Iraklis Kougemitros

I was born in Athens, Greece. I have studied music technology and saxophone, and I am a self-taught photographer. Since 2009, photography has become an essential means to express myself.
Silent blocks, shadows, lines and abstract forms, have a language that speaks directly to me, more directly than any words can do. When I am out taking pictures, I find myself forgetting that I am photographing, but rather investigating the hidden aspects of life.
The environment becomes a theatrical scene, where every detail is important and can become a protagonist. I photograph elements from urban environments, trying to compose unexpected little stories. The images affect me emotionally, and I respond photographically. Through my photos I try to explain, redefine and express this dialog.
The unidentified human presence, sometimes being a silhouette and sometimes a shadow, is an element that I often use in my effort to tell a story. In many photos, the human is absent as matter; it only exists in a mental way, part of an urban environment full of forms, geometry and abundant light. This way, I attempt to show the environment’s psychological effect on human beings, but also the influence human beings impose on it. In my photos nothing is named and nothing is realistic.
The abstract, I believe, has more to say than the specific. I want the viewer, the recipient, to be able to freely perceive my images, to enter the environments they depict and compose his own image.