About

Archaeological photography
When looking at a photograph of the past, the last thing to cross one’s mind is the photograph as a piece of art. Instead, it rarely registers that you are, in fact, viewing two artefacts simultaneously - the object depicted and the contemporary photograph that captured it. The archaeological photographer initiates a genuine dialogue with art of the past - trying to discretely capture their presence while illuminating each object’s story and place in history.
These artefacts can become powerful windows into the past which, when given a contemporary perspective, can promote communication, understanding, and deep appreciation between civilisations diachronically.
Every single time I begin a project, I become part of a team. I consider the people I work for, my partners and colleagues, as collaborators attempting to address the same challenge as I. Together we try to determine the most effective approach to each scenario, pooling our experiences and opinions in order to elicit as much accurate evidence as possible from every object, every opportunity.

short CV
Orestis Kourakis is a professional photographer specialising in the field of Computational Archaeological Photography. He is PhD candidate at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens studying color identification techniques on archaeological objects, researcher scholar at the International Hellenic University and has received his Master’s degree in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design (GA, USA) with honors. In 2012, Orestis was selected for the Fulbright Scholarship for Artists as a Visiting Scholar to Columbia University (NY), internationally introducing his creation of an interactive online platform for Ancient Greek and Roman collections. He collaborates with leading museums and art institutions around the globe and in 2011 was selected by the Louvre Museum as the exclusive photographer for their exquisite 2011-2012 exhibit “Ancient Macedonia, the Kingdom of Alexander the Great” at the Louvre (Paris, France).
In addition to conventional photography, Orestis continues to develop new innovative techniques, special software, and specialised robotic systems while exploring fields such as aerial orthophotogrammetry, 3D reconstruction, and Augmented Reality.
Orestis has conducted photography workshops at Harvard University, Columbia University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and University of Granada Graduate Program as well as an extensive series of lectures on Archaeological Photography throughout Europe and the USA. He teaches Photography at the American College of Thessaloniki, Greece (2010-present) and the International Hellenic University (2014-present). Orestis’ photographs have been published in more than 100 catalogs, books, scientific journals, and newspapers worldwide. Many of his papers have been published in proceedings of international conferences and exhibition catalogs. He has presented his artistic work in over 30 exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

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