TAVERNA for Gastronomos Magazine
In this photo story about Taverna for Gastronomos magazine, I shared my angle of view and my respect to all these people who in daily basis keep alive the living history of the greek culture. In all these little spaces, mostly away from the crowd,
humanity and real contact have the first role. The philoxeny and the devotion of the owners, make these spaces ataxic and creates a space in where different people could connect, share their personalities and create culture.
"We enter the 42 oldest haunts of Athens and the countryside of Attica and talk to the people who for decades have held the reins of famous family shops that have written their own history in Athenian gastronomy.
From “Athinaikon” and “Lelouda” to “Oikonomou” and “Diporto”, the historical Athenian taverns that from being haunts of the popular strata became a favorite culinary destination of all social classes.
We select and collect the famous recipes from the most famous taverns of Athens and the surrounding area and present them in detail, with their secrets and the selected ingredients that established them: the fried meatballs of “Katsogiannos”, the yuvetsi of “Kitsoula”, the kakavia of ” Pezoula”, the rooster with thick macaroni of “Rhamnouda”, the bekri meze of “Vardi”. 40 iconic recipes immortal and timeless over the decades.
We learn the history of the tavern, from ancient Athens to the present day and gather in a glossary the old and new terms associated with the tavern and its culture.
We met people of letters and art in historic taverns and let them explain to us through their own experiences and reflections the meaning and essence of the tavern. Pantelis Voulgaris, “Deipnosophist” Christos Zouraris and Christos Chomenidis discuss and reflect on famous dishes of the Greek tavern and George Pittas gives his valuable advice to young tavern owners, through experience as well as his long-term study of history of the tavern.
How much did the Athenian tavern influence literature and music? Papadiamantis, Polemis, Karyotakis, Tsirkas were inspired by the popular atmosphere of the tavern and transferred it to their works, while theories and existential anxieties unfolded on its tables from the companies of Seferis, Papagiorgis, Papanoutsou. But the tavern also left its indelible mark in the popular song that praised it and captured its atmosphere like no other genre.
The tavern in art: Painters and photographers from Hatzikyriakos-Ghikas and Topazis to Manousakis, Craxton and Zavicianos each captured with their art and their eyes the warmth of the tavern and transferred it entirely to their canvas and film . Along with them is the self-taught popular painter Giorgos Savvakis, who with his blinding colors decorated over 40 taverns in Plaka with his murals, vividly capturing their aesthetics and patrons".
Costa Navarino Resort food photography
In this food photography for Costa Navarino Hotel in Greece, main object is the recipes with Navarino Icons products. You may not be able to pack the Messinian sun, sea or landscape into your suitcase, but you can certainly take some of its wonderful flavors back home to treat yourself to a Messinian meal. With more than 50 international distinctions so far, the Navarino Icons line of select products from local producers provides you with the ingredients and the inspiration to adopt a healthy lifestyle with all the Mediterranean diet benefits, while indulging in the delicious flavors of Greek food.
I live in a country with a great food culture, that produce a great variety with unique quality of raw ingredients. Many different tastes and cuisines, from one end of Greece to the other, give a rich culture, a polymorphic taste in such a small country.
Food is such an important part of vacations and food photography of every hotel or resort should bring this quality to the viewer. Costa Navarino is a unique combination of beautiful geography, friendly weather, local products. Because of all that has become one of the most known destinations for family vacations worldwide, ideal place to rest body and mind.
In this set, breakfast has these qualities, made of fresh and pure ingredients from the surrounding area of Kalamata and gives to each visitor the feeling of hospitality one needs to relax and feel joy. This year Greece was named 6th Best Country to visit worldwide and 3rd Friendliest in Europe following Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 lists. The Westin Resort, Costa Navarino and the The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort, Costa Navarino is one of the best resorts and hotels in Greece.
Nana Hotels food photography
For this food photography mission I have visited the Island of Crete and the well known 5* Nana Hotels. Crete is one of the most important gastronomic destinations in Greece and in global level, with a unique diversity of natural beauty. A place that one can have the experience to taste the pure and healthy mediterranean diet.
Nana Princess resort offers a supreme 5* experience of hospitality and VIP services, with a generous selection of 102 immaculately designed suites and villas.
It has been an honor for me to create a sort of photos, designing food photography for the delicious dining experience of Nana Hotels made by the hand of the Michelin star awarded chef, Lefteris Lazarou. The Hotel menu serves an exciting selection of local, Mediterranean and International dishes. Carpe Diem Restaurant is the heart and soul of the resort, inviting guests to relish delectable mouth-watering dishes in exquisite surroundings. In this food photography session I had include the design of a huge Buffet Breakfast which includes local, fresh and colorful ingredients, in front of the great hotel view of Aegean big blue sea.
At the pool restaurant the food photography includes pictures from a selection of delicious lunch dishes. As the evening descends, an à la carte menu treats diners to a taste sensation with exquisite dishes. Mouthwatering meat cuts and a variety of delectable fresh pasta are specially prepared; inspired by delicious local cuisine, aromatic Mediterranean flavours and innovative international trends.
The amazing Eternal Blue restaurant which sits on the waterfront, next to the lapping waves of the Nana Princess private beach, gave a great backdrop for close up pictures of dishes with great evening colors. Pictures of fresh fish and seafood as well as colorful sushi selection prepared and served with true passion. It was food photography and dining experience that will remain unforgettable, with creations that seducing all the senses. I truly suggest this very special location. Enjoy the pictures.
Domaine Hatzimichalis Wine Campaign
With all the support from Leonidas and Panagiotis Hatzimichalis, I followed the wine route in Domaine Hatzimichalis for this greek wine photography campaign. From the Valley of Atalanti, the vineyards, its grounds and the winery until bottling. Every space the human element turns it into a space of creation and defines it. The richness of the natural environment, the value and respect of the ecosystem are highlighted. In this campaign I felt that I followed and captured the steps of our ancestors, from the past to the present.
The producer Dimitris Hatzimichalis is the creator. He is the one who determines the entire production process. He is the one who takes care of quality in all its stages. He is the one who envisions, who chooses, who evolves, always with the aim of the taste, the aroma and the perfect experience of a wine. He made his first wine in his backyard at the age of 19 and several decades later he had excelled the process and became one of the top wine makers in Greece. When Dimitris Hatzimichalis first visited Atalanti Valley he was amazed by its unique ecosystem and fertile land; without second thoughts he bought his first vine hectares in 1973. Today, his privately owned vineyards have reached 220 hectares (520 acres).
In the wine photography process, Hatzimichalis family ties emerge through the relationship with the land, cultivation, passing of wine philosophy from generation to generation. The man who envisioned and made winemaking a reality in the Koilada Atalanti Dimitris Hatzimichalis and now his sons, Leonidas and Panagiotis, welcome a new look and all together continue the tradition and expand its borders. Both of them are passionately contributing to the family business with their modern mindsets. They work hard to keep the tradition of the winery and maintain their father’s legacy. Their vision, is to expand the brand further and enter in new markets abroad. Lastly, their mission for the winery is to make it even more environmentally sustainable, by reducing wastes, energy/water consumption and by using recyclable materials.
Every year at Domaine Hatzimichalis, the harvest and pruning periods are performed by a group of skillful and experienced women. This was a deliberate choice, as Greek women are known for their caring, patient, and tender character, in addition to their overall courage and strength. These women are who Domaine Hatzimichalis trusts in our tradition of hard work. Dimitris Hatzimichalis always been amazed and inspired by their care for the vineyards, which is essential for the quality of the wines and the brand’s success.
The photography campaign will accompany brand's ads worldwide, exhibitions walls, press releases and magazines presentations.
Food Photography for Hotel Grand Bretagne
Going through the photography process, challenging my self in new methods as a photography speaker, clients are always the best "creative friends" to unlock views and angles in order to please them and their viewers. Food photography, a common field for magazines and advertising as well, it is a field that challenge the artist - food photographer to brake the rules and through his creativity, to serve a well cooked photography plate.
"In a spirit of renewal, Executive Chef Asterios Koustoudis of the Grand Bretagne and King George hotels in Athens has appointed new heads of restaurants at each venue. In doing this he's done what all good chefs should do, and used tried and tested ingredients in innovative ways to create excellent new results Experienced chef Nikos Livadias, who has worked in leading restaurants in Athens and on Santorini and Mykonos, arrives as the new chef de cuisine at Tudor Hall, promising to add a new dimension to modem Greek cuisine. He brings with him high aesthetic standards and a talent for creating dishes with fine lines and geometric shapes that entice at first glance. Food photography continuous with the young chef Giannis Liokas after stints in London at restaurants such as Fera at Claridge's and Davies and Brook with Daniel Humm. He returns to Athens to take the position of chef de cuisine at GB Roof Garden. The restaurant's menu remains definitively Mediterranean, but Liokas' style is a shade more homey, and the food is filling and no for the soul. Clearly devoted to creative Greek cuisine, Asterios Koustoudis is promoting fresh seasonal produce across all the menus focusing on dean flavors and supporting smaller, high-quality local producers. These underlying principles are evident in both restaurant and are Needy translated to the dishes themselves. As for the meal's sweet epilogue, the talented new assistant pastry chef Alexandros Koufas will supervise the preparation of recipes created by the distinguished 'Messier Arnaud Lehrer, while also creating his own stunning desserts for the degustation menu - impressive and delicious, like every ending should be. Beginnings too, should do this fantastic four has been brought together to create unforgettable high-quality gastronomic experiences in Athens".
c
Jean Marie Hoffman
Portrait photography of Jean Marie Hoffman, chef of the Residence of France in Greece for the French-Greek friendship issue of Kappa Magazine Kathimerini.
Lefteris Lazarou for Gastronomos Magazine Christmass Cover
In this portrait photography mission for the the Christmass magazine's cover story of Gastronomos Magazine I had been travel to Hydra Island and the shots took place at the House-museum of Lazaros Koundouriotis, with the Greek chef of Varoulko Restaurant Lefteris Lazarou preparing the christmas Diner. This work was a combination of portrait and food photography. Special thanks to the chief editor: Angelos Rentoulas and the photo editor: Nasia Diamantidis for the excellent cooperation.
Styling: Alexandra Tasounidou
Assist: Panagiotis Andriopoulos
"This year, when we are stuck, when time counts twice and every minute instills new uncertainties, we need a conscious effort to recall our festive mood, to direct it from memory, even when the surrounding atmosphere weighs on us. We will help you with that - we hope. Our goal, when planning this year's "Gourmet" Christmas tribute, was to cultivate as never before the illusion of the holiday, the transcendental warmth of Christmas, through a moving descent journey into the past. A spiritual and real journey to six separate points on the map of Greece.
Four journalists, three photographers and six chefs scattered to the four corners of the Greek territory, in Xanthi, Zakynthos, Hydra, Lesvos, Syros and back to Athens, with the destination of six great mansions that opened their doors for us for the first time and the sets were made to photograph six separate holiday menus. These trips took place just before the second lockdown, in difficult conditions, with many adversities that we had to overcome. We did it, and now, in this introductory note - which is written almost at the end of the whistle, when the whole issue is ready to leave for the printing house and we are correcting the last details - you will forgive us for advancing the feeling. You have not yet turned the pages, you have not been immersed in the images and words that try - and we believe succeed - to convey the emotion, pride and affection we felt coming in contact with these great landmarks of Hellenism. Meeting them was an exercise in self-knowledge.
Walking around the spaces, climbing stairs, listening to squeaks and strange sounds, breathing air of old wet closure, we completed with our senses the stories that were told to us about each mansion by the people who welcomed us. We took pictures, seasons and whole worlds. Greek worlds that pre-existed, that clashed, that correlated or annulled each other. That fermented, that flourished, that bore ideas, art, spirit, matter and taste". Text By the chief editor of Gatronomos Magazine, Angelos Rentoulas.
Monk Epifanios
In a continuation from the previous tribute of taste and recipes of the monastic community of Mount Athos (Agio Oros). This time I have visited monk Epifanios covering for some days his monastic life at Mylopotamos of Mount Athos. The main subject of this tribute was the food photography of his recipes and portraits of his monastic life. I took photos of 40 of his recipes as final dishes in different locations of Mylopotamos area. The book buplished in Greece by Kathimerini publication includes 40 recipes by monk Epifanios and portraits of his daily monastic life. T texts by the food editors Angelos Redoulas & Maria Vasilopoulou.
Yogurt Taste
An editorial food photography portrait shot for Gastronomos Magazine of Kathimerini in Athens Greece
