Making a living as a photographer

Many times i get asked: "Do you make a living with photography on Samos island?" My answer is "yes" and sometimes people are very surprised about my answer. They are surprised because they think: "... how many photos of Pythagorion and Samos town could he sell? " Well, indeed if i where only photographing the beautiful sceneries around the island, my sales potential would be very limited.

To make a living with photography you need to create many sellable photographs, not only beautiful ones. A good sellable photograph is the one that could be used for publications like newspapers, brochures or magazines to visualize different themes.

The above shot is a sample of a sellable photograph. I shot it in 2008 at the airport of Samos island. After taking the photograph, i made it available to editors, Publishers, Graphic designers, PR-companys etc. via different marketing channels.

The photograph got licensed just a few weeks after it has been online and its now used in a brochure of the German State "Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety".

Here are the links to the PDF brochure, my name is mentioned on page 2, the photograph is published on page31

English: www.bmu.de/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/climate_protection_pays.pdf

German: www.bmu.de/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/broschuere_klimaschutz_lohnt_sich.pdf

Looking back: Samos 2004

Personal memories of Samos 2004. A collage of photos taken on Samos in 2004 with my first digital camera, a 4-Megapixel Canon IXUS 430. Looking back, a small but very good digital camera for a start! A solid metal housing, after all these years almost no scratches on the surface! Built for eternity?
And lovely small jpg-files on the hard disc of the computer. Nowadays I'm used to 15 MB files for one RAW photo of my Nikon D700.


But, nowadays, who would buy a 4 Megapixel camera? The 4 megapixel photos are still much more than is needed for HD (1280 x 720 pixel; 0,92 megapixel!) or full HD (1920 x 1080; 2,1 megapixel!).
O.k., if you want to zoom in to some extent, you might need 6 Megapixel photos. On the other hand, the video mode of the IXUS 430 with 320 x 240 pixels and 15 fps was pretty limited then, nowadays this is much better with HD and 25/30 fps becoming a standard rapidly!

This was a unique feeling then, because it was my first time on Samos during the month of May. There I was, middle of May and I was fascinated by the green and blossoming environment and by taking my first really colourful photos with the new digital camera.

I'm preparing a presentation with many of those 2004 photos, but this will take a couple more rainy days in Germany. ;-)

Photographing Hotels

One of my main business is photographing Hotels. Because my website is still under construction and i get asked every week for some samples which Hotels did i photographed etc... i will now show some samples on our Blog. Rolling out a little bit commercial for myself ;-)

For more Information contact: info@pro-samos.com

Kerveli luxury Villa:

Hotel Naftilos, Pythagorion:

Hotel Santa Katerina, Pythagorion :

2000 km away

At least on board of the charter flights they always say it is approx. 2000 kilometers distance equaling to 2 hours 50 minutes flight time between Samos in Greece and Frankfurt in Germany. Frankfurt is not far away from the city of Mainz, where I live.

So, what do you think I will do when I don't take photos on Samos? Well, you guess it, I take photos in Mainz!
If you are interested to see some images of a special place located on the banks of the river Rhine, where the river Main flows into the Rhine, please pay a visit to the presentation "Images of Mainz":

Images of Mainz / Mainz-Images from vimeo-minstrel on Vimeo.

Kallithéa

Kallithéa is a small village in the west of Samos, settled on the slopes of mount Kerkis at an altitude of approx. 300 meters. Most tourists will pass by on the road to Agios Isidoros/Valsamos beach or Drakei, unfortunately without paying a visit to this place. The name Kallithéa means: "beautiful view". And indeed you will have a spectacular view across the aegean sea to the island of Ikaria. And along the road several benches are inviting you to sit down and enjoy the breathtaking sunsets.

If you want, explore the beautiful areas above and below Kallithéa: starting in front of the graveyard, follow the dirt road up the mountain, pass the chapel Ag. Paraskevi under big platane trees. Follow the dirt road till the end, then walk up the steep trail through shady forests to the lovely chapel "Panagia Makrini" inside a cave. I promise, this will be a unique experience during your stay on Samos! Or, starting a little bit outside the village to the south, follow the dirt road that will lead you down to the sea, visit Charalampos chapel and relax on Katsouni beach.

I hav been there already several times. Last year I spent some time there in August and October and took a couple of photos. During the day, the small square and the narrow streets look empty, almost deserted. For sure, only tourists will walk around in the heat of the early afternoon!
And cats are strolling around. Old men are sitting in the shade of huge trees in front of the one and only tavern in the small square.


But during that one hot night in the middle of August, the whole place is more than crowded with hundreds of people who come from all over the world back to Kallithea in summer to celebrate and enjoy the panijiri. The whole square is packed with tables and chairs where people sit, drink and eat, A group of 4-5 musicians plays live music and people start to dance from about midnight as long as they can until the light of the morning dawns.


Wanna take part (visually) in that hot night in the square of Kallithea? At least, for a couple of seconds, you can do that on the internet:

Hot August summer nights on Samos island in Greece: panijiri in Kallithea from vimeo-minstrel on Vimeo.

Interested in the west of Samos island? More photos can be found in my collection "Through the west of Samos between Paleochóri and Drakéi"