The Power of the Image

Being a photographer is quite the job. It is not as important as saving lives or curing a disease but it definitely holds importance. Everyday I feel blessed that I am able to support myself by doing what I do. I do not take my job lightly. I understand the trust that my clients have in me to capture that specific moment in their life, whether it be their wedding, that glowing time of pregnancy or their child's first year of life. What we photographers do is important. We capture moments to last forever. When we capture these moments, we do so through our own perspective. We see moments at certain angles, often from an outsider's point of view. It is an interesting role to play. We are in charge of deciding on how moments will be remembered in someone's life. How often is a memory triggered by an image? The power of that is incredible.

This power can cross borders. You can see a portrait of a baby and feel that parental pull. You can see an image of the bride's first glance of her groom and your heart can melt. You do not have to know the subjects in the images to feel this emotion. Images, photographs, are a universal object because of this.

This past summer I was given an opportunity of a lifetime. Friends of a friend were getting married in Greece, in a tiny village called Kratero and I was invited to come along. Upon receiving the invitation, we immediately searched on the internet to find out just where this place was. We found very little information and could hardly even find Kratero on a map. Just where we were headed, we had no idea.

We flew to Thessaloniki, managed to get a taxi to the train station and caught the last train to Florina, which was the largest town closest to Kratero. The next day we headed to Kratero and what magic we found. We wandered the dirt roads, saw broken-down cars, chickens roaming free. A farmer with his cattle herding them back to their home which was a barn located in his backyard. Natural springs ran everywhere. Elderly women stood chatting. We were surrounded by mountains. The sun began to set. We learned that Macedonia was a kilometre past "that mountain" and Albania was "just that way". We were invited into the homes of locals, generations of a family who would come together every weekend to their retreat in Kratero. The younger generations living in Thessaloniki or surrounding "big" towns where they found employment. We knew that it was an old village, filled with a rich past but we did not fully comprehend how special of a place we were in.

The wedding took place and everyone who had any relation to the village was invited. The entire body of people attending the ceremony walked together as one to the church. The ceremony was held in what appeared to be the only church open, which fit about thirty people. The rest of the guests stood waiting on the road. If there was any traffic coming through, it would have been impossible to get by. When the ceremony was over, we all followed the bride and groom back through the village to the main square. There we ate, danced, drank and marveled at the day. I remember looking at the surrounding mountains and the guests having the time of their lives and thinking, how lucky I was to experience such an event. It is something that I will hold in my heart forever.

While visiting Kratero I photographed everything that I could. Little details. Landscapes. The people. I found it so beautiful but did not realize at that time the importance of what I was doing. Only afterward did I learn the importance of that little village. I learned about the struggles of the people from that village. I learned that it had been burned down three times and every time it was rebuilt. I learned how significant it was that such a joyous event as a wedding could took place somewhere that had once held so much tragedy.

Upon returning to Toronto I posted some of my favourite images from my trip on my blog and the response was incredible. I have had people contact me from different parts of the world, all ancestors of Kratero. Many of these people have not yet had the chance to visit their "motherland" but grew up listening to stories of this mythical place. I felt honoured to have been able to show them what I saw while visiting this place. I captured what I saw with my perspective and by doing so, I brought that magical place into others' homes. That is the power of the image. As a photographer, we can never underestimate the importance of what we do.