For those who’ve never encountered you before, maybe you could begin by telling us a bit about yourself and your work? 

I’ve only been doing photography for a couple of years. During the pandemic, I just started taking portraits of people. I started building a portfolio to reconnect with people and started with different models doing fun campaigns and it just escalated from there. For some reason, my images became very popular. I just quit what I was doing previously and now I’m a full-time photographer. I do a lot of fashion photo shoots; a lot of creative art photo shoots too – I do a bit of everything.  

Could you tell us a bit about your background? 

I was born in South Africa but I grew up in Cyprus. That’s where I’m originally from. My parents are Cypriot. So I grew up there and then came to Edinburgh to study Business Management. I was meant to be here only for studying and I kind of just stayed. I just got engaged to a Scottish man so now I’m stuck here! So yeah, I can never leave. I love it. It’s a little bit cold, but I’ll survive. 

And did you have any inspirations growing up? Because obviously, you’ve lived in different places, has that influenced your work at all? 

I would say most of my inspiration probably comes from literature and movies. I realised that I edit in quite a cinematic way and that my style looked more like it would belong to a still from a movie than just a normal photoshoot. I do get inspiration from all these different sorts of fantasy settings as well and I like playing with colour a lot which I have noticed from movies I’m rewatching. 

What photographers would you say you most admire? 

I don’t particularly follow specific people. Every idea has probably been done before, in one way or another. But I try to not follow too many photographers, so I don’t get influenced. I would like to think that an idea is as original as it can get. Because I don’t have full education in photography, I wouldn’t know how they do things anyway so I try to do it my own way. Sometimes I use the wrong lenses on purpose just to make it look different. I use a lot of landscape lenses which make people look very tall and long but any other photographer would say that’s probably not the ideal thing to be using. I purposefully use things wrong.

What compels you to pick up your camera? 

It’s kind of like I get so obsessive – I don’t know how to say it. I’m obsessed with collecting moments. I guess I do have a very bad memory so I take photographs to remember everything.  

I don’t know I paint as well so I love images. I love creating them; I love looking at them. I feel like sometimes the best way to convey an idea is to send somebody an image. I’ve done a lot of different things as a job and I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun as I have doing photography. So just that is a huge motivation because I just love doing it. So it actually doesn’t take any effort. I always like meeting great people and everybody’s so beautiful. Especially when I do see beautiful people, I just need to take their photograph. 

What does Edinburgh mean to you as a city? 

I think Edinburgh is one of the places where it’s truly felt like home. I’ve travelled in a lot of different places and I’ve lived in different places but I think Edinburgh has felt like home more than anywhere else. I think that’s why I stayed. It does truly feel like home because every time I thought of maybe moving, I just couldn’t do it. I would miss the city too much and every time I did go away, I looked forward to coming back. I mean I’ve been here for 11 years or more probably now, you know, it is one of the best places to be in Scotland. It’s amazing, minus the weather. 

I remember one of my first days in Edinburgh and I would ask for directions and people would literally walk me to the places I wanted to go. It feels like it will be probably my home for a very long time, if not forever. So it makes me proud for my work to be showcased around the city. 

How would you define the art scene in Edinburgh at the moment? 

It’s not very big, but I do love it. I am not going to claim to know everyone involved. I’m not a very involved person myself, but even for what feels like a very small city, it has a lot of different things going on. I mean, we have the International Festival, the Fringe and there’s a big drag community. Everybody I’ve met has been very nice and inspiring as well. I think it’s small, but it’s a great community – I wouldn’t change it.  

What does community mean to you and how can art help to build communities? 

I mean, especially for photography, I would say that community is very important. I have met so many people through collaborations. Some of my best friends are models, so I think a lot of the ideas that I have done would probably not have happened if it weren’t for them. The fact that I know so many people that I can just say, “Hi, I’ve got this silly idea. You want to do it?” – and they usually all go for it. The most creative parts of my photography are usually during unpaid time. We don’t have a lot of different paid campaigns but if it’s just this silly idea that we’ve had, running around in a field, wearing a weird dress – it’s usually just for the fun of it. If it wasn’t for this community, I wouldn’t have the ideas that are going to be featured on the billboards. Most of my favourite photos are from that. 

Who have been your inspirations and influences in your latest work? 

For most of the photographs, I would say the common theme was a fun location. That’s another thing about how amazing the different communities are in Scotland. Sometimes I would find a cool outfit or a model I like so I would style a photoshoot according to their particular look or personality. A lot of the time I like to start from my location so I just scout for fun places and then I say to myself, “Okay what would be the most absurd thing to do here?”  

Why is it that you got into fashion photography in particular? 

I think for fashion there’s an element of the beauty of the person that’s in it, but there’s also an element of how silly you can get with it. So I think because it is fashion photography, I like to see how much we can push it while still being beautiful. How can I dress somebody in the most ridiculous outfit and put them in the most ridiculous situation and people still might not question it as much? The outfit is definitely part of what makes the photo what it is. So that’s mostly why I’m calling it fashion photography, as opposed to just art photography because it is heavily based on how fashion impacts the whole aesthetic. I think it is just how ridiculous you can get with it.  

How would you describe your aesthetic? 

I guess I would just say, very colourful and cinematic. I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s usually just what feels right for the image. For some of the images, I have the whole idea of how I’m going to shoot and edit beforehand, and sometimes I just go in and shoot the best I can. I would say I do like to use as much colour as I can, so there are always different undertones colour-wise and I would like to think my work is a little bit cinematic. I don’t know if other people can see it but in these particular photos, I would like to think there’s a cinematic look. 

Do you feel like your work has progressed into its own style?  

Oh definitely! I can look back at my first photos and hate certain bits. I don’t know what I was thinking.  I’m still changing, because I guess I’m slowly learning more about all the different ways I could shoot and how different equipment impacts the floor, noticing the different lenses, different lighting and all the different options I have. So as time goes on, I am getting better, and I’m changing. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I guess it’s evolving. I think I’m probably going to change a bunch more times. Also the busier I get, sometimes I get a bit of a burnout and then I don’t do anything creative for a long time. Then I get a lot of ideas and I have a burst of creative photoshoots, and then just stop again. So every time I think that goes up and down, something changes every time. 

How do you feel about seeing your work in a street setting such as Leith Walk? – What do you want people to get from it? 

I have to be honest, I haven’t thought about it. I’ve sort of been running around like a headless chicken. I would like people to admire the work and for the work to stick out more. I would like the billboards to start a conversation and encourage people to add me on Instagram and tell me their ideas.  

I would like to think that these photographs are for everyone who would like to do photography, and I feel I’m a good proof of that because I haven’t done it for a long time. But if you’re willing to go for it, it’s worth it. 

Most importantly, what drives you to keep creating? 

I have a lot of fun. When I first started, I was really obsessed with it. So that’s what I did, I would do my normal job and I would photograph after, and then I would be editing until 12 o’clock at night. Then I would do the same thing over and over again, the next day up until I didn’t need to do my job anymore. 

If the motivation goes, I just let it go. My work doesn’t have to be perfect, and I don’t have to be perfect the whole time. So I just let myself rest from the creative side and I just do my paint job for a while until I get into the groove again to create.  

What’s next for you? Where do you see yourself heading? 

I think for me, I would like to do as many creative photoshoots as I can and have as much fun as I am already having. I think for a fashion goal, I’ve been in Vogue Greece, but I would like my work to be featured on the cover. I think the next goal to aspire to is any Vogue cover that I can get my hands on – that would be great. I’m just still figuring out how that would work and how to do that.