Astypalea sits where the Dodecanese meets the edge of the Cyclades, shaped as a butterfly, two halves of land joined by a narrow stretch of land at Steno. Chora climbs above the harbour to a Venetian kastro, its whitewashed houses folding into the walls of the old fortress. The roads beyond it turn to dust and switchbacks, reaching beaches mainly by boat.

The days were spent aboard a wooden sailing boat run by Avra Cruises, working past Agios Fokas, Kokkinos Gremos, Koutsomyti and Kounoupas, coastline that deserves your time. Vatses and Kaminakia were covered separately, on foot and by moped, each with its own character: Vatses opening into a wide sweep of blue, Kaminakia closing into a small cove where the local taverna serves goat cooked slow in the traditional style.

Steno itself, the strip of land at the island's narrowest point, offered calmer water and a different rhythm entirely, the kind of shallow, still bay that a longer, multi-day commission on the island would use for a reception or an early-morning session.

In Astypalea most of the coastline is reached by boat rather than road, and the interior roads that do exist turn to dust fast, a real consideration when equipment is part of the load. Scouting on a moped confirmed as much: a four-wheel option would serve any future wedding on the island better than two.

The boat days set their own pace. Access to Agios Fokas, Kokkinos Gremos, Koutsomyti and Kounoupas depends on calm water and a captain who knows the coastline, not a fixed schedule. Working from Avra Cruises meant building the day's plan around when the light and the sea agreed, rather than the reverse.

The images stay in black and white, chosen to strip away distraction and keep focus on contrast: architecture against cloud, rock against a sky that holds its depth even without colour. That treatment suits Astypalea's particular starkness, where land and light carry the Aegean.

What Astypalea offers is range and natural unspoilt beauty within a small footprint: a working harbour town, a fortress backdrop, and beaches reachable only by water, all close enough together to shape a full wedding weekend rather than a single day.

For our work across the Greek islands, visit our dedicated page.