Olga Tzimou. Photographer
Olga Tzimou is a photographer and visual artist. She talks about contrived photography and the messages that can pass through it.
“Through collaborations, we can see small ‘miracles’ happen”
BYO: A few words about you.
OLGA: From very early on I knew I wanted to create art.
I explored forms such as painting and sculpture, before deciding to become a photographer.
Through photography, I have been fortunate to have the most beautiful experiences, meeting people, travelling but I have also found inner peace.
I started out as a photojournalist in newspapers and magazines and then got to know the "staged photo" and the photo in the studio. I love all kinds of things and I like to change, but more importantly, my work is around directing the image and the messages I can deliver.
BYO: Commercial Photography and Art; It is something combined?
OLGA: Fortunately in recent years, we have seen great advertising work and the "commercial" part of photography, by well-known names of artists (Lanthimos, Nadav Kander, Juno Calypso, and others). Back in the day, some of us (of course including myself), did a promotional photo shoot and didn't tell anyone so we wouldn't lose the title of "artist".
BYO: Are you interested in the street, photographically as a field of expression?
OLGA: I'm not one of the photographers that are chasing the road right now. I photograph places and scenes that interest me with the mobile phone (like notes) and at another time I reconstruct it according to the project I am preparing.
BYO: What are the last jobs you've done?
OLGA: The latest project is the series "After The Party" which I showed in the Athens Photo Festival and the series "The Porcupines and other stories of Intimacy" which I present in a book.
The first series is negotiated in a "cinematic way", the passage of time through scenes taken from the recent urban Greek past.
The second is an exploratory meditation on the concept of intimacy in a personal and intuitive way.
BYO: You work outside Greece, which place has fascinated you lately both photographically and as a culture?
OLGA: I was lucky enough to find myself in special places, other beautiful and other strange otherworldly.
I'm fascinated by Asia. In some places, I've been very calm and I've seen myself photographing "otherwise".
Such places I can remember now are Halong Bay in Vietnam, Shanghai in China, Rishikesh in India.
BYO: What can irritate you in a job and what can cheer you up?
OLGA: I don't get upset easily and work fascinates me, but, something that would bother me is the inconsistency (I'm a typical Virgo).
Happy people create a happy mood!
BYO: Tell us about your next project and next steps in general.
OLGA: I really like photo books and I look forward to working with a good publishing house that can
(although difficult under the covid conditions) undertake something like this either in Greece or abroad.
BYO: Do you like working together or do you prefer to work alone?
OLGA: Cooperation is something I seek because this is how small "miracles" arise.
BYO: What's the nicest or most important thing you've learned through your work?
OLGA: As a follow-up to the previous question, I add:
I have learned that through the diversity and uniqueness of each, through the seemingly "unmatched" streets, there are common paths that will surprise you.
BYO: Do you have a favourite picture? If so, is it yours or another photographers?
OLGA: Yes, I have a favourite picture through my pregnancy. It's called "Strangers in the Light" by Catherine Balet.
BYO: In the city do you always see things as a photographer or just as a passer-by?
OLGA: Usually as a photographer... Which makes me get a little lost in reality.
On this I would like to refer to the book of Fotis Chancellor "Homo Photographicus" and the phrase:
"Photography always yields interior landscapes."
What do you like about Athens?
OLGA: Carelessness, nice people, short distances, sun.
BYO: Athens or...?
OLGA: Athens always!
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