Kyriakos Kaziras is not only a photographer, but also an artist, a magician capturing the beauty of the world through his lens. With Greek roots and steeped in French culture, he embodies the harmonious fusion of these two worlds. His passion for visual art was born in the very cradle of civilisation, awakened by the stories of his grandfathers, benevolent guides to the world of creativity.
From the very beginning, photography and painting became his preferred language. His eyes scanned the world with the curiosity of an explorer, capturing the subtle nuances of light and shadow, the fleeting details that most people miss.
When he was a teenager, a new chapter began as his family settled in Geneva. It was here, on the shores of Lake Geneva, that Kyriakos learned to speak French, adding another string to his multicultural bow. Then, like a migrant guided by instinct, he found refuge in France, where the benches of the Sorbonne became the place for his literary explorations.
But it was in the wilds of southern Africa that his destiny took on a new dimension. At the dawn of adulthood, he discovered the vastness of the veldt, the brightness of the African lights, and the animal symphony that resonated across the infinite plains. A deep love was born for the land and its proudest and freest inhabitants.
From then on, travel became his credo, and distant horizons his inspiration. From the icy expanses of the Far North to the mystical mists of the Amazon rainforest, each destination is a blank canvas on which he paints with light, capturing the very essence of wildlife.
His approach to photography is marked by this duality between the photographer’s eye and the painter’s hand. The cameras become his brushes, the pixels his palette of colours, and each shot a work of art in itself. Guided by his instinct and his artistic heritage, he composes images that transcend mere visual recording to become moving testimonies to the beauty of the world.
The transition from amateur to professional was marked by a moment of revelation in Zimbabwe, where the grandiose landscapes and magical encounters reminded him of the power of the image. From then on, his mission was clear: to make the world aware of the fragility of our planet, and to reveal the beauty that lies in every corner of nature.
The name Kyriakos Kaziras sounds like a call to adventure, an invitation to open our eyes to the splendour of the world around us. In each shot, he captures the essence of life, taking viewers on a journey beyond the boundaries of the imagination. For him, photography is not just a profession, it’s a passion, an art of living, a hymn to the ephemeral beauty of our world in motion.
Website : www.kaziras.com
Instagram : @kaziras
What was your first photographic breakthrough?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Developing film, with my father, in the dark in the kitchen, with only a red light.
The man or woman who inspired you?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The director Edgar Reitz with ‘Heimat’. I discovered his work in the mid-1980s. For me, it’s the work of a lifetime. For almost 30 years he developed his subject with sublime light management and every shot was a photograph. Also Kostas Balafas.
What image would you have liked to have taken?
Kyriakos Kaziras: A photographic work is not an image but a complete photographic story on a project, but if I can only take one photo it would be that of ‘Phryne before the Areopagus’.
Which one moved you the most?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Kevin Carter’s photo of The Little Boy and the Vulture. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.
And the one that made you angry?
Kyriakos Kaziras: All those that distort reality for ideological reasons.
Which photo changed the world?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Photography can provide food for thought about the world, but it can’t change it on its own. You need a context, a story. Lieutenant Charles Levy’s photo showing the nuclear mushroom cloud over Nagasaki after the second nuclear bomb exploded in Japan helped to rewrite world history.
And which photograph changed your world?
Kyriakos Kaziras: There are two: ‘Earthrise’ by William Anders in 1968. Looking at this tiny blue half-sphere, it made us think about the immensity of the cosmos and our own world. Everyone we know and love lives within these 3 cm… And Richard Drew’s 2001 picture ‘The Falling Man’ shows how life can change from one moment to the next.
What interests you most in an image?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The framing, I love using the double diagonal, then the light, the material, the contrast.
What was the last photo you took?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The portraits of Lorenzo and Massimo Cifonelli in their studios.
A key image in your personal pantheon?
Kyriakos Kaziras: ‘Wonderful Dream’, a photo of a giraffe and a bird looking at each other.
A photographic memory from your childhood?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The photo of an elephant that my grandfather gave me when I was 7.
What do you think makes a good photographer?
Kyriakos Kaziras: To constantly question yourself.
What makes a good photo?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The one that immerses us in the image and takes us out into another world filled with dreams and emotions.
Who would you like to photograph?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Grace Jones.
An indispensable photo book?
Kyriakos Kaziras: There’s nothing indispensable in life.
Your childhood camera?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Praktica MTL5B.
The one you use today?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Canon Eos R5.
How do you choose your projects?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I photograph what I like.
How would you describe your creative process?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Imagination, Inspiration, Experimentation, Creation and Realisation.
Do you have an upcoming project that is close to your heart?
Kyriakos Kaziras: A new trilogy about polar bears and their bleak future.
What’s your favourite drug?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Red wine and chocolate.
What’s the best way for you to switch off?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Listening to an opera with my cat on my lap.
Who would you like or have liked to have photographed you?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Herb Ritts.
Your latest folly?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I’ve started reading Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time again with the intention of finishing it!
An image to illustrate a new banknote?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Four years ago it was Louis Pasteur, now it’s Mahatma Gandhi.
What job would you rather not have?
Kyriakos Kaziras: My wife’s job 😉 She’s a lawyer.
Your greatest professional extravagance?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Drinking a Gyokuro in the middle of the Maasai Mara.
What’s the question that makes you go off the rails?
Kyriakos Kaziras: None.
What was the last thing you did for the first time?
Kyriakos Kaziras: A chocolate soufflé.
What city, country or culture do you dream of discovering?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The Yali tribe in New Guinea.
The place you never get tired of?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Ice floes and savannah.
Your biggest regret?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I have no regrets.
In terms of social networks, do you prefer Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok or Snapchat, and why?
Kyriakos Kaziras: None. an Art Gallery a real one .
Colour or B&W?
Kyriakos Kaziras: All colours in shades of grey.
Daylight or studio light?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The two are inseparable.
In your opinion, which is the most photogenic city?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I don’t know all the cities in the world, but of those I’ve visited, my heart lies between New York and Venice.
If God existed, would you ask him to pose for you or would you opt for a selfie with him?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Neither. I’d ask him to have a chat over a glass of champagne.
If I could organise your ideal dinner, who would be at the table?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I would love to spend an evening with Socrates, Galileo, Augustine of Hippo, Ibn Sîna, known in the West as Avicenna, Augustine of Hippo, Hypatia of Alexandria, Winston Churchill and Stephen Fry.
Which image do you think represents the current state of the world?
Kyriakos Kaziras: An endless day.
What do you think is missing in today’s world?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Probity to enable reasoned development that benefits everyone, and education to combat extremism and fears of all kinds.
If you had to start all over again?
Kyriakos Kaziras: The same things but in a more orderly way 😉
What would you like people to say about you?
Kyriakos Kaziras: Nothing, just look at my photos.
What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
Kyriakos Kaziras: I always see the glass as half full.
Any last words?
Kyriakos Kaziras: See you soon.
