I felt deep within me that the highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, Goodness or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic, and more despairing: Sacred Awe!"

from Zorba The Greek, by Nikos Kazantsakis.

I was born in December, 1974 in Beirut, Lebanon to Elias Abdullah Cremesti, my Lebanese father and Ivanka Nikolova Germanova, my Bulgarian mother. My last name is Greek, it's the name of a village in the island of Crete; it refers to the profession of making vine scaffoldings. My grandma from my mother's side, Maria, is Macedonian. I like to believe that I am from the same sacred island as Nikos Kazantzakis and that I am related to Alexander the Great.

I grew up during the Lebanese civil war. Tough childhood it made me despise religion and politics in my teens, and turn to science and the sea for escape. My parents met in the famous Black Sea resort of Varna in Bulgaria, so the ocean is in my blood. Highschool in Lebanon was Hell, I was a nerd, a book warm, top of my class. In college I was an extreme atheist/scientist/rebel Chemistry major, crazy about Friedrich Nietzsche, Existentialism and Art. I kind of liked organic chemistry (hence the nick name Karbone) but I have to admit that my highschool passion for Chemistry was beginning to fade away while my passion for the Humanities and Art was flaming red hot.

In Texas, between 1996 and 1998 I earned my MS in Chemistry (specializing in semiconductors). Two things happened: I had an existentialist crisis and I accepted Christ and at the same time I was more and more disappointed in Science and the pettiness of men of science due to bad experiences with research professors. I couldn't find a job in Chemistry when I graduated in 1998, because the semiconductor market was down, so I took computer classes and became a webmaster in no time. It was the golden age of the Internet and I caught the wave. I honed my photoshop and webdesign skills at U.N.T. then moved to Irvine, California. It was a very exciting time... The future was limitless and very promising.

For three years I worked as a webmaster/consultant for startups, myself and a Fortune 500. In August 2001, I was laid off after the Internet Bubble burst. I started working in a Soul Food restaurant as a dishwasher then I became an assistant cook. In the meantime I was building a photography portfolio. During my visit to Lebanon in April 2001, before my lay-off, I took an awesome collection of photos with the manual Zenit TTL that my dad gave me. That's when I discovered my true calling in life... I recently created the sequel to this set of photos, titled "This is My Lebanon II"

For a while in Los Angeles I tutored some students in chemistry and I pursued beauty with my camera. These days I work as a water treatment specialist based out of Manchester, UK and I love to photography my girls Krassi and Lulu. I am passionate about peace and social activism especially in Bulgaria and the Middle East.

Current influences: The thought of Sadhguru and Eckhart Tolle, the poetry of Rumi, Jewish mysticism, and the photography of Leonard Nemoy. I used to be crazy about women in general and Middle-Eastern women in particular. I am an avid reader and I cook some delicious recipes and I always improvise in the kitchen. I feel like I have transcended photography as I seek the formless, the Tao...

Rami E. Kremesti MS - Photographer
Eccé Photo: Philo-Photographia

"For Love of the Sacred Awe"

Manchester UK