FACES

For the past 25 years, Gregory Poulos has been known as the successful proprietor of The Olive Tree in Ocean City. But there has always been more to him than that.

 

“I first got interested in photography a long time ago, when I took my first photography class in college,” said Poulos, who has a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of Miami. “I think from that point on, I never looked at the world quite the same way again.”

 

For the next 30 years, Poulos made sure he had his camera with him wherever he went, capturing precious moments in time along the way. The result of this pictorial wanderlust is his new photo book, Moments: Ocean City, Maryland.

 

The 290-page, 146-photo compilation of black-and-white images focuses on the people and places of, you guessed it, Ocean City, as captured through the lens of his trusty 35mm Contax G2 Rangefinder. His favorite tableaux are the classic B&B of Ocean City: the beach and the boardwalk. There, he’s collected a fascinating assortment of subjects that include such local landmarks as Trimper’s, Seacrets and Dumser’s Dairyland. But Poulos says that for the most part, things and places stir him only to the extent that they act as interesting backdrops for life and the way those things seem to affect that life. Thus, you get to see a host of people in their full glory and range of emotions as they revel in sand, surf, sky and the inimitable sights of Ocean City.

 

It doesn’t take more than a cursory look at a just few pages before you realize Poulos — who cites Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gary Winogrand and Diane Arbus as being among his chief influences — is neither dabbler nor dilettante. His eye, his substantial experience and the time he’s invested studying the art form at places like the Brooks Institute of Art in California and the Maryland Institute College of Art conspire to make him as skilled at taking a picture as he is running a restaurant. That his book is currently being sold at Barnes & Noble is further testament to this. Poulos reports that it is also available at Kendall Home Furnishings, Bethany Resort Furnishings, K-Coast, Chauncey’s, Endless Summer, the Satellite Café, Amazon.com, The Olive Tree and at Poulos’ Website, OC-Moments.com.

 

In the end, the evocative imagery of Moments: Ocean City, Maryland will remind you, intimately, of every trip you’ve ever taken… and even those you haven’t.

 

 

 

 

 

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