The first time I began to take interest in the art of photography was at the age of 18. My initial photographs were done on black and white Ilford film using my father’s old SLR Minolta; a 1974 model. The source of my inspiration came from the beautiful scenery of the Aegean Island of Andros, the north most island of the Cyclades. My family -from my grandmother’s side- is descended from Andros and I had the fortune to spend enough time during summers to unfold many beautiful scenes while discovering the island year by year.

Reaching the completion of my studies in the United States, I got a job as manager trainee in Ritz camera. This is a popular US chain of stores that specializes in visual products and film processing.   During this period I begun acquiring a large collection of books on all aspects of photography and purchased my first SLR camera. This was an Nikon N80.

The period I spent at Ritz came gave me the opportunity ‘to suck in like sponge’ as much as I could both in technical knowledge and in conversing with professionals that visited the store. Not long after I traded my Nikon N80 for a Nikon F100 and began taking photos solely on positive film usually Fuji Velvia ISO 50. From then on I slowly assembled a complete set of photography equipment and began to systematically schedule photo trips in the vicinity of Washington D.C. and Maryland.

Upon returning to Greece I made several trips to European countries and created several portfolios of various locations. Although my F100 served me well during this period of amateur photography  trips I decided to switch to digital having in mind mainly the post-processing ability and the ease of printing. So I sold my F100 and purchased a Canon DSLR D20. This camera as well as the F100 gives great photographs and until today I haven’t felt the need to upgrade to another model.

Wanting to enhance my knowledge on photography I took a series of seminars in 2004 on how to use popular software packages like Photoshop in small technology institute in Athens.

Around 2005 I contemplated of becoming a professional photographer and almost signed up at the Leica photography academy in Athens. My final decision was not to follow a career in photography and decided to keep my love for photography a hobby and not make it a profession. When people ask me why, I usually tell them that it’s more preferable to have a hobby as a mistress than to ‘marry’ it and make it your wife. The whole magic that surrounds a hobby, is to enjoy it’s magic when you want to and when you feel like it. Work can sometimes turn a hobby into a routine and have a great affect on creativity. Some might say there are many examples of successful professionals that do extremely creative work but in a country like Greece few photographers manage to successfully combine a healthy income with artistic liberty.

Currently, I continue to study photography and have given more interest into studio work and lighting techniques. In the early years of my involvement, like most people who begin photography, I was mainly interested in nature and scenery photography. Today I find myself more curious in more challenging forms mainly people, macro and studio work. My dream is to slowly enter Medium or Large format photography and at some point -if feasible- to acquire an antique Hasselblad, Pentax 67 and Mamiya RZ 67. If I ever decided to do more professional work -and could afford it- I would love to acquire a digital Hasselblad. Some of my older work is displayed in photo.net were I have been a member since January 2004 and have rated over 1000 photos of fellow craftsmen (and women) mostly accompanied with comments.

Here is the link: http://photo.net/photos/Peter_Apostol  

Enjoy my photographs and feel free to leave any comments or come into the forum and ask or discuss whatever you feel!