Year 2018 in review
December is the month we review and reflect upon our work for the year coming to its end. Another demanding yet satisfactory photography year is near its completion. Challenging, rewarding, and multifaceted. Architectural photo shoots in close collaboration with the architects and other building sectors involved; larger and smaller commercial photo shoots under complex conditions and timetables; private and public spaces; residences and businesses; luxury hotels and design products; renovations and new developments; manufacturers and companies; new and returning clients; portfolios and presentations; still and moving images; open exhibitions and private display; regional, national and international audiences; detailed structured briefs and open interpretations; assignments and self-initiated projects; solo, collaborative and collective works; under the integral lens. Last year I compiled and presented a review of my photographic practice along with some statistical comparisons from previous years. With this post I continue in a similar manner for the year 2018.
Architectural photo shoots:
Olive & Stone Residence, Panorama Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
GD Residence, Valimitika Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Kapsampeli Residence, Selianitika Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Eprepe Restaurant, Aigion Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Koleza Residence, Loggos Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Birbili Residential, Aigion Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Stolla Residence, Patras Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
ARC Light offices & showroom, Patras Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
VM Residence, Kouloura Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
Pyrgos Cafe-Bar, Aigion Achaea Greece, architect Nikos Mourikis.
TRIF House, Porto Heli Argolis Greece, architect Sergey Fedotov.
Villa White, Porto Heli Argolis Greece, architect Harald Nurnberg.
Mitsis Rinela Beach Resort & Spa, Crete island Greece, Elastic architects.
Mitsis Rodos Village Beach Hotel & Spa, Rhodes island Greece, MKV Design.
Amanzoe Resort, Porto Heli Argolis Greece, architect Edward Tuttle.
Diagram #1: distribution of photo shoots per month
Diagram #2: number of images per project
Diagram #3: km traveled per year
The architectural design and construction management processes are complex and long term endeavours that inexorably add a relative significance to many people involved in their realization. From the lead architects to the associates and collaborators; from the manufacturers and vendors to the owners and managers; a significant amount of their time, energy and resources is dedicated to producing the best possible outcome under conditions that are usually not ideal.
This year I was fortunate to photograph ten projects designed by architect Nikos Mourikis, who has been a leading force in the field in the Achaean region for more than 30 years. Photographing both his recent and older works, editing the portfolio of his overall body of work, and managing their publication, was done resonating the grace and grit he has put into his life’s work. The awarded Swiss sliding doors manufacturer Sky-Frame, providing their products to outstanding projects around the world, commissioned the photo shoot of two holiday houses in the Porto Heli area designed by Russian architect Sergey Fedotov and German architect Harald Nurnberg and project manager Konstantinos Gregoriadis. Working closely with the brief given by the company and with the designers, extensive monographs were produced, surpassing the expectations and creating lasting collaborations. Another continuing collaboration is with the leading Greek architecture firm Elastic Architects. The second phase of the revamping and interior design of Mitsis Rinela Beach Resort & Spa in Crete was complete, giving another challenging photo shoot during peak season with numerous indoor and outdoor areas to portray. Three full days and nights and lots of coffee gave more than a thousand raw files to work on and boil down to selections for architectural and hotel usages that combine information and feeling, materiality and impression, topography and sensation, in a variety of scales from the up-close to the panoramic open vista. The collaboration with Mitsis Hotels was also extended to another newly renovated hotel in Rhodes island. The interior design was done by the London-based firm MKV Design and included the entrance lobby and foyer, reception, main restaurant, day and night bars, swimming pool terrace, spa, reading space, as well as connecting areas, verandas and plaza. This high-end revamping was approached with an equal care and attention to its photographic documentation. The life-style and hospitality approach was supplemented by the architectural gaze to convey this deluxe investment.
I am thankful to all the above individuals and companies for their preference in my work. It is truly a pleasure to experience and photograph their creations.
Commercial photo shoots:
Vector Engineers / ELIN Technical S.A.
Pyrgos Cafe-Bar
Sky-Frame, frameless sliding windows, TRIF House
Sky-Frame, framelles sliding windows, Villa White
TRIF Light, outdoor lighting manufacturer
Mitsis Rinela Beach Resort & Spa
Mitsis Rodos Village Beach Hotel & Spa
TRIF Mebel, design furniture
Exhibition photo shoots:
Lagoons exhibition, Fethiye Mosque, Nafpakto Greece.
Holarchies exhibition, Trieste Photo Fringe, Lettera Viva, Trieste Italy.
Flowing City exhibition, Trieste Photo Days / Exhibit Around, Trieste Airport, Trieste Italy.
Diagram #4: distribution of work in sectors by income
"Photography is fast. Photography is slow. Photography must push you to look at what is in front of you. To notice it, to be captured by it; not only to try to capture it.
Taking photos has become so immediate to be done that the small display on which we pass the finger replaces our sight. Perhaps we didn’t notice: looking at what we capture has become optional.
The difference between an image buried in the middle of thousand others in a memory card and the photo of a lived moment, is that the photo moves through time. It has the power to produce not only the simple memory, but an emotional answer in whom watches it. From reality, to the eye, to the camera, to the mind, and then to the heart: a flow. “Flowing City”.
“Flowing City” is the city that moves in front of man, together with man, inside man; and, at the same time, it’s the man that flows inside the endless movement of the city. To live those flows, to understand them, you must stop them: observe them, sometimes remove their colors and linger on emotions. At least for a fragment of time, at least for that necessary time."
- Roberto Srelz, Flowing City excerpt
Fine Art series:
Equivocal sentinels
Liminality
Joriki
Oceanus_Sonar
Nortigo_Greece
Boston cityscapes
Light & Form_G Design
Off the beaten path_Sofitel
Diagram #5: awards & distinctions in international juried competitions
Diagram #6: print & web publications (actively edited & featured)
Diagram #7: new and returning clients
Overview by the numbers: 27 photo shoots (architectural, commercial, editorial, fine art); 11.800 km traveled; 6.500 images taken (342 per project on average); 16 awards & distinctions in competitions; 70 print & web publications (actively edited & featured); 6 participations in exhibitions; 8 books (self-published & participations); 4 exclusive interviews produced for Arcspace; 4 past projects edited; 16 projects licensed; 6 videos produced; 2 academic presentations; 2 architectural portfolios edited & 8 projects curated; 3 proposals for collective presentations & studies submitted.
Diagrams #8.1 - 8.5: overall geographic distribution of projects and photo shoots from Greece, Europe, Qatar, USA, and Lebanon.
Videos:
Past projects licensed, edited or publish in 2018:
Villa Melana in Tyros Arcadia by architects Valia Foufa and Panagiotis Papassotiriou.
Clover House in Kythera island by R.C. Tech.
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York USA by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York USA by Snøhetta architects.
Belgium Pavilion, EXPO Milano 2015 Italy by Patrick Genard & Associates.
Fulton Center in New York USA by Grimshaw Architects & ARUP.
Carnegie Mellon University in Doha Qatar by Legorreta architects.
Georgetown University in Doha Qatar by Legorreta architects.
Texas A&M Engineering College in Doha Qatar by Legorreta architects.
Ceremonial Court in Doha Qatar by Arata Isozaki architects.
Presentations:
Integral Lens presentation at the Trieste Photo Days Festival
Nortigo - architectural abstracts collection
Architectural Portfolio - Konstantinos Gregoriadis
TRIF House Monograph
Diagram #9: continuation of work
The projects photographed over the years has been archived on this website under a title and correspond to a body of work. They include personal and self-initiated artistic series; commissions and assignments of specific projects; editorial and commercial photo shoots; architectural, landscape and urban subjects. For both commercial and artistic works, the life of a project does not finish with the end of a photo shoot and the delivery of the images to the client. One way through which the work continues is with publications, competitions, exhibitions, and other types of presentations and curations. Another way is by adding new material to existing series; and by editing and post-processing material from previous photo shoots that were undeveloped. A third way is by combining material from various photo shoots under a thematic subject; or by transforming and evolving a project into new iterations. I am particularly delighted that this year many projects had such continuations. A selection from ‘Anicca’ become part of the ‘Flowing City’ book and exhibition. A selection from ‘Morphogenesis’ was published on Lens Magazine and presented in Photography Art Fairs in the US. New images from Oceanus were submitted in competitions. ‘Holarchies’ series from EXPO Milano participated in the Trieste Photo Fringe exhibitions and Dodho fine art magazine. The ‘Integral Lens’ paper was co-authored with prof. Mark DeKay and presented at the 3rd Integral European Conference in Hungary. The collective material from Arcspace’s interviews and a combination of Integral Lens project and paper were presented at the Trieste Photo Days and at the Hellenic Institute of Architecture. Fine art prints became part of private and public collections. Editorial projects from EXPO Milano, from Future Memories, and from Doha Icons were published, exhibited and licensed by various firms and organizations. A balance between keeping existing work active and developing new projects is a dynamic process with highs and lows, calculated efforts and accidental occurrences, resource management and fluid evaluation.
Presenting the work a multitude of people have spend countless hours thinking, designed, managing and building, sometimes boils down to a few select images in this fast image-consuming era, but, even so, it requires and deserves a lot of attention, thoughtful consideration and an expanding skill set that understands, appreciates, interprets, expresses visually and textually, edits and curates, the multitude of aspects of both the medium and the subject matter. Bringing such an inclusive and comprehensive approach to the job is both a motivation and an aspiration of mine.
I am looking forward continuing this vocation’s unfoldment into a personal and collective sustainable future.
My gratitude goes out to all the people in my life who help and support each other, with smaller and bigger acts of kindness, with their valuable time and resources, with humour and heartfelt connection, with genuine Namaste. May the new year bless you all with a compassionate and unifying consciousness where the sacred and profane merge in a holistic dance.
With Love,
Pygmalion Karatzas
“An integral theory of art and literary interpretation is thus the multidimensional analysis of the various contexts in which – and by which – art exists and speaks to us: in the artist, the artwork, the viewer, and the world at large. Privileging no single context, it invites us to be unendingly open to ever-new horizons, which broaden our own horizons in the process, liberating us from the narrow straits of our favourite ideology and the prison of our isolated selves.” – Ken Wilber, ‘The Eye of Spirit’