Page 8
News
BY NTOSI IORDANIDOU
Street Roots • June 5-11,2015
Street Roots • June 5-11,2015
News
Page 9
N.I.: Do you always carry your camera?
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R ITER
L'
ife is like a fast tango, so let’s dance!”
says photographer Vassilis Koltoukis.
His parting words seem to
perfectly encapsulate his entire philosophy
and lifestyle. Born in Arta in northwestern
Greece, Koltoukis studied French
philosophy in Paris. It was there, in what
many call the city of love, that he became
mesmerized by the art of photography. He
studied under humanist French
photographer, Edouard Boubat, who “has
traveled the world 10
times.” Since then,
Koltoukis has followed
a similar path,
I
traveling to 40
S l l i i countries to create a
vast collection of
stunning photographs
celebrating the
world’s street
musicians. He speaks
to Ntosi Iordanidou
■ about capturing
“Music on the Road.”
Ntosi Iordanidou:
How do you begin to
take photos?
Capturing
the music
of the
streets
Greek photographer
Vassilis Koltoukis has
traveled to 40 countries
to document the world's
street musicians
Vassilis Koltoukis:
We are all born artists.
You can see it in how
all children paint, sing.
Sadly, this innate behavior, due to
circumstances of life, due to parents, slowly
fades day after day, and in the end it
disappears. You have to rediscover it
through movies, books, exhibitions. I was
painting from when I was young, but for
some reason I stopped drawing. However,
the art of painting is something instinctive;
I express myself through it. When I met
Boubat, one of the greatest photographers
of the world, I saw his photos and there was
a click in my mind. I saw also a
documentary about his life and was shocked
and moved by how great an artist he was,
and I said to myself: That is what I want to
do in my life, to study photography, to travel
and explore the whole world.
That’s the most important, not the
photography itself. As I was getting older, I
understood something that Boubat told me,
many years ago. The most important is not
to travel, but even here in Athens, which is
home, to walk like you’re on a journey.
This, however, requires a philosophical
background, which I never had. I could not
understand these words at first. I wanted
long trips in Africa, Latin America, but I
realized that the real journey is here, in
your home. To try to see things like it is
your first glance, that can be quite difficult.
N.I.: Why did you decide to travel alone?
You don’t feel lonely?
V.K.: Believe me, here is where I feel
lonely. In my journeys, I live the rhythm of
life. I meet people, other travelers. I live
with the locals, just like them. The first
thing that holds you back is not money; it’s
fear. The money depends on how you will
travel. I travel with very little money, as I
use trains, buses, cheap hotels, simple
things. Probably I would spent a lot more if
I stayed in Greece.
V.K.: In recent years, I take photos with
my iPhone, and I’m very satisfied with th a t
The most important thing is not how good
your camera is; photographers fall in this
trap with cameras, lenses. I was also there,
and it is something that never ends, is a
game that companies create. The creative
photographer just needs a camera that suits
him. He cares about the frame, about life,
about the place where he is. Young people
must be looking everywhere and be open to
all forms of arts like cinema, literature,
painting, dancing and to try to gain as many
things as possible. In photography
seminars, they teach you how to capture
right, they teach about the camera, but who
will teach you about the look of the other,
about the contact? How will you make the
contact with someone that is so poor that
he cannot feed himself? How will you talk
with him? Are you going to go and just take
a quick photo? What do people really want?
How true will you be to yourself through
your photographs, through what you do?
N.I.: Do you have the feeling in any of your
journeys that there is a country where the
people are happy?
V.K.: It has been 15 years, but I have the
feeling that in India, even though there is a
lot'of poverty, people have a spiritual
happiness. I remember that I was
complaining about the bad weather and
they told me, “Don’t worry, you must be
happy with all weather conditions. No
“Music on the Road,” a photography collection by Vassilis Koltoukis (far left), features street musicians from dozens of countries. This photo is from Guatemala.
Greece
matter if it is hot or cold, snowy or sunny,
everything is fine.” That’s their philosophy.
I met some Hindu monks that live in one
square meter without clothes. They didn’t
have anything material, but they have a
great spiritual happiness. In the words of
poet Nick Karouzos, when you don’t have
anything, you can have it all. It is just inside
your mind. When is a traveler freer? When
he has three suitcases or when he just has a
pair of jeans and travels? Five cameras or
just one? With one, he can make
magnificent photos ... So is the life ...
N.I.: Why do you make a collection about
street musicians?
V.K.: As far as I remember, from the age
of 3 or 4 , 1 was listening to music. In high
school, I worked in pirate radio stations and
afterwards in professional ones to be close
to the music. I didn’t manage to learn a
musical instrument because it requires
something that I didn’t have — persistence
and patience. Photography, on the other
hand, doesn’t require so much patience, but
you need the nerve to push the click button
fast. It is the feeling, the moment, the click,
the contact with people and nothing else.
So, I published this book because I want to
give the musicians a gift in return to the
one they give me every day. It is for the
musicians all over the world that play live in
the streets. I wanted to do the same, to
travel around the world, with one guitar.
N.I.: What do you want to convey through
your photos?
N.YCA want them to transport people. I
want the viewer to stand for more than a
couple of minutes, to enter the picture and
to travel wherever he wants. This is what I
really want.
N.I.: What does photography mean to you?
V.K.: I was shocked for what Boubat
answered in a similar question. One friend
in India gave me a hat, some years ago.
This friend has died now, but I have still
his hat in my house. Most of us have in our
wallets a photo of a loved one. Some
people say that photography steals your
soul. Photography is a sacred thing, and I
am not saying this because I am a
photographer, but I really believe in its
substance.
N.I.: What do you gain from your
journeys?
V.K.: I gain a great satisfaction and a
feeling of completeness. From what I have
seen, I realized that all people want to live
in peace, to love and to be loved. Every
religion says this, no matter if people are
Buddhists, Hindu, Christian or Muslim.
They all opened their homes to me and
gave me food.
Here in Greece, we were raised with the
motto God, family, country - that Greece is
the greatest country in the world. That’s
wrong. All countries are great. People are
the same. They have their passions. They
want love.
Ukraine
" In photography seminars, they teach you how to
capture rig h t, they teach about the camera. But who
w ill teach you about the look of the other, about the
contact? How w ill yon make the contact w ith some
one that Is so poor that he cannot feed himself?"
Translated by Nikolaos Vitsikounakis.
Courtesy ofIN SP News Service, www.street-
papers.org; Shedia — Greece.
Ethiopia