Dr. Papageorgiou: Hi Spiros! Nice to see you again.

Spiros T.: Hi my good man. It’s been a long time. I hear you’ve been traveling a lot. You’re flying back and forth all the time. I follow you on Instagram, a liposuction in Bern, then an upper eyelid lift in Rhodes and most recently a total body lift and some tummy tucks. How many bonus miles have you collected?

Dr. Papageorgiou: I have no idea. It should be quite a few by now.

Spiros T.: How is Bern going?

Dr. Papageorgiou: Like every start. We’ve both had several new beginnings and you know that. If you’ve already started something new several times, this experience gives you a certain calm. It’s then rather interesting and exciting to see how something slowly builds up. But yes, I’ve had quite a few surgeries recently and that’s a lot of fun.

Now to you: you’re already a multi-talent. You used to be an internationally successful competitive athlete (martial artist), then also a successful topographer and have been a professional photographer for several years. How does it all fit together?

Spiros T.: That’s how it turned out. I’ve always been and will always be a sportsman. And I’ve always had the photographer in me too. Okay, the few years as a topographer didn’t do me any harm, but they didn’t satisfy me intellectually either, so I turned my second passion, photography, into a profession.

Dr. Papageorgiou: What were your goals when you started?

Spiros T.: I wanted to become a war photographer. And lo and behold, my first job was right here in Greece. With the financial crisis, Athens became a kind of war zone for a while. Basically, it was physically a street war. And I was right in the middle of it. All kinds of things were flying through the streets: Tear gas, bottles, fire with very intense aggression on both sides.

Dr. Papageorgiou: I was in Germany at the time and only followed the events in TV. In summary, the message was: eternally dissident leftists are violently trying to defend workers’ rights that are no longer realistic. Because there is no alternative for Greece, the state has to crack down with all its might to prevent worse things from happening.

Spiros T.: Yes, you could summarize the reporting something like that. Without going any further into the subject, my observation remains that any protest was also brutally crushed. There was definitely a lot of aggression on both sides.

Dr. Papageorgiou: I’m happy to admit it openly. I never really understood what happened back then. But it was a bit like war. Although there was no open shooting, there were many parallels for me. For example, the public broadcaster was not destroyed by a bomb, but it was closed down and reporting was then exclusively on private broadcasters with corresponding donor-friendly coverage. I was very surprised by all this.

But enough about the Greek financial crisis, which turned into a kind of war, now you’re dealing with a kind of pre-war period as a photographer, you’re a wedding photographer.

Both laugh

Dr. Papageorgiou: With over 200 weddings a year, a huge team and now increasingly working internationally. Where are you going next week?

Spiros T.: New York. I’m really looking forward to finally visiting this city. Coupled with some work, I like it even more.

Dr. Papageorgiou: Where do you see yourself now? I mean in your development as a photographer?

Spiros T.: I am increasingly in a new phase. It’s super exciting. In my early years, I was more of a moment catcher, waiting for the perfect moment for the perfect picture. Now I’m slowly becoming a moment creator for the perfect picture. So I’m moving out of a passive role and into a more active one.

Dr. Papageorgiou: Big step! You could have just carried on like that.

Spiros T.: That’s due to my nature. I was also a competitive athlete, so further development is a must.

 Dr. Papageorgiou: Thank you very much for the interview.