Cosmos article with Prokopis Manousopoulos

1. Kalimera ( Greek for good morning ) Prokopis! Thanks again for spending some time with us for this session! We at Cosmos really appreciate your sharing here! Before we go further, could you please share with us how you got yourself into this marvelous photography career?

Kalimera  , thank you for the honor. 

My relationship with photography started vary early in my life, when I was still at school since my father was a photographer and he used to take me and my brother,Spyros(who is also a photographer)to his photo-shootings. This way the “photography-virus” got in me very early in my life. The first  years of my working as a photographer my style was more commercial ,and later on, when I discovered the “magic” of wedding photography my work got more creative.

2. How do you describe your style of photography? And what sets you apart from the rest 

To begin with, I believe that every photographer as well as every human being is unique. What  a photographer imprints  in his photographs, shows what he carries inside his soul. Shows his inner world, his culture and his experiences. Thus, automatically, he becomes unique and each one of us is a unique and different personality. As it comes to my personal  style, I would say that it is “story telling”. What I want to present through   my photographs is: true stories and emotions when it comes to the content, and  realistic  colors , without any exaggerations in the editing when it comes to the technical part.

3. We understand that you’re a wedding photographer, but at the same time, you do really amazing portraits, photojournalism/reportage and even commercial work too! For you, what do u think is the secret to excel in various genres in photography? 

The fact that the genre of wedding photography includes a variety of other styles, such as portrait, reportage, style life and even fashion ,is undoubtedly  an important factor. In addition, another thing that has helped me a lot, is the fact that I tag and admire the work of other, non-wedding photographers such as art, street and fashion photographers. To be specific  , this has helped me to be more flexible to understand , accept, and adopt to other photograph genres. Nevertheless ,my all time favorite genre remains wedding photography, and in general anything that has to do with human relationships and the human element.

4. It’s not easy being creatively unique in many genres! Where do you get your ideas and inspirations from?

Most of the times, my inspiration comes from the “ here and now”. There have been too little times that I had prepared a concept .Each time, I try to “scan” and get inspired from the people I am about to photo-shoot , either they are couples or clients or just friends.

5. Being a veteran in the photography industry, you must have experienced and seen a lot in our photography industry. If you could go back 15 years ago and give one advice to yourself, what advice would you say?

If I could turn back time, I would choose to do less but more –high quality- projects. I would make works that would express me more, and I would spend more time educating   myself, noticing everything around me and experimenting.

6. Any special tips and tricks for our photographers who are tuning in to this interview ? For example, how to better their craft?

I do believe that the biggest tip is what I said before, which is the cultivation of our character. Our character is what is presented in our photos. Hard work, and not a sense of reliance on our talent, open mind , patience and daring, are essentials .

7. What’s the biggest challenge of obstacle you had faced in your entire career?

The economic crises that my country is going through the last ten years is undoubtedly an inhibitor factor .

8. Could you show us 3 of your most favorite photos?

All of those three photos are my all time favorite but not because of their technical excellence but because they narrate some truly honest stories.

That’s so awesome! Million thank you for sharing some time for us! Can’t wait to chat more with you soon! Take care!