Alexandros Aidonis, Portrait Photographer in Ioannina
“I photograph people.”
I started in a darkroom in 2005, with black-and-white film, during my years at the Ionian University in Corfu. The moment the image appeared on the paper, I understood what I wanted to do.
What I do now is simpler than it sounds. I put someone in front of my camera and I wait, not for a pose but for the moment the pose drops. That's the photograph.
I live in Ioannina, and from here I photograph throughout Epirus and the nearby regions of Western Macedonia and Western Greece. I also work in Athens and Thessaloniki, and wherever else in Greece I'm needed. I work in the studio and on location, and what stays the same from one session to the next is not the space but the pace. It is unhurried and attentive, with no pressure to fill the silence.
I photograph individuals, creatives and professionals, people whose life shows in their face if you give it time to surface.
A portrait session is a collaboration, and the final image carries something of both of us, the one in front of the camera and the one behind it. That's not a metaphor. It shapes every decision I make, from how I prepare to how I move and when I wait.
When I photograph someone, I get close to them. I learn how they carry themselves, what they're comfortable showing and what they'd rather keep back. Over time, this has taught me things about people and about life that I wouldn't have found any other way, and each session leaves me knowing something I didn't know before.
What I'm working toward in every session is presence. I'm not looking for a performance or a carefully managed version of someone, only the two of us, present, with nothing to prove. When that happens, the photograph takes care of itself.
If you'd like to work together, start with a message through the Contact page.
