Fujifilm X-Photographer Interview: Andreas Kamoutsis

First, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on the FujiLove blog. I bought my first Fujifilm camera, the X-T1, three years ago. I used it for the first time in the summer of 2015 during my trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. There I begun and completed my first photographic project using Fujifilm cameras named ‘Hidden Reflections’. I imagined and created photographs in vivid colours, using various angles and natural light, shooting exclusively through the water reflections on the streets, both during and after the rain. I started visualizing thoughts and intense emotions that I felt constantly generating, during my involvement with this particular and unique kind of street photography – reflections of the sky, buildings, people, within a carefully selected photo frame that removes all the unnecessary, keeping a sense of instantaneous moments in time. The small size and the weather-sealed body gave me the confidence that I needed to complete this project. I was fortunate to see many of these pictures to be exhibited around the world and especially the one below, which was among the winning selection of Fujifilm’s 5th Anniversary Photo Contest at X World photo gallery. The compactness, the great controls and handling in combination with the great image quality that Fujifilm’s cameras offer made my decision to trust Fujifilm.

There are no major features that Fujifilm misses from the X System. I love the fact that it improves your camera via continuous firmware updates. I’m confident that the next models will be improved in vast areas. If I had to choose one thing that I would like to see Fujifilm improving in the future, it would be battery life.

What type of photography do you mainly shoot, and how do you feel the X Series is well-suited to that genre and your own style of shooting?

I’m involved in many photography genres. It’s more like a personal challenge for me. But if you take a closer look at my latest personal projects, you’ll realize that I’m doing mostly nature and street photography.  I love this creative process which street photography offers. I think it is the way to capture life and humanity around me in a candid manner. It’s a beautiful, spontaneous art form than tells a story, capturing a unique moment in time of people’s lives. To get an amazing photo in the streets you have to make yourself invisible. Τo do that you have to walk in a certain way and, secondly, to adapt a unique way of taking photographs. Fujifilm X cameras give me a unique advantage in the way I use them to take photographs. The small compact size in combination with the silent electronic shutter and the articulating screen, give me the ability to shoot from waist-height and allow me to take photographs without being noticed by other people, even if I get very close to them.

In the nature photography genre Fujifilm cameras, with the weather sealing and lightweight bodies and lenses, make my walk to the mountains in any weather condition easier. This means that I’m more flexible and focused, something which is vital to a successful nature photography shoot.

I own two X-T2s now, so my favourite set up for street photography is a small shoulder bag with one X-T2 combined with either the XF18-55mm or XF23mmF1.4 & XF55-200mm. For nature photography I use two X-T2 bodies at the same time with the XF16-55mm or XF10-24mm, and the XF50-140mm on the other one, all in a comfortable backpack.

I like to study works of many great photographers around the world by using the internet or by reading books or by visiting photography exhibitions. I believe that inspiration comes within life and the things that happen around us.

I just finished my latest photo project called ‘Irregular Faces’ and the genre of it is street portraiture. In this challenging project I’m getting closer, as much as I can, in order to capture true emotions of people that are absolute strangers to me on the streets without being noticed. The main purpose is to give the opportunity to the viewer to analyse by his own way real emotions from many different perspectives, which are sophisticated and subtle, the epitome of what make us human. I was always wondering how emotions can affect a person’s behavior and physiology. So this project is more about a self-discovery and identity exploration.

I would say that nothing inspires me more than producing an authentic image. So if someone asked me for a tip I would recommend them to be true. In order to achieve this you have to search inside and find what the ideal photography genre is or subject for you, and try to capture the true nature of it. There is nothing more important than finding your identity as a photographer and working on it.