Kyriakos Kaziras

Career

A French-​Greek pro­fes­sional pho­tog­ra­pher liv­ing in France, Kyriakos Kaziras spe­cial­izes in nature pho­tog­ra­phy, includ­ing wildlife, ethno­graphic, and land­scape pho­tog­ra­phy.
Born in Greece, Kyriakos Kaziras devel­oped an early pas­sion for pho­tog­ra­phy and paint­ing through the influ­ence of his two grand­fa­thers, one a painter and the other a pho­tog­ra­phy enthu­si­ast. At the age of six­teen, he moved with his par­ents to Geneva, where he learned French. He later attended uni­ver­sity in France, study­ing French lit­er­a­ture at the Sorbonne. 

Visual Style

During his first trip to Southern Africa, he fell in love with its vast wilder­ness, light, and wildlife. Since then, he has con­tin­u­ally trav­eled across Africa and to some of the most remote places on the planet. His jour­neys have pro­vided oppor­tu­ni­ties for numer­ous encoun­ters with indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties and wild animals. 

Major Series and Works

He draws inspi­ra­tion from light, the search for emo­tion, and human encoun­ters. Strongly influ­enced by paint­ing, Kyriakos Kaziras approaches pho­tog­ra­phy with a highly painterly sen­si­bil­ity. His cam­eras are his brushes. 

Recognition

As priv­i­leged wit­nesses to the beauty of the world, his pho­tographs share his fas­ci­na­tion with wildlife in an emo­tional and poetic way. They reflect the mag­nif­i­cence of land­scapes and the splen­dor of ani­mal life.
Kyriakos Kaziras is a pho­tog­ra­pher of the deci­sive moment, con­stantly search­ing for the instant when emo­tion reveals itself. His images offer a dis­tinc­tive and always orig­i­nal vision of the beauty of nature and the world. 

Reading the Work

Kyriakos Kaziras’ work finds its bal­ance in a per­spec­tive focused on nature, wide-​open land­scapes, wildlife, and human encoun­ters dur­ing travel. It is dis­tin­guished by a close con­nec­tion to the field, a pur­suit of light, and a visual sto­ry­telling approach that gives depth and scale to his sub­jects. His pho­tographs ben­e­fit from a close read­ing atten­tive to nuance: a com­po­si­tional detail, a par­tic­u­lar dis­tance main­tained with the sub­ject, a qual­ity of light, or a tex­ture often reveals their depth.