These pictures are, probably, mainly of interest to specialists. I have had, over the years, several requests for images of the so-called Yakto Mosaic, a huge mosaic covering most of the floor in one of the museum’s rooms. It has special interest because in its border scenes of “daily life” are shown tried to identify some using the catalogue, but as they are in a continuous band even that is hard going for someone who does not read Greek. And can "a coffee-house" be a right description?

Since specialists will want to see them as much as possible “as is” I have refrained from some of the tricks I use to enhance pictures. Most are almost straight out of (a professional, Nikon D3) camera, though I have added some contrast, and a minute amount of sharpening. Even so I see clear differences between pictures, the camera, on Auto colour and no contrast enhancement, has a will of its own. I have cropped some to get rid of useless empty space, and only in a few cases have I changed the tonal qualities. As a matter of fact, even the original mosaics looked rather bland, and could do with much more brightening than I show here. Throwing a bucket of water over them would bring out their actual colours better, but museums being what they are I kept it dry.

Formerly I have taken pictures with a telephoto lens from up high, this time I used the 14-24 wide-angle zoom, keeping my camera level as much as I could, and moving over the border in - almost - two runs; I gave the second one some more zap). I hope people appreciate my keeping some 2,5 kilos of camera in extended arms for what felt like ten minutes. The older pictures I keep on my site, but I think these are closer to actual colour and contrast.

Rearranging the older pictures I put them here at the end of the gallery