a camera: the shutter, the mirror, the viewfinder and the photometer! We also watched a video in which Platonas Rivellis talks about the qualities a photographer must possess. And off course we had fun by playing yet another game... At the end, as usual, we shot pictures of each other!

Why should one concern himself with artistic photography? What kind of subjects do we choose to photograph? Does a picture have to provoke the viewer’s emotions? These are some of the topics that we discussed during this meeting. On a positive note we have new members joined our team. We welcomed them and threw them right in at the deep end. And of course, we played yet another ice-breaking game. When we were done, we visited one of the village’s taverns to satisfy our hunger and get to know each other a little better.

At our first meeting in the library this year, many new members attended, painting a rather optimistic atmosphere! Firstly, we began with an ice-breaking game. Afterwards we discussed about the content of the meetings that will follow, matters regarding the team’s way of operation and of course..... we shot lots of pictures with the 3 DSLR Nikon cameras we had at our disposal.

Our first meeting for yhis year took place at the old village of Vrondou, during the night, as the conditions were ideal for a photoshoot of the Milky Way. Even though the new members might not be familiar with the technical details, the enthusiasm was agreeable for all of us. Down below are some of the photos we shot:

This time around we weren’t as lucky. We visited the chapel of the Holy Trinity at Vrondou and we tried, once again, – with our new DSLR camera – to take a picture of the Galaxy. However, the sky was cloudy, so this couldn’t be done. This is the best shot we managed to capture: Here are the members of the team that participated: Once the clouds had fully covered the sky, we experimented with a glowing hula-hoop ring. It was quite interesting... Check out what we managed to shoot below:

We dreamt about it! We worked for it! We acquired it! So what did we get? The Nikon D750 camera kit with 24-120mm f/4 VR lens! This is a full-frame DSLR model that extends the range of our capabilities as a school photography team. Of course, it will be used to cover all other activities of the school, capturing beautiful memories for our school community. Our efforts to acquire it began 4 years ago with some actions from our former school principal Athanasios Vrakopoulos. Unfortunately, despite some promises we were not able to realise our dream.   The vision was embraced by the current principal of our Lyceum, Mr. George Papavassiliou, who supported and guided our efforts and materialised our aspirations. To achieve this, of course, a considerable amount of money had to be spent. The greater part of the cost was covered by the residents of Kontariotissa, Katerini and Litochoro, who responded to our call for help by purchasing a book, characterising the ...

The schools may have closed but our meetings continue! The date was set to 07-02-2019 at 22:30.The date and time wasn’t chosen randomly, as our goal was to capture an image of the Galaxy! The necessary requirements for this to happen include, having a New moon, a clear sky and zero light pollution. You pick an open diaphragm, a wide angle lens (in order to capture as much of the sky as possible), a necessarily high ISO and a shutter speed that allows for a good print of the stars but doesn’t create undesirable star trails (‘’The rule of 600’’ in astrophotography’’).Off course some experimentation and a tripod are a necessity in this scenario . For starters we chose the proper location at the area of Holy Trinity on Mt.Olympus. The observation of the starry night is truly something magical! Especially when you manage to depict the galaxy, feeling awe knowing what surrounds us. Afterwards we chose to visit some other areas like ‘Saint Athanasios’ in Kontariotissa and...

Ultimately, this is our last meeting at the school library for this year. Unfortunately, everyone could attend… Those of us devoted enough to be here, begun with an evaluation of this photography program, by sharing what we liked and didn’t like during this year. Afterwards, we played “musical chairs” the popular children’s game. Lastly , we gathered around a table in the school yard , taking our brunch and coming together as a company. Was this it then? We meet again in September? Of course not, we set a date to meet again in the summer, yet the details shall remain a secret!

This might have been our last meeting at the school library for this year. This is the reason why it was somewhat different. We started with a technical subject by breaking down the PSAM functions and the differences between the bodies of cameras. We continued by discussing matters we’ve dealt with through the year and by making plans for our future activities. We got so absorbed that we even forgot to shoot any pictures. Unbelievable isn’t it? Unbelievable yet true! This is the reason why we’re only posting a picture of our team’s acronym.

Today we made an educational day trip to the city of Thessaloniki! We started travelling by intercity bus from the town of Katerini at 08:30 and returned at 21:30. Firstly we visited the experimental centre of arts where we visited two exhibitions hosted there under the “Thessaloniki Design Week” festival. To be more specific, we visited the following exhibits: Projects from the international open call & Greek product designers’ exhibition. Afterwards we visited the Photography Museum. There we visited the photography exhibition “Young Greek Photographers 2010-2019”. Our next visit was at the “Which body is mine” exhibition by Ioanna Skantzheli which is hosted at the Bensousan Han under the “SKG Bridges Uprising Art & Culture Festival” which is co-ordinated by the Ministry of Culture & Sports in co-operation with the “Thessaloniki Concert Hall” organization. Then, each member of our team separately, walked along the esp...