What a fantastic way to kick off the holiday festivities…a nice interview with Archisearch by fellow architectural photographer Pygmalion Karatzas! So wonderful of them to feature some of my work and ask a few questions.
I recently met up with Pygmalion while he was traveling through Chicago as part of his Fulbright Scholarship on architectural and fine art photography. It’s always so great to actually meet the photographer’s I’ve become friends with over social media. Be sure to check out Pygmalion’s work, it’s phenomenal and fascinating to follow along on his tour through the United States.
A big thank you to Pygmalion and Archisearch for the interview! Here’s a sneak-peek, be sure to head over to Archisearch for the whole interview!
PK: Could you describe your overall photographic vision and approach?
AM: The majority of my work is quite detailed and abstracted. Someone once pointed out to me that looking at my work he could tell I was a detail-oriented person. It was sort-of this ah-ha moment for me. Oddly, I had never made the connection that who I was as a person – idiosyncrasies, previous career choices, etc. – so clearly came through in my work.
I tend to prefer compartmentalizing the buildings I photograph, to break them down into these small, orderly segments. To remove the clutter or distracting environment and focus on the form and detail that often gets overlooked when viewing the wider scene. There’s also a meditative quality to creating order out of a more chaotic or overwhelming site.
PK: Which are some of the influences to your photographic work and in what ways have they affected you?
AM: This is such a difficult question for me. I don’t consciously think about what influences my work. I’m sure it’s a large number of things; from other photographer’s work I look at and admire to the music I listen to, movies I see, conversations I have with fellow photographers, design elements I’m drawn to, books I read, life experiences in general.
There have been projects that have been inspired by things I’ve read or seen years or decades earlier but that just comes about organically and isn’t something I’m routinely contemplating.
