Every editorial assignment offers a different challenge, but some stories carry a significance that extends beyond photography. My recent commission for the cover story of Kappa Magazine (Kathimerini) was one of those occasions. The assignment brought me inside the newly renovated French Embassy in Athens where I photographed the French Ambassador to Greece, Laurence Auer, for a feature exploring the building’s restoration, its history, and its continuing role as a symbol of the long-standing friendship between France and Greece.
As a portrait photographer Athens, I am always interested in creating portraits that reveal character rather than simply documenting appearance. An ambassador is more than a business representative. They become the visual embodiment of a nation’s values, culture and diplomatic presence. Every portrait therefore carries a symbolic responsibility that extends beyond the individual. Every gesture, every room, every object and every photograph contributes to communicating the values, history and identity of an entire nation. This understanding shaped the visual approach throughout the assignment.
This is what I enjoy most about corporate portrait photography at this level. It is about understanding the responsibilities, personality and public presence of the individual while creating images that communicate authenticity and trust.
The French Embassy itself became an essential part of the narrative. Recently restored with great respect for its architectural heritage, the building combines historical elegance with contemporary diplomatic life. Rather than treating the interiors as a backdrop, I wanted the portraits to establish a dialogue between the Ambassador and the spaces she inhabits. The architecture, the artwork, the carefully restored rooms and the natural light all became visual elements that supported the story instead of competing with it.
This project is another example of how editorial photography can bridge portraiture, architecture and storytelling into a single visual narrative. It reminds us that the strongest portraits are often those that communicate something larger than the individual in front of the camera—they become portraits of institutions, ideas and history itself.
Being selected as the photographer in Athens for this cover story was both an honour and a creative responsibility.
