ABOUT VANGELIS
Vangelis Beltzenitis is a wedding, portrait and boudoir photographer, always in search of turning life’s moments into works of art. His vast experience during the two decades that his career spans over allowed him to rise to international status and led him to the development of a personal, well-defined photography style; a blend of creative storytelling and editorial with timeless aesthetics.
Drawing inspiration from his couples, he always pushes the boundaries to create authentically elegant, emotionally-charged images with a perfect balance between candid and artistically directed pictures conveying the mood of the day. His ultimate goal is natural, soulful, alive photos that his couples will admire for the rest of their lives.
How it All Started
My love for photography has been taking over from a very young age. I have always been taking pictures from the moment I got my first camera in his hands at 9 years old. As I was growing older, the way to express myself was through a Nikon FM2 camera, a 50mm lens and countless rolls of Tri-X 400 Black and white film. I have spent countless hours in the darkroom processing my own films, because I wanted to have the control of the whole process from the beginning till the end. A bit later I received a scholarship by the Greek Ministry of Culture to study photography and what started as a passion evolved to a profession.
Inspired by
My first personal touch through workshops with the legendary documentary photographers Josef Koudelka and Konstantinos Manos from Magnum Agency as well as Ed Kashi from National Geographic was certainly highly influential. Edward Weston's use of forms in his photos also had a big impact on my work on the human body in the mid 90's. However, I consider the refinedly strong and poetic fashion and portrait photography by Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, David Bailey, and Herb Ritts to be decisive in the formulation of my own style in photography.
Why Wedding Photography?
I love the challenges of wedding photography and the fact that it is a constant interplay between other photography genres, such as documentary, portrait, editorial and still life. To be a good wedding photographer one has to master those different genres and also be effective under the stress of time pressure. Moments happen only once and the action can't be stopped to repeat the shots. A wedding photographer is responsible of preserving the memories of one of the couple's most important days and for that reason, they have to be experienced so that they anticipate important moments, have self-confidence, and efficiently manage large groups. When I shoot, I always thinks how my couple will look good in the photos. My brides in particular are my source of inspiration and I like to bring out their inherent beauty and femininity.