If, to quote from Joachim Ritter (To topio, Athens 2004: Potamos, p.59), landscapes «become landscapes only when man turns towards them without any practical purpose, in the sense of experiencing a ‘free’ enjoyable vision, as if he were in nature himself», then the question that Yorgos Nounesis’s photographs raise does not concern solely and exclusively their technical particularities, nor the landscapes themselves as images of nature which bear the trace of civilization. This photography series, invites the spectator to turn towards the ‘free’ enjoyable vision’ which they portray. Nevertheless, the carefully selected shot angles and the repeated temporal moments which coexist inside the same photograph -Yorgos Nounesis uses the modern technique of HDRI- operate in a way which make the photographical landscapes lose their anchoring to their geographical reality. At that exact point, however, one comes into touch with this “defamilarizing†experience which in fact creates these panoramic photos: the imprinting of this loss has been transformed into a positive aesthetic viewing experience. Afroditi Nikolaidou, Doctor in Visual Communication, Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University Amorgos in a year. The landscapes that I photograph, both under and above the water, are not trying to be just documents of the view or just beautiful compositions. The idea of proximity or non-proximity -often only addressed to the local inhabitants but maybe that is also another point of my work, that of locality in terms of small groups losing their identity and often the knowledge of years of their physical surroundings- is apparent in these pictures which are not taken from a remote path or an impossible-to-reach bay. These are common places, five minutes from the shore or just beneath a central road, all easily reached but so easily forgotten that they are there. By repetition, patience and knowledge of the physical world, I try to capture a moment when the mundane transforms to something profound and makes us wonder where is that picture taken even if it is just from the edge of the village. Each day, our bond with nature diminishes. Around that corner or just below the surface of the sea, a whole world is waiting to be rediscovered. Yorgos Nounesis, Photographer
