Alexandros Mastroyiannis
Beautiful British Bohemians

My name is Alexandros Mastroyiannis. I grew up in Athens in Greece. But when I got a little older, we moved to Swansea in Wales. Swansea is truly a terrible place, I hated it there. But the city provided me with enough funny anecdotes to last a lifetime.

Then just recently my path took me to Exeter in England, which is immediately much prettier to look at than Swansea, even if it is a rather small city. I love Athens, it's a wonderful metropolis. I'm nineteen years old now and I hope I never get older.

I only started taking photos four years ago. Just one day before I attended a school course in it. And it helped me a lot. Everyone there was very dedicated and always there to help me. An art teacher I liked told me once that he appreciated some of my photos extraordinarily, so I just kept going with it. Photography has always been a part of my life. My mother, for example, took great pictures.

I don't have a goal in mind yet, although I know it will have something to do with photography. Okay, let me rephrase that: It must have something to do with photography. I like that carefree time when I'm still taking the pictures for the fun of it. My friends are all photogenic, fortunately, which is why I like to drag them in front of my camera, and it's cool when people like my shots and want to feature them somewhere. I get a kick out of that.

If I had the opportunity, I would love to have an exhibition someday. Some of my friends are artists in college, so it would be just great to have a collaboration with them one day. I wouldn't say my life has changed dramatically since I started shooting photos, but it gives me something to go on with. I can't even leave the house without having a camera with me. I'm a bit of a hoarder and can't throw anything away - and photographs are part of that. The feeling of having something to lean on is indescribable.

The biggest change in my life is the fact that people can now google me. On one hand that makes me sad, on the other hand, it's kind of cool. I own a lot of cameras, mostly junk and useless stuff I bought off eBay, but mostly I use a Yashica T4 because it's the most reliable one and also takes the most decent shots. Just the other day I rediscovered this old camera that my brother and I used when we were little. A 110 camera that puts little Ninja Turtles in the corners of all the photos. I can't wait to fill the film.

I don't really like digital cameras that much. I used one once, but the photos just seem so fake and flat. Analog is just so much more interesting. For example, I took a photo of my friend Clare's foot. Clare is a really pretty girl, but her feet are always made fun of by our friends. They look like pigs' feet. The night I took the shot, Clare cut one of her feet and bled all over the floor - it was gross.

I love Dana Lauren Goldstein's work and bought her magazine Don't Cry Tonight last year. I just couldn't get over how much I liked it. But I think that's mainly because I'm jealous of her. Because her life seems so incredibly more interesting than my own.

Wednesday, January 11, 2023