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.

Factory Butte just west of Hanksville along Hwy 24 is one of my favorite places in Southern Utah. I love this place to the point of obsession. There is something magical about it, at least for me. To other people it may mean nothing and they breeze through the desert at 65 mph without even giving a glance at Factory Butte rising in a distance.

That spring in 2003 was different than others I have been in Southern Utah. The wind was strong, mix of thunderclouds and blue sky was spectacular. The clouds were moving very fast with rain streaming from them and as quite often in desert it dried out before even reaching the ground. Ancient Indians called these clouds “rain god” and there are numerous rock art panels in Utah with this image.

It was late afternoon and I was trying to find a way so I could make an image of Factory Butte from behind. The picture I had in my mind is the butte glowing in a warm sunset light. I followed a trail which went north and then east of Factory Butte (I checked this trail again this spring in 2006 but unfortunately it was completely washed out by winter storms). Crossing a shallow stream a couple times the trail climbed uphill and abruptly ended at the abandoned well. I was east from the butte all right, but on the other side of the canyon and there was no way to get across. The wind gusts were rocking the car and setting up a tripod was out of the question.

Instead of sunset I found a picture far more exciting: thundercloud shadows and patches of light were quickly moving across the face of the butte. Being almost knocked over by the strong wind I made several compositions and finally made a series of handheld shots for multi-row panorama. And the light was gone.

Later at home I spent several days stitching together 10 frames which made this image. I still think it is far from perfection and I should redo it someday.