Costas Masseras is a photographer from Greece. Costas started photography in 1990 and he mainly interested in the behavior of people in their living environment. In Costas words “As a collector of everyday images, I have learned study photographs around me. Images introduce another way of communication. What is entitled inside the frame’s four angles, presuppose the aesthetic viewpoint of the creator. So my photographs refer to others, but still, speak enough about me. They constitute my best curriculum vitae.”
Thanks, Costas for accepting our invite. Please read on…
Hi Costas, thank you for joining us here today! First of all, Could you please introduce yourself?
Thank you for the opportunity you are giving me to present my work.
Photography is the way to bring reality close to my standards. If I can’t change it, I can barely transform it, good enough in order to compromise with it. Starting from the beginning what is important and what is not, what could be regarded as beautiful, or ugly, what would be funny or sad. It is a try to put in order all things of this chaotic world around me and inside me.
As a collector of everyday images, I have learned study photographs around me. Images introduce another way of communication. What is entitled inside the frame’s four angles, presuppose the aesthetic viewpoint of the creator. So my photographs refer to others, but still, speak enough about me. They constitute my best curriculum vitae.
What makes documentary and people photography so special for you?
Mainly I am interested in the behavior of people in their living environment.
When did you start shooting and how did this love for photography happen?
In the 1990s I met a girl who had a camera and I wanted to photograph her. I had not yet touched a camera until that time so I had no photographic knowledge, consequently, those first photos I took had all the enthusiasm and the mistakes of an amateur photographer, and those were Interesting pictures. Since then I keep on exploring what magnetizes my view and therefore drives me to do the click.
You are from Greece. Please share a few words about your culture and traditions reflected in your photography?
The Greeks we live in a beautiful and special country that is surrounded by the sea. We travel, we swim, we fish, and we drink our coffee next to the sea. My relationship with the sea is obvious. It could not be missed from my pictures.
Few words about your special love for black and white photography?
I began to photograph in black and white film because the process in the darkroom was easy, I loved the black and white photographs so even now, that photoshop makes the color processing easier, I still keep taking black and white photos and I “see” in black and white.
What is that you have adhered and learned through photography over the years?
What I have learned is not to see conventionally. Reality is what we want to see. It is partially what we are.
What is a good photograph for you?
The photo that will be true is the one that I will recognize in it a piece of its creator.
Which photographers have inspired you?
- Robert Frank
- Andre Kertez
- Josef Koudelka
- Walker Evans
What camera and lenses do you use the majority of the time?
Any favorite photography books?
Few words about your seminars?
My seminar is attended by those who are interested in expressing their own way through photography. It is more a group that researches the photographic medium. I do not teach a specific kind of photography but I help everyone to realize their own photographic vision.
Apart from photography, tell me about your hobbies and interests?
I like watching movies and reading books.
You can find Costas Masseras on the Web:
Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted Costas Masseras. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
