10 days in Chania, Crete - Vasilis Pastapas

Hi, my name is Vasilis Pastapas and I am from Athens, Greece. I'm 19 years old and I started photography back in the spring of 2019. One year later, during the first lockdown, I found some old film cameras and some unused expired rolls that my parents had kept in their house. I shot those rolls in the summer of 2020 but didn't get them developed until February of next year. The sheer joy and excitement that I felt when I got the images back from the lab were unforgettable and irreplaceable! That was the day that I fell in love with film photography!

This blog is about my trip to Chania, Crete. I visited Crete in September for 10 days. It was my first time traveling without my family! I went with my cousin Katerina, who studies there, so I had a personal guide with me 24/7! Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands. It is located in the eastern Mediterranean sea and it consists of four regional units: Chania, Heraklion, Rethymno, and Lasithi.

For this trip, I would have brought my Canon Sureshot AF35M II, but unfortunately, it got completely soaked at the beach in August. So I had to bring one of my parent's cameras, a Nikon BF 100. It's a 90s focus-free point-and-shoot with a 34mm lens f4.5. It is very lightweight, about 190 grams, and has a large viewfinder, which helps a lot with framing. It's not the best, but it gets the job done most of the time. I also brought two rolls of Kodak Gold 200, which didn't last long, so I bought two more rolls from the island. I decided to go with Kodak Ultramax 400 since I hadn't shot with it before. The images turned out pretty good considering the camera they were shot on and the lab they were developed which is not that high-end. Colorwise they were great, with natural colors and warm tones. I wanted these photographs to convey a nostalgic feeling of a greek summer and I think I succeeded. All the photos have been edited slightly with minor exposure and color changes.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog!

I would love to hear your opinion about the photos down in the comments or on social media!

You can find me on Instagram and Twitter @vasilis_pastapas