It is a pleasure to introduce myself to you dear fellow photographers.
You see around here, art photographers are a rare beast which does not
really fit into any species protection programs.
I presently live in the island of Crete in Greece. Grew up here, then left
for the US of A in the tender age of 19 to study the arts.
After playing around with computers, (animation, graphics, multimedia, that sort of thing)for two years in Pittsburgh, I spent five years in Boston dealing with
"traditional" arts of drawing and sculpture, but also getting a good introduction
into the japanese culture, zen and its artistic manifesations.
Photography for me was one art kind I didn't have any real formal education for some unknown reason. It all started when my father sent me his kit of a then 27 year old Nikon F he bought in Ethiopia. A spotless body with meter, four lenses, close up bellows and all kinds of extras in a hard leather bound Nikon case. It took me a couple of years to really make any real use of it and I started with an investigation in color, the abstract and the detail. Not having any other equipment or information, I scanned and printed them out digitally (way before the craze of the digital photo). It was good, but it lasted for a couple of years.
Then I discovered black and white. I also picked up my father's "newest" Nikon F90X that lay forgotten and played around with that as well.
I also discovered a very nice Kaiser enlarger that was kept in a room that used to be my father's newspaper darkroom.
I got my cousin involved and soon we had a rudimedary darkroom on an old wash-room at the roof of my house. It was used only as a storage and so it partly remained until lately.
Last christmas, I got the most unexpected gift: inside a box of sneakers (shoes I hate) was a brand new Hasselblad 501CM kit.
It was then that I decided to do more serious work with photography, maybe
even a new school paper or carrier.
Unfortunately my formal studies where over and I had to do my duty as a greek male and serve a year in the army.
That slowed me down a lot but I had a bit of opportunity to take a few shots and print a few papers. Unfortunately I did not manage to use my art skills in the millitary even though I tried.
Now a few months after I was released, I totally redid the whole darkroom (even changed the door and repainted the whole room) and restarted my learning of photography.
The whole matter of digital has almost taken away any thoughts of a photographic profession or even of a new degree.
I abandoned computers long ago because I didn't like making art with them
(I felt like a tool for the machine) and don't really want to start again.
I also find the quality of digital really awfull as an artist and also I don't
have money to burn to be a mindless consumer of gadgets.
To end, I would like to repeat that I am happy that I find fellow photographers that have not being swept into the digital consumerism and
value process and quality above all, Art that is.
I hope our interraction together to be a creative one.
Thank you,
Aristotelis Grammatikakis
You see around here, art photographers are a rare beast which does not
really fit into any species protection programs.
I presently live in the island of Crete in Greece. Grew up here, then left
for the US of A in the tender age of 19 to study the arts.
After playing around with computers, (animation, graphics, multimedia, that sort of thing)for two years in Pittsburgh, I spent five years in Boston dealing with
"traditional" arts of drawing and sculpture, but also getting a good introduction
into the japanese culture, zen and its artistic manifesations.
Photography for me was one art kind I didn't have any real formal education for some unknown reason. It all started when my father sent me his kit of a then 27 year old Nikon F he bought in Ethiopia. A spotless body with meter, four lenses, close up bellows and all kinds of extras in a hard leather bound Nikon case. It took me a couple of years to really make any real use of it and I started with an investigation in color, the abstract and the detail. Not having any other equipment or information, I scanned and printed them out digitally (way before the craze of the digital photo). It was good, but it lasted for a couple of years.
Then I discovered black and white. I also picked up my father's "newest" Nikon F90X that lay forgotten and played around with that as well.
I also discovered a very nice Kaiser enlarger that was kept in a room that used to be my father's newspaper darkroom.
I got my cousin involved and soon we had a rudimedary darkroom on an old wash-room at the roof of my house. It was used only as a storage and so it partly remained until lately.
Last christmas, I got the most unexpected gift: inside a box of sneakers (shoes I hate) was a brand new Hasselblad 501CM kit.
It was then that I decided to do more serious work with photography, maybe
even a new school paper or carrier.
Unfortunately my formal studies where over and I had to do my duty as a greek male and serve a year in the army.
That slowed me down a lot but I had a bit of opportunity to take a few shots and print a few papers. Unfortunately I did not manage to use my art skills in the millitary even though I tried.
Now a few months after I was released, I totally redid the whole darkroom (even changed the door and repainted the whole room) and restarted my learning of photography.
The whole matter of digital has almost taken away any thoughts of a photographic profession or even of a new degree.
I abandoned computers long ago because I didn't like making art with them
(I felt like a tool for the machine) and don't really want to start again.
I also find the quality of digital really awfull as an artist and also I don't
have money to burn to be a mindless consumer of gadgets.
To end, I would like to repeat that I am happy that I find fellow photographers that have not being swept into the digital consumerism and
value process and quality above all, Art that is.
I hope our interraction together to be a creative one.
Thank you,
Aristotelis Grammatikakis
