This year we’ve been honored to publish the work of Anthony Ayiomamitis, someone I consider to be one of the world’s leading ‘amateur’ space photographers. Anthony doesn’t get access to the Hubble Telescope or the Cassini probe — he works from his back yard in Athens, or travels around Greece chasing the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. The photos that first caught my eye were his images of Greek antiquities with the Full Moon behind them, like the one we published earlier today. These astonishing images, which are the perfect blend of heaven and Earth, can take him months or years to create (the conditions have to be just right, and they require talent, travel, luck, persistence, and practice, not to mention a lot of very fancy gear).
Anthony is one of those rare astronomers who has no bias against astrology and is always willing to listen to my theories. I’ve stayed up late many nights corresponding with him about his work, the nature of the objects he photographs and lately the Greek financial crisis. We’re proud to consider Anthony one of our own photographers. He’s passionate about what he does, he’s driven (and I do mean a force of nature) to create amazing work that vibrates with respect and appreciation for existence. He has the distinction of having photographed fully half of the known analemmas, images that require exposing the photograph on one piece of film over the course of a year — that is the challenge.
He doesn’t like to give interviews, but he has given me his birth data, and one of these days I’ll do his chart in this space.
Anthony — thanks for all the amazing photos. We love you.
Anthony your photographs are embracingly beautiful, I have been admiring them on PlanetWaves for years. One of the benefits of PlanetWaves is the variety of creativity that Eric brings to us, visually, verbally, and spiritually. Eric, I am not surprised that you know so many bright lights on this planet, being a bright light yourself!
Absolutely beautiful 🙂 Am in awe of these stunning photographs-thank you to Anthony for sharing, and to Eric for just everything, especially Planet Waves 🙂
The lights of the sky beckon. I want to leap into the photo. Thanks, Eric, for blessing us with Anthony’s beautiful work. And thanks to Anthony for capturing the beauty of the sky.
JannKinz
Yep — and Anthony is a computer programmer, database specialist. You have to be pretty smart to do that — you have to be into logic.
One other skill these pictures require is being a meteorologist. He’s often reporting in with the conditions of the atmosphere on any given night. Even on a clear night, the conditions can vary considerably.
I didn’t think about that, Amanda. A true meeting of left-brain and right-brain, then.
and math! this type of photography requires using some very serious math.
🙂
Breathtaking!