I am inspired by an idealized nature, which suits my melancholic and introverted character; a nature without any distracting elements, serene, and beautiful, born from my love of silence and solitude. And while I photograph ordinary subjects, it is often things that we do not notice as we go about our busy lives. I hope that my images, by attracting people’s attention, can push them to really look at the inconspicuous and discover beauty. When people look at my images, I want them to feel like reading a poem.If I can convey my feelings of immensity, peacefulness, and wonder about life and nature, then I have successfully communicated my inner world to someone else.
For me, trees have always been a fascinating subject for photography. I love them in forests and woods especially in misty conditions, but even more when they stand alone. Because they are primeval, because they outlive us, because they are fixed, trees seem to emanate a sense of permanence. And though rooted in earth, they seem to touch the sky.
I am constantly looking for simple, clear compositions that will allow me to create minimalist images, characterized by and evoke feelings of order, silence and a peaceful, yet often sorrowful and lonesome atmosphere. The point of my art has never been to represent reality, but to reduce its complexity and clarify it. To do this, I utilize a lot of negative space to leave the eye no choice but to experience the main theme along with all the unused space — and this can often create a meditative experience.
#1 Water Stories
#2 Impressions from Paros I
#3 Twinned
#4 By the River
#5 Pastoral
#6 The Spirit of the Lake
#7 The Witch
#8 Poetry of Silence
#9 Tree on the Rock
#10 Winter Tree
#11 The Snow Song
#12 Winter Time
#13 Lonely Tree
#14 Strofylia National Park
#15 Songs from the Wood
#16 Misty Lake
#17 Dry Land
#18 Meteore Impressions
#19 Last Warrior
#20 After the Wildfires
About George Digalakis
George Digalakis is an accomplished photographer, specializing in Fine Art, minimal photography, through which he tries to convey the beauty of nature, with his own distinctive, black and white language. His passion for photography is harmoniously combined with his love for travel and the exploration of new landscapes and places, stimuli for the creation of his unique minimalist world.
He was born and raised in Athens, Greece. A medical doctor by profession, he still lives and works in Athens. Although he has been involved in many hobbies, such as chess and diving, it took him forty years to discover his true passion for the art of photography.
His first contact with photography was back in 1974, when he received a “Nettar” as a gift from his father. Since then, the camera became an integral part of his daily life.But it was only in 2009 that he found the necessary free time to study photography seriously, under the supervision of Tasos Schizas. He became acquainted with classic and contemporary photographers and realized this medium would offer him a getaway from reality and enable him to express his inner world. Photography proved to be a permanent source of inspiration and life-changing experience.
Born in a country with more than 1000 islands, he developed a close relationship with the sea, and he feels that this connection is the driving force behind his love for seascapes. George rarely tries to capture the moment and finds that by ignoring reality he can best convey his inner vision and underlying emotions. Subjects that convey feelings of loneliness, isolation, and melancholy are his preferred themes, with bare trees in the water, old piers, and interesting rocks being recurring themes.Purity of space and thought, vast waterscapes, sense of echoing space, and the removal of the distracting elements,characterize his work.
He does not try to tell stories, but to convey emotions. For him the point of art has never been to make a truthful copy of reality, but to create art that could help the viewer to escape the surface of reality we everyday live in and discover emotions and feelings. He sees the use of black and white as a step away from reality, and with the use of the long exposure technique, introduces the sense of passing time, eliminating the details from the background, thus highlighting his subjects.
Minimalism, both as an art movement and a philosophy of life, has influenced his work. The influence from minimalist photographers, such as Michael Kenna can be clearly seen in his seascapes. On the other hand, the street photography of Harry Callahan and Giacomo Bruneli, with the extensive use of dark tones, highlighting the melancholic mood of their work, has clearly left an imprint on his urban imagery.
You can find George Digalakis on the web:
Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to George Digalakis. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
