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20
TRAVELLER
Athens as a
“little planet”
EYEWITNESS
Greece is an amazing place:
it is heaven for a landscape
photographer. Every day of the year
provides a chance for a good photo.
I’m an astrophotographer, so if it’s
a clear summer night, I shoot the
stars, but for this shot, cloudy, windy
conditions were perfect.
From Lycabettus Hill, in the
centre of Athens, visitors enjoy
an unobstructed view of the
whole city. On the top, there is
the beautiful Chapel of St George,
where people gather to enjoy the
sunset from the roof of the city.
This spot is ideal for making a
360° picture – what is known
as a “little planet panorama” –
where overlapping images are
stitched together.
I was always fascinated by the
idea of including everything in one
shot. If you look carefully, you can
actually see the morphology of the
city: the mountains around and the
opening with the sea at Piraeus, the
largest port in Greece. In the digital
era, everything is possible. There are
specialised software programmes
that stitch the photos and fine tune
the image, but the photographer
must choose the right subject, from
the right angle, at the right distance,
in the right conditions in order to
achieve the desired effect.
More snaps from Chris Kotsiopoulos
can be found at greeksky.gr