Mesologi
Mesologi
Written by Wednesday, 21 January 2009 21:10
"A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable". William Wordsworth
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Mesologi Lagoon Capital of the prefecture of Aitoloakarnania (Western Greece), Mesologi is an unexpectedly enchanting city. Built in the entry of Patraikos gulf, between the outfalls of rivers Evinos and Acheloos, next to the lagoon that constitutes an important water biotope, with rare flora and fauna, centre of fish and salt production, it is a city with a heavy historical heritage for Greeks although the main attraction of the region is of course the lagoon. We arrived there with our loads of photo gear only to find out that the weather was changing continuously from sunshine to heavy overcast with blazing wind. Although this proved to be a limiting factor to our plans to shoot wildlife it did not affect our landscape photography mainly due to the newly acquired Nikon D700 which debuted there with some nice shots taken at high ISO settings. Using a full frame DSLR reminded me of those old days when a 28 mm lens was still regarded a wide angle. A Sigma 28 mm f/1.8 mm was the lens of choice since I figured this would be the only lens that would provide good detail when stopped down to f/8 despite the high ISO setting set on the camera (800). I also tried the Sigma 12-14 mm stepped down to f/11 which revealed enough detail while offering an extremely wide angle of view. Since the sun was playing games during the whole day, I decided to use a +0.3 EV compensation factor to be sure that blowing out the highlights was a remote possibility. The lone Eucalyptus tree located at the lagoon shore was one of the very few tall trees we saw during our tour. The panoramic photo of the lagoon, with the blue reflection of the sky and the resting flamingos is a characteristic view of this biotope. One of the channels linking the different parts of the lagoon is shown next, with the Varassova mountain and the clouds leaving some patches of clear sky in the back. One of the characteristic boats (named “gaita” by the locals) used to fish in the lagoon, rests in peace next to the docks. This kind of boat has almost no keel since the waters in the lagoon are too shallow. Next picture shows one of those special boats (called “gaita” or “pryari” by the locals, the latter being the larger of the two used to fish in the lagoon, with a special type of net (“straflokari”), which is lowered in the water and then lifted up – something requiring a lot of experience and skills. Finally, a view of the lagoon taken with the lens set at 12 mm as seen from the town of Mesologi. Many thanks are due to our friends Costas and Spyros for helping and guiding us around the place. Without their help this tour would take twice as long while we would have missed the best sites for photography. Photos by George J. Reclos Shooting data: 1. Camera: Nikon D700 6. Camera: Nikon D700
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