features, contests and other stories

I thought I’d make a seperate post to talk about my latest news and progress. Ever since I started this blog and conceptual photography, I feel like I’ve found my place in photography and to put it rather simply, I really love what I have been doing! It has been hard, mainly due to lack of time for shooting, but I am really proud of what I was able to create so far and of what I’ve learned in the process. I only have a few pictures to show, but my notebook is full of ideas for the future!

In the past few months I had a couple of features on sites like photofocus and phlearn which gave me the confidence to carry on. What was more surprising for me, was that my latest picture, “narcissus“, was selected and featured by 500px in a collection called “50 Creative Self-Portrait Ideas To Trump All Selfies“. I had nothing to do with the feature, which means someone chose it among others, and also I was not notified about the selection. Imagine the look on my face when I clicked on the link out of curiosity, only to scroll down and discover one of my own pictures in there! I saw that the collection had been posted two days before and the views count on my 500px account had gone way up!  Today “narcissus” alone has over 10.000 views! That number is surreal to me and it makes me so proud of myself!

Sometimes I worry that sharing these little successes over and over on facebook or wherever, could be considered bragging. I hate to do that, I actually always avoid talking about myself and what I have accomplished. I prefer it when people discover that on their own, without me having to constantly self-advertise. But on the other hand, if I am proud of myself, why should I hide it?

I have also decided to take part in photography contests, both in Greece and abroad, mainly because I want to see where I really stand as a photographer. I am currently awaiting results from two greek contests and I am preparing my entries for others. It is an exciting, yet frightening time! I’d like to approach some galleries too, but I honestly don’t have the slightest idea how I would do that.

If I have to change one thing, that is the amount of time I dedicate to photography. It has not been easy for me to balance the dozen things I do everyday in a way that makes me satisfied. As a result I have been uploading one picture per month, which is not good enough for me. Now summer is here, so theoretically I will have more time at my disposal. I’ll give it my best!

My website is almost ready, so when I launch it, I will tranfer my blog there. Also I will start selling prints on my website, so I have to think about all kinds of stuff about that! Stay tuned for my next upload, which will be soon!