The wedding
Donoussa is the most remote of the Small Cyclades, a small island east of Naxos with a single village, a handful of beaches and the kind of quiet that arrives when there is no through traffic and no reason to hurry. Antonis grew up here. The plan had been to marry on Donoussa, but the wedding took place in Athens instead. The island remained the place where the story began.
The day-after session on Donoussa was built around that fact. A normal session through the island during the day — the beaches, the village, the light on the water in the afternoon. Then something else entirely.
At 4am we went to the beach. The sky above Donoussa at that hour, away from any city light, holds the galaxy clearly. We photographed Marina and Antonis with it behind them. Then we waited. An open fire on the beach, the two of them, narration recorded for the film, the darkness before the horizon changes. As dawn broke over the Aegean, the session ended.
The wedding day after
The 4am sequence was planned in advance but required the couple to commit to something that had no guarantee of outcome. The galaxy above Donoussa depends on the night sky being clear, and the dawn depends on the weather holding. Both did.
Before arriving we had learned enough about Marina and Antonis to know that this kind of session was right for them. The island where Antonis grew up, a fire on the beach, the sky before sunrise — these were not aesthetic choices imposed from outside. They belonged to the couple and to the place.
The film carries the narration recorded that night. The story text written for it describes what the session was about better than any caption.
Our approach
A day-after session in Donoussa for Marina and Antonis, on the island Antonis grew up on. Photography, a galaxy portrait at 4am on the beach, and waiting for dawn by an open fire with narration and film. Photography and film by arChive Visual Storytellers.
Related work
For our work across the Greek islands visit our dedicated page
Wedding photography in Greece. You can also see the Athens wedding in our story for
Marina & Antonis at Tritsis Park.
