Syntagma Square, Athens, Greece
It is not what you might first think. This photograph demands an explanation. Without a story it looks like a twisted psychological puzzle: a short pleated skirt and stockings paint an image of a woman in our mind. But why is “she” is holding a rifle with a scary looking bayonet? And why are man’s hands touching “her” skirt?
Well, first of all this is not a skirt. If you call it a skirt you’d be insulting the whole Greek Army. It is fustanella - a kilt-like garment worn by elite Greek ceremonial unit of Presidential Guard, the Evzones. Ok, so it is not a woman (oh, no!), it is a soldier. He is a member of elite ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Syntagma Square in Athens, where this picture was made.
Next, why is other man touching the skirt, oops, fustanella? When the solders march, the blue strings above the fustanella are getting all messed up because of swift movements. When the soldiers finally reach their posts to stay frozen solid for the next half of an hour, an officer comes over and rearranges the solders’ outfit so it would be in military neat order.
So, it is all honorable military business. It is not what you might think first about this picture.
Frankly, on my recent trip to Athens, Greece I had this image pre-visualized in my mind. I found a similar photograph in old book by Michael Freeman “Achieving photographic style”. It is long out of print and you cannot find it on bookstore shelves. But Amazon.com has it, at least at the moment of this writing, for mere two dollars. Buy it. It is worth much more than two bucks.