RESEARCH WORK TOPIC
The various types of photography and their place in our lives
How did you decide to get involved with photography?
I was a lawyer for 12 years and practiced the profession normally. Only it didn't bring joy to my life. So, I decided to engage with art, something that interested me from my childhood. I got involved in photography because it seemed more accessible (correct) and easier (which turned out to be wrong, because everything is difficult).
How many years have you been involved with photography?
Seriously since 1978. Exclusively since 1983.
How do you feel when you take photos?
I don't feel anything; I just have a good time.
Did you have any objections from your family regarding the profession you decided to follow?
Absolutely none, even though it was a leap into the void. They saw that I was doing badly. And, worse, as well as I did my job as a lawyer (mainly not to be exposed), I did not try to do it even better, since it did not interest me.
How did you "catch the bug"?
As I said already, the desire came from necessity. It became a bug when I discovered the interest of photography and mainly its difficulty.
How do you feel about gaining so much publicity through your work and being considered one of the best Greek photographers?
I am not particularly concerned about any fame. After all, any fame is accompanied by moving praises but also by malicious attacks. However, when I started dealing with photography, I was among the few who saw it as a serious and artistic process, not just as a profession. My main profession, however, is a photography teacher (not professional photography). I am a photographer, an author, and now also a retired lawyer. But I feel primarily a teacher. Now photography has become fashionable. I'm not sure that pleases me.
If you had the chance to change your profession, would you? And if so, which profession would you choose?
I would always choose a profession related to teaching and the arts. But when a young person starts their life, they rarely know what they want. That's why one must not delay the start and not hesitate to change. For me, the goal must be one. To do something that brings us joy in the few years of our lives and allows us to become better and better. And then of course to hope that this allows us to survive. The first, however, is more important than the second, but usually directly or indirectly helps the second as well.
In your opinion, what are the elements that make a photograph of a landscape or a building attractive?
The subject does not play a role (landscape, building, person, etc.) except in relation to our desire to photograph it. What counts is for our photograph not to be a mere recording of the subject, but a new event for which we are responsible and, in the best case, proud.
What makes a portrait photograph special?
I refer to the above answer and add the phrase of a great American photographer, Paul Strand, that a portrait is the photograph of a stranger, whose photograph (I emphasize the word) we will never forget.
We learned that in 1986 you organized a photographic department in the therapeutic community Intervention (for drug users, over 21 years old, and their families). Also, the same year you organized a photographic department at the Education Center of the Children's Hospital. How does therapy relate to the art of photography?
Can photography offer a substantial outlet for individuals facing serious problems?** Photography and all arts (either as active action or as passive enjoyment) neither heal nor change the world, nor influence any social evolution. However, they can affect each of us if we allow it. And that can change everything for each of us and therefore for the whole world. The only obligation we have, as teachers or as members of a state and a family, is to make art accessible to everyone who thinks they need it. But neither mandatory nor socially imposed. Hence my reservation about the fashion of photography
Also, we learned that you have organized and curated many photographic exhibitions, some of which are: in 1998 you organized a group exhibition of Cypriot and Greek photographers at the "Gate of Famagusta" and at the same time that year a large group exhibition of the "Photographic Circle" which contained 600 photographs at the "House of Cyprus". How is photography connected to history?
These Cypriot photographs of ours had no relation to history but to each of our personal histories. We do not deal with the photographic image as a tool of a historical study, with the same logic that a poet does not do it. However, because every photograph (and every work of art) is related to time, it inevitably has a relation to history. However, I would prefer to accept that it is related to life, that is, to death.
How do you choose the photographic material that you present in your exhibitions?
The selection varies depending on the type of exhibition. Whether it is individual or group, thematic or not, also in relation to the specific space, etc. However, the basis of selection is, on one hand, the photographic (and only) quality of the photographs and, on the other hand, the effort to emphatically reveal the artistic proposition of each photographer.
What are the differences between applied and artistic photography?
The goal in professional or any kind of applied photography is set by the purpose for which it is done. To sell a product, to advertise a (noble or lowly) activity, to promote (for better or worse) a person, to aid a scientific or other work, etc. Therefore, in these cases, it is enough for the photographer to know the technique and even better to be intelligent, cultured, and humble. The photographer's view of life and photography should not influence the goal. After all, the one ordering the photograph, the "client" in the broader sense, is the one who sets and judges the goal. In artistic photography, on the contrary, the subject and the purpose are the photographer himself, that is, how he sees life and art. He is his own "client." Therefore, the above virtues required of a professional photographer (technical competence, intelligence, culture, humility) must not only exist but be so "embedded" that they do not scream out and are incorporated into the work. From the above it is clear why and when the professional can feel successful (as long as he achieves the goal of the photograph), while the artist never can (since the goal is himself). Unless he shifts his goal to economic and social success. Then he becomes a professional (in the bad sense) of art, and his self turns into a product.
What practical advice would you give us to take beautiful photos?
The term "beautiful" (or "ugly") is not correct. Every photograph is "beautiful" if the viewer sees it that way. Photographs are indifferent or interesting, insignificant or important. Bad ones are only when the photographer tries to make them "beautiful," that is, "fake," always in relation to his own truth. The first advice applies to the previous paragraph. What is the goal? A father's birthday photo of his daughter will always be correct and true for the father and daughter. When it starts to become significant and interesting for us, then it stands out. The photographer must live, think, and cultivate his spirit, goals that are important for every person. The photographer, however, also loves the process of "photographing," during which he will unconsciously invoke all the above assets (life, thought, cultivation). I insist on unconsciously. Before and after the photography, we think. During it, we react to whatever is in front of us. And, if we speak in purely photographic terms, the first and last thing that counts in every photograph is the frame. Which is determined by the four sides. Therefore, after we choose our subject for whatever apparent or hidden reasons, we rapidly define the limits of the image with the corner of our eyes, which will give the subject the dimension of its photographic significance. Anything contained within the four sides must have the same gravitating significance for the value of the photograph. After a while, the photographer will realize that whatever is excluded and lies outside the image must also acquire the same value for himself and the viewer. And then he will have made a significant step forward.