Picturing paradise - robertharding

A chat with Sakis Papadopoulos

“The Maldives are like my second home,” says Greek photographer Sakis Papadopoulos. “The beauty of those islands is amazing.” Sakis has been photographing the far corners of the world for 20 years, but now, as well as shooting throughout Europe and Asia, he spends much of his time with his lens fixed upon these idyllic white-sand islands in the Indian Ocean.

Not a bad job, hey? “No,” he chuckles, speaking from his home in Crete, the base for his extensive trips. “Travelling around the world is the most magical experience – meeting new people and cultures. Sometimes the weather will disrupt your trip, it will be raining, you’ll get bitten by mosquitos or you’ll get sick for days, but it’s all worth it,” he continues.

Last year he spent 150 days travelling, two months of which was shooting for a book on the Maldives. But while the setting may already be stunning, he has to go that extra mile to capture something special. “You must never sacrifice individuality, and you need to spend time and money to get that,” he explains.

Some of Sakis’ most sought-after images of the islands are captured from above – not an easy task: “You have to travel via hydroplane to get those shots, which is quite complicated as you are travelling at 200km per hour,” he says. “You can’t fly low as there is a lot of other traffic from people getting to the islands.”

As well as seeking out new vantage points, Sakis thinks his success owes to the meticulous attitude installed in him by learning photography the old way, shooting slides. “You had to be careful what you shot,” he recalls. “That’s the opposite of what happens now. People think they can fix things on Photoshop, but a great image is made where you shoot.”

http://www.robertharding.com/sakispapadopoulos
http://www.impressionsphotography.org