Today, photography is so ubiquitous that we often take our ability to translate the world around us into keepsake images—literally capturing moments in time—for granted. My passion for photography is therefore not always fully understood by others, and as such, I am particularly grateful for people like my good friend Eleni-Dionisia, who helped me to arrange this honeymoon Cyprus photoshoot.
I have known Eleni since childhood and she has been a great source of support and appreciation throughout my journey as a photographer; in fact, she shares my enthusiasm for it completely, being on the same path herself. She also shares my deep love for our home island of Cyprus, seeing in its wild shores, green hills, and historic cobbled streets a romantic wonder that inspires artistic works and love stories alike. It was for this reason that she invited the lovely couple pictured below, M and D, to Cyprus for their honeymoon—after all, what better place to celebrate a shared eternity than this hidden paradise which has sheltered lovers since time immemorial?
If one delves back into the myths and legends that have shaped the human spirit, one soon discovers that according to the ancients, love itself was born here in Cyprus; beautiful Aphrodite—the Goddess of Love—was said to have been made manifest from the sea foam at Petra Tou Romiou, the location M, D, Eleni and I all agreed on for this honeymoon photo session. As I snapped away, I let myself feel the rhythm of the waves, falling into the Goddess’s ancient song—sometimes wild and free, enticing young lovers to dance and forget their cares, sometimes as calm and gentle as a mother’s voice, assuring them that they have found home at last in each other’s arms.
Photography, you see, is not just about recording reality in its most readily apparent form; just as the artist uses paints and pencils to create visions born of his or her imagination, to the photographer, everything in the world is a vehicle, a tool for creative expression. As my friend Eleni could attest to, it is our job to play with the magic of light, shadow, and setting to transcend the everyday world and capture something beyond it: a realm of dreams, ideas, and emotions. With life as our canvas, we set out to express the eternal, to blend the symbolism of the past with the hopes of the present in order to present a total portrait of our subjects. Through our lens, we see not merely what they look like, but who they are.
The result, as you can see from the images below, is touched with a radiance that cannot be explained; it can only be felt.
