Interview with Dimitris Mavrozoumis

I ‘m Dimitris Mavrozoumis from Greece, i started to shoot photos in 1997. I’m self taught, my photos reflect my life’s memories. My deepest respect goes to Eugene Adget, Walker Evans & Garry Winogrand.

I was born and live in Loutra Aidipsou of Euvoia island. I ‘ve attended classes in the National Auditorium of M.Kalomoiris, i can’t imagine myself living without music. I feel like i ‘m driven by this when i ‘m shooting photos, things before my eyes seem like scattered notes that i have to put together and unite in a melody.

The first picture i took was a tourist girl sitting on a bench; i shot with a 200mm lens and my heart started beating fast, scared that i might wake her up. After watching how G.Winogrand was shooting from close distance, i practiced myself to shoot invisibly; i started shooting without film and i was showing the empty camera when people reacted aggressively. Gradually i realized i had to shoot with manual pre-focus, with my hands tied up on my body and hold the camera down immediately when there’s no other image to be shot.

When i see something that attracts my attention i might take a good picture only if i somehow can coordinate with it; then it shows me the way how to take the picture. The background is always decisive regarding the point of view and the moment that a photo will be taken. A man near a window is different than the same man in front of a door, different than him next to a lady’s backside.

I take pictures to see how the things that touched me seem photographed. I shoot for myself, i don’t care if my photos will be liked or not, there are many ways to make images seem more impressive, even with post-procession. Everyone can see what i shoot, at the end the thing that stays and belongs only to me is the moment of the click, which was spread like a flash in me back then.