WHO?
I am a filmmaker, based in Athens, Greece. Photography was always my hobby and for many years I used to take only the typical kind of photographs: friends and family, travels and holidays or photos for location scouting and research for my work. About 4 years ago, I felt the need to restart my relationship with photography. It was then, for the first time, I started to shoot in a more conscious way. I began to go for photo walks in the streets and I realised how much I needed this particular interaction with the world around me. It was exciting, liberating and generous in a very direct way.
WHERE?
Practically everywhere. I try to carry my compact camera with me all the time althought I don’t really use it so often. I like gatherings and crowded events as much as I enjoy a lonely walk in the mountain. There are interesting images anywhere. Most of my street work is in Athens since I live there. I don’t have any particular plan or route. I just walk around looking for engaging situations.
WHEN?
Whenever I feel like it. It is more a compulsive need than a systematic approach. I certainly don’t go out shooting everyday. There are periods when I get out in the street and shoot obsessively. There are also more introverted periods in which I stay inside editing new and old stuff.
WHAT?
I try to capture fragments from the reality I experience everyday. My gaze is drawn to humor, irony, a sense of discomfort. I like some kind of intimacy and closeness with the subjects. In the city I am particularly interested in the human presence, its trace and interaction with the urban landscape. Characters, gestures, everyday scenes and ordinary objects, which when isolated from their surroundings create a different meaning. Or, just things I find beautiful.
WHY?
I like the fun of it and the fact that is physical. It makes me get out of the house, walk slower, observe more, interact with people and situations. It shifts my attention from the inside to the outside and at the same time it helps me to train my gaze towards a more poetic encounter with reality.
