December 19, 2012 /

Four Days with International Greek Photographer Yannis Behrakis

Yannis Behrakis is an international, multi awarded documentary photographer from Greece. The last 25 years he is working for Reuters. He has covered all the news and variety of events that change...

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Yannis Behrakis is an international, multi awarded documentary photographer from Greece. The last 25 years he is working for Reuters. He has covered all the news and variety of events that changed humanity latest history like wars, earthquakes, Olympic games, and financial crisis. He was the Reuters chief photographer for Israel’s war and the chief Photographer in Greece.

When I heard that he will make a Photography training course in Athens this winter in cooperation with Hellenic Center of Photography I was very excited because he is one of my photography legends and also a good professional photographer with a lot of knowledge and experience. So I decided to participial in his training courses and have the opportunity to study his photography techniques!

I want to practice my storytelling and evolve my skills in documenting events. This is very important for my style and in how I understand photography as a document even if its about covering an event or a just a portrait. Its about the way you see things and people as a photographer.

We had four days together! Two days shooting homeless people and signs of Crisis in Athens. That was the concept of the training courses photoshoot and also Yannis Behrakis theme for Reuters the last two years. He had been covering everything about crisis in Athens!

Street photography in cities like Athens is quite difficult and it is getting more difficult when you documenting fringes of society in their environment. So you have to be careful. It is another language that you use to get closer and many times you just cant get closer! I shot about 200 photos these two days and the most important thing I have learned from him is that is not about how many photos you capture but what you see before you shoot.

In the end of the course, Yannis Behrakis made a selection with his favorite photos of me that follows here. Resize is the only editing on the photos, all are raw jpgs from camera as I have captured them…