If I don't see the sea, I don't live - ​​Sea Wolves of Paros (14 photos)

The fishermen's faces in these photographs by Austrian photographer Christian Stemper tell a thousand stories without words. Their weathered skin, bright eyes, and gray hair have seen many storms and scorching sun. These sea wolves from the Greek island of Paros set out to sea every day in wooden boats named after their wives and daughters. But this small world may soon cease to exist.







Austrian photographer Christian Stemper began photographing the fishermen of Paros back in 2010, when he first came to this small island in the Aegean Sea for vacation. Pictured: elderly Greek fisherman Yannis Perentinos.

The photographer combined monochrome portraits of fishermen—their expressive, rugged faces contrasting against the black background—with color images of their simple wooden boats floating in the inky waters of the Mediterranean.



The dominance of large-scale fishing is making the hard work of these wind-swept people increasingly less rewarding. As a result, many of them quit fishing after the EU offered them money to give up their ancient craft. Moreover, the children of fishermen are increasingly seeking a better life beyond this Mediterranean idyll.



"If I don't see the sea, I don't live," says fisherman Vaggelis Parousis. "If I had to stay in Athens, I wouldn't last a day. I'd go crazy."



Such is the strong connection these people have with the sea. "They're a special breed," says a photographer who has been documenting the lives of local fishermen for five years. "For them, life is simple: a boat and the sea."



The photographer admitted that the fishermen were initially reluctant to participate in the project. However, over time, he persuaded them, although they were more than a little indifferent to the whole process.



"After I started working on the project, I held an exhibition on Paros in 2012," the photographer explains. "I invited all my 'models' there, promising to give them portraits that I had printed especially for them. But only one fisherman attended the exhibition. Their families—wives and brothers—came. The sea wolves themselves aren't interested in any of this. For them, life is the sea and the boat. And these people are happy."