On one of the group’s excursions, chance arranged things so that Dimosthenis and Danis met Dimitris Vavliaras in a taverna — an artist whose photographic work they had already been following on social media. That pleasant conversation kept the connection alive, and today, with great pleasure, we present the work of the multi-talented Dimitris, who, beyond his photographic gift, is also an exceptional musician, as we shall see in his short biography.
Harrys Pourouzidis
Musical Career
In 2013, he released his first album, titled Pali Vrechei — It Is Raining Again. The album features vocal performances by Vasilis Skoulas, Argyris Bakirtzis, Manolis Chatzimanolis, and Giorgos Kontorikos.
In 2016, he released his second album, together with Giorgos Michail, titled Atermon — Endless. That same year, he also collaborated with artists from Anogeia, Giorgis Fasoulas and Kostas Kallergis, on two songs, while further songs they are preparing are expected to be released this year.
Together with Giorgos Michail, he gives concerts throughout Greece, and they are currently preparing their second joint album.
Photography
In 2019, he won first prize in the international photography competition FACES 2018. That same year, one of his photographs was selected among the 100 best in the world in the male portrait category of the 35 International Photography Awards.
In 2021, Fujifilm selected him as one of its official photographers — an Official Fuji X-Photographer. The selection of Fujifilm’s official photographers is made in Japan.
That same year, he won a scholarship to study photography after taking first prize in a nationwide competition. In September 2021, he won first prize in the competition titled Freedom, organised by iFocus magazine.
In May 2022, he was once again included among the 100 best photographers in the world, this time in black-and-white photography, at the 35 Awards International Photography Awards.
In June 2022, one of his photographs of a shepherd was selected among the top 100 by the Hamburg Photography Review. There, he had the opportunity to discuss his shepherds project with Demet Yildiz, director of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, and Muhammed Muheisen of National Geographic.
In 2023, he won first prize in the Black-and-White Male Portrait category of the global 35 International Photography Awards. His photograph stood out among 29,000 entries from 142 countries.
Also in 2023, he won first prize in the People category of the international competition Colours of Orthodoxy: Greece, which focuses on the ecclesiastical life of Orthodox Greece. The competition was held with the blessing of His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and His Beatitude Sawa, Metropolitan of Warsaw and All Poland.
In 2024, he won first prize in the Storytelling category of the international competition The Art of Social Media.
Three of his photographs have been featured as covers on YouPic, one of the largest photography websites in the world.
Individual photographs of his have taken part in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. He has also held four solo photography exhibitions: at the municipal market of Hydra; at the Archaeological Museum of Aiani; at the cultural centre of Münster in Germany; and, most recently, at the Goethe-Institut in Thessaloniki.
In April 2023, his photo album Poimenika — Pastoral — was published by Malliaris Paideia.
For the past three years, the cultural centre of the municipality of Münster in Germany has published calendars featuring his photographs.
1) Can you describe the way you artistically approach a portrait so that it stands out in the field of photography?
What I generally try to achieve is a strong aesthetic result. Whether it stands out in the field of photography or not is not something that concerns me. Of course, I am happy when it happens, but that is not my purpose when I photograph.
The need to create must come from something deeper if the result is to be honest — both toward the world and toward ourselves. The approach to every form of art should be one of respect and honesty toward what we are doing. There is no other hidden secret.
The result of an aesthetic approach also comes after years of study and discipline. Education, therefore, is for me the best way to approach anything, whether it is art or something else entirely.
2) What is the most unforgettable or challenging portrait session you have done, and what did that experience teach you?
I consider anything done at the expense of human beings or nature to be provocative. In art, we have works that are aesthetically strong and works that are not. So, if we do not like something, we can simply move past it, without labelling it.
Many people consider nude photography to be “provocative.” A naked body is a naked body. We all have one.
As for the most unforgettable portrait session, I cannot bring any specific one to mind.
3) When you work with someone on a photoshoot, what do you do to help them feel more comfortable and give you what you want to capture?
Every work of art should be able to look directly into the eyes of every person who comes into contact with it. For that to happen, when we are dealing with portraiture, there must be a true relationship of trust between the photographer and the person being photographed.
In general, I like to give each model space, so that parts of their own self can come forward. In essence, at that moment, both of us are telling our own story, and the final result is a summary of those two narratives.
Many times, you do not need to say anything in order to make the other person feel comfortable. I think that when you do something with respect, the other person receives it and feels it. And so words withdraw from the very beginning.
4) How do you see the future development of photography, especially with the rise of AI technology, which is becoming increasingly realistic?
For me, the question is whether you want to create something yourself, or whether you want someone else to create something for you so that you can receive the applause.
People who have a need to express themselves through art will continue to do so, no matter how much technology changes and develops. After all, photography itself was, at its birth, a technological achievement through which certain people went on to express themselves artistically.
The previous century, and the one we are living through now, brought technological revolutions in many areas. They opened doors, and it is our choice which of those doors we enter, and which we do not.
The most important thing, however, beyond all the open technological doors, is to keep the window of our imagination open. As long as we keep that window open, no artificial intelligence can close it on us.
5) Your photographs are mostly black and white. What criteria make you keep or remove colour from a photograph?
Same as in my music, which I have been involved with for years, I generally prefer restraint in the arrangements of my songs. So photography, which came later, subconsciously followed the same path.
From the beginning, I found myself drawn to black and white, and to the removal of colour from most of my photographs. In art more generally, we tend to try to describe the world in our own way. For creators, there is also a need to describe the world in our own unique way.
In my world, there is an absence of colour, and through that absence I try to give presence, and greater roles, to other things.
Follow the work of Dimitris Vavliaras in music and photography through his social media accounts:
Instagram: @dimitrisvavliaras
Facebook: www.vavliaros
YouTube: @dimitrisvavliaras5797
