Three Faces, One Vision: Portrait Headshots for Magna Graecia
When I set out to capture the essence of the Magna Graecia team, I knew this was more than just a typical portrait photography. This was an opportunity for a portrait photographer to convey not only the individuality of each team member but also the shared vision and values that unite them as a company.
Tailored Poses, Timeless Aesthetics
Each portrait was carefully crafted to highlight the unique characteristics and roles of the three individuals. Through a thoughtful combination of camera angles, lenses, and lighting contrasts, I brought out their individuality while maintaining a high aesthetic tone.
Black-and-white photography became my canvas—ideal for showcasing the minimal formations of light unique to Greece and emphasizing aesthetic beauty inspired by ancient Greek ideals. This approach not only added depth to the portraits but also aligned perfectly with Magna Graecia’s commitment to precision and luxury.
This session reflects the best of corporate photography, blending visual storytelling with professional representation. The use of black-and-white allowed for a cohesive look, enhancing the headshot photography while maintaining individuality and consistency with Magna Graecia’s brand identity.
Achieving Balance: Individuality and Cohesion
The challenge was to balance the unique traits of each individual with a cohesive visual narrative. By utilizing Greece’s natural light, I enhanced the interplay of light and shadow, creating portraits that stand out on their own while seamlessly blending together as a collective.
The result? Three distinct headshots, three unique stories, and one unified message—a perfect representation of Magna Graecia’s core philosophy: excellence, professionalism, and a passion for delivering unparalleled service.
Magna Graecia: Redefining Excellence
Magna Graecia is not just about real estate; it’s about reshaping the industry through innovation, luxury, and a commitment to craftsmanship. Their mission is to create bespoke, high-end residential properties while setting new standards in construction, engineering, and client service.
From the leadership of Michael J. Mailis, whose expertise spans global luxury real estate and media, to the technical prowess of Nikos Papagiannakopoulos, and the visionary legacy of John M. Mailis, the Magna Graecia team embodies a rich blend of innovation, professionalism, and global insight.
The Story Behind the Faces
- Michael J. Mailis: Founder & CEO, a visionary leader with over two decades of experience in luxury real estate and investments, driven by a passion for blending aesthetic beauty with functional excellence.
- Nikos Papagiannakopoulos: Founding Partner & CTO, a mechanical engineer with unparalleled expertise in bridging technical precision with strategic business insight.
- John M. Mailis: Chairman, a pioneer in aviation and real estate who exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurial leadership and global impact.
Final Thoughts
This corporate photography project was a true collaboration, one that required precision, artistry, and an understanding of Magna Graecia's ethos. Through these portraits, I aimed to tell the visual story of a company that honors the past while building the future—just as they do in every project they undertake.
Dimitris Papanikolaou
Dimitrios Papanikolaou is a Greek professional basketball player and a professional basketball coach. He spent most of his career playing at the shooting guard and small forward positions, although he also played at the power forward position late in his career.
He is the only Greek basketball player who has won the triple crown (Euroleague, championship and cup) twice, with different teams: in 1997 with Olympiakos and in 2007 with Panathinaikos.
Headshot photography portrait for the cover of Dimitris Papanikoalou book with the Title 11:11 ALL UNIQUE, ALL EQUAL.
“Mr. Papanikolaou, we are sorry, we do not accept “these children” in our school.
Mr. Papanikolaou, if you take your daughter from the volleyball team, she will not have a career.
Dimitris, they made fun of her on Tik Tok, calling her autistic.
Dimitri, again turned speechless and sad.
Dimitris, the other children went for a walk and told her that they would not go out so as not to take her with them. Don’t find out she was lied to.
One night my cell phone lit up for a notification. The time was 11:11, a number my wife and I saw almost every day, on the phone, on receipts, on signs, on license plates, etc., from Aria’s diagnosis onward.
This time I would pay more attention to them. What do you want to tell me and you keep appearing in front of me? I screenshotted them. I focused on the numbers on the screen. Taking one off changed the total, each number was unique. Then I zoomed in. All numbers were equal. In height, in thickness. “All unique, all equal. All unique, all equal!” I exclaimed.
I’m not winning anymore with complaints and individual battles, I’m shrinking. I will gain by creating and spreading light. I will activate the good guys who are outnumbered, and the “bad guys” will retreat.
But I still have a serious problem to solve. My wife won’t let me talk publicly about the child because she’s afraid it will be stigmatized. That’s okay, I have all the stuff from sports and I know how good teams and their leaders work. I will take responsibility, put myself forward and speak for myself”.
Thomas Skouteris
Headshot portrait photography for the international law professor Thomas Skouteris . When it comes to academics, we often think of professors as serious and aloof individuals buried in books and research. But every now and then, a professor comes along who defies those stereotypes, combining a sharp intellectual curiosity with a genuinely warm and approachable personality.
Overall Thomas Skouteris is a brilliant mind and a joyful fellow.
Thomas Skouteris is a Greek/Dutch jurist specialized in international law and related fields. He is an associate professor (tenured) at the Department of Law and director of the Ibrahim Shihata Memorial LLM Program in International and Comparative Law. Before joining AUC in 2008, Skouteris taught at Leiden University (2000-2008) and the Central European University (2013-2014) and worked as a research fellow at the T.M.C. Asser Institute in the Hague. He was also a senior fellow at the European Law Research Centre at Harvard Law School.
Dimitris Papadimitriou
With the title "Cooking is inner prayer", Gastronomos magazine, host the interview of the composer Dimitris Papadimitriou for the August issue. His portrait photography took place at his home accompanied with the great taste of his recipes and an interesting conversation about his music experiences.
Music for cinema, theater and television, symphonic works, pioneering actions and vision. The composer Dimitris Papadimitriou It is still thirsty, after forty years of creation, and quenches the thirst of its recipients. With its prestige and consistent attitude, it brings together artists and people with similar concerns, at the same time giving a step to younger people to show their talents. He is steeped in our popular wealth, he owns its secrets and peculiarities, he knows deeply the ways and places of his libation. His folk songs have his "academic" aura, but they are not ossified, that is why they were sung, loved, they were even danced by the crowd, and most importantly, they stayed!
Quiet strength. It has a "plan", earthly, but also transcendental at the same time. Global, cosmopolitan, that is to say "Greek". He becomes a heretic to forge new paths, he becomes a "wrecker" to flatten swampy stereotypes and build new bridges. He loves cooking and has even received professional offers for his performance. So, my invitation for a culinary interview in a meal at his house. Dimitris Papadimitriou is a hospitable host. The space is similar to his work, flooded with unique art objects, some of which have family roots.
Text by Kostas Balachoutis
Dimitris Papadimitriou has written symphonic works, pieces for solo instruments and combinations of instruments, music for theater and for Greek cinema (Electric Angel, Revenge, Archangel of Passion, The Tree We Hurt, Victory of Samothrace, Lovers in the Time Machine, The Life One and a Half Thousand, The Light Going Out etc.), for Greek television and for television series in Sweden, France, Germany and elsewhere. The general public discovered him because of television.
Known from the beginning of the 1980s until today for his fine compositions, several of which dressed up well-known television hits (such as Anastasia by Giorgos Kordellas in a script by Mirela Papaikonomou, Don't Be Afraid of Fire, Due to Honor, Life which I did not live, Leni and the Witches of Smyrna), Dimitris Papadimitriou has also collaborated with Eleftheria Arvanitaki in a cycle of songs with the general title Songs for the Months, where he set well-known Greek poets to music.
In 2003 he took over as director of the Third Program and in September 2010 general director of Hellenic Radio[5]. Busy but versatile, after his long-term presence in the administration of ERT radio, he founded the Greek Project, a non-profit organization for the promotion of Greek and not only music[6]. In 2006 he gave a concert in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations Organization on the occasion of the organization's 60th birthday. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1958.
Georgios Xenos
“We don’t know after all who is really imprisoned. The one outside or the one inside? And what kind of prison is this? Many people out there remain voluntarily incarcerated. So, I would tell you that many times being inside also involves a kind of asceticism. It has a loneliness characterized by greater freedom. So it always depends on the reason for which you are imprisoned”.
Interview to Giannis Padazopoulos
Georgios Xenos was born in Athens in 1953. He studied at the Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux Arts- Section des Arts Plastiques in Paris, during the years 1976 – 1982.
From 1983 to 1986 he lived and worked in Athens. In 1987 he lived and worked in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
From 1988 to 1992 he lived and worked in Berlin, where he experienced the historical events of the Fall of Berlin’s Wall. During this period, he exhibited his work in Winckelmann Museum, Stendal (June – October 1991) and in Pergamon Museum, Berlin (January – November 1992).
Since 1993 he has been living and working in Athens.
Headshot photography for Lena Manta
Headshot photography of the greek author Lena Manda. She is Greece’s best-selling women’s fiction author of almost 2 million copies of her books sold in Greece and Cyprus alone, and whose books have been sold to Albania (THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER/LOVE LIKE RAIN/COFFEE BREWING ON THE EMBERS/THE LAST CIGARETTE/THEANO, SHE-WOLF OF ISTANBUL), Bulgaria (WALZ WITH 12 GODS), China (WALZ WITH 12 GODS), Italy (THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER/LOVE LIKE RAIN), Serbia (COFFEE BREWING ON THE EMBERS/LETTER OF GOLD), Spain (THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER), and Turkey (THEANO, SHE-WOLF OF ISTANBUL/THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER) as well as World English rights (THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER/THE LETTER OF GOLD (Rights under offer)). She is a true commercial voice to be reckoned with and every new book is a tour-de-force in the Greek publishing world.Lena Manta was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Greek parents. She moved to Greece at a very young age and now lives with her husband and two children on the outskirts of Athens. Although she studied to be a nursery school teacher, Lena instead directed her own puppet theater before writing articles for local newspapers and working as a director for a local radio station. Manta was proclaimed Author of the Year in both 2009 and 2011 by Greek Life & Style magazine and received the 2016 Public Book Award for Inspirational Heroine for her book ONE LAST APOLOGY. With a charismatic personality that exudes positivity and inspires all who meet her, she is extremely popular in the press as well as social media and Facebook where she is immensely active. Just as her stories and characters captured Greek readers’ hearts, so we believe that they will continue to do the same outside Greek borders. PSICHOGIOS PUBLICATIONS have published 17 of her books – mainly novels. All of them have sold around 100,000 copies each while her best-seller, THE HOUSE BY THE RIVER, has sold over 250,000 copies. Her books have been translated into English, Turkish, Albanian, Italian, Spanish, English, Chinese, Bulgarian, Serbian and Arabic. her book was released in 2001. Sixteen other novels of hers, as well as two collections of short stories, have been published by Psychogios publications. Her books have sold two million copies. Lena's Manta portrait photoshoot took place at her place in Athens.
Dimitra Milona Headshot
Headshot photography for the sailing world champion Dimitra Milona. She started sports at the age of eight. She received her first important distinction in 1993, where she won (as skipper) the Panhellenic championship (Overall, and women) of type 420 boats. In the same year, she also won 5th place with her crew in the Laser II world championship in Lago di Garda . This was the beginning of an impressive sporting career. From 1993 to 2002, she championed in Panhellenic, Balkan, Mediterranean, Eurolymp, but also in global competitions, such as the "Tropheo Princesa Sofia" in Majorca (overall and women's gold medal in the 420 boats). Her journey culminated with a bronze (1998) and a gold (1999) medal at the world championships. Since 2001 she has been serving as an officer of the Navy (Naval Cadet School and NCO School (SMYN)) and lives in Aegina with her family.
Christos Chomenidis
Portrait Photography if the novelist Christos Chomendis for Greece-is.com.
Christos Chomenidis (Greek: Χρήστος Χωμενίδης) (born 3 August 1966, Athens, Greece) is a Greek novelist. He studied Law at the University of Athens and in Moscow and Communication Studies in Leeds. He worked as a lawyer before becoming a full-time writer.[1] His book Νίκη won the 2021 European Book Prize in the Novel category
Ioannis Angelakis
"I was born in Thessaloniki in 1988 but grew up in Athens. I'm a composer of contemporary experimental music, working, that is, with classical acoustic instruments and exploring idiosyncratic aspects of their physicality. I seek to discover sounds that are not fully controllable by the performers; that are inherently unstable and constantly moving; that entail a particular logic in the way that they unfold; that presup- pose a particular body-instrument relationship, and that call fora new mode of listening, disentangled from classical
forms and traditional parameters and intended for the kind of pleasure that arises from the revelation of sound's internal structures. structures.
Greekness" is expressed in my music through the violent use of instruments, the bluntness of the human voices, and the constant strife between two contradictory elements: disparate musical materials that remain indeterminate and anarchic, and a determinate structure that violently imposes form on the formless and shape on the shapeless. I think that all Greek tragedies thematize the violence stemming from this conflict: a man striving, without order, to shape his course within a condition that is predetermined by the gods. However, violence and bluntness in my work are not just sonic events that point to the Greek identity of my music. They also demarcate violence and barbarism as political concepts. I want my work to be revealing, not because of its bold themes but because the violence in the sound may give prominence to our fragility and vulnerability."
The portrait photography of the composer Ioannis Angelakis took place in his studio in Athens for Electra Hotels Magazine.
Text by Natasha Blatsioy.
Periklis Koskinas
Periklis Koskinas from the age of 19 he travels non-stop "plowing" the continents in search of new experiences, different cultures in England, France, Scotland, Spain, America, Canada, Venezuela, Athens.
Through the prism of the seasonality and locality of the ingredients, the quality, the rules and the limits set by the Greek cuisine, it shaped its techniques, philosophy and course in the world of cooking.
Subtraction and moderation determine his food.
Tireless traveler and uncompromising cook. Philosophical theoretical knowledge and knowledge of the social sciences are considered essential tools for him in his profession. The images of his wanderings, the memory and the man mark his food and not the recipes. For him, cooking is the art of everyday life, it is what is left on the table, after a Sunday meal. In 2014, he opened the restaurant Cookoovaya, in the Hilton area, as a co-owner with 5 other top chefs. Cokoovaya in its fifth year, is still among the top restaurants in the country and full every day.
I had the pleasure of working with him many times and being part of his projects. His headshots portraits follows.
