“As a kid of immigrant parents growing up in the 70’s, around Oakleigh, I recall boxes upon boxes of old black and white photos. Men in thin ties and crisp shirts, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine; women standing in front of a garden with fancy dresses and fancier hair. A lot of them, distant people from my parents hometown of Thessaloniki, or from the boat trip over on the Patris. Many more would depict a slice life in Australia in the 60’s. Daily routines – working in factories, parties in the backyard (always a lamb spit) weddings, baptisms and dances at the Copa Cabana. I would always look at them, look at how the scene was set, where the light was, what the photographer said to the subject to get that look. This would have to be a very early influence on me and I think that beautiful images captured from everyday life is what I still work towards today.”

Jim Kyriakidis remembers his first camera – an Olympus OM10. He was 15. He remembers how he used that camera to capture and understand the world around him. He went everywhere with this camera, and watched as his passion grew. His skin wasn’t sun kissed like the other teens his age, as he spent all his time in a dark room, honing and mastering his new craft.

The self-taught photographer has seen his passion for photography forge its way back into his life after leaving it behind for study and work.

And now, is set to present a retrospective view of his work in an exhibition opening this weekend in Melbourne. The exhibition fuses the old and the new by this photographer, whose preference is black and white, inspired by images of yesteryear.

“I still love B&W and I think I have developed a style that is reminiscent of those old photos my parents kept, but with a little more attitude. I love talking to people and I am genuinely interested in their stories; I want to capture that rapport in my portraits,” Kyrakiadis tells Neos Kosmos of his style.

For this exhibition, he’s the first to admit there isn’t an obvious theme, but there is an obvious style that ties all the images together; a story.

“I have a few older things [in the exhibition], I’ve been wanting to display some stuff from the Lonsdale Street Festival; there’s a lot of people shots, some moody street shots, some hyper colour things I’ve done too.”

As a photographer, he says he’s blessed to have been self-taught as it’s allowed him to find his path, his style quicker. And his style is capturing the ordinary, the everyday, “people doing normal things” and telling their story.

“You look at things in a different way when you are looking at photographs,” he starts, “I work in retail in Melbourne’s CBD and I speak to people all day every day, and people have a story; we get a lot of characters in the shop.

“If you cross paths with a person, you do find everyone has an interesting story, an interesting look; an interesting take to life and you try and capture that.
“When all is said and done, I just want to take the photos I want to take.”

Jim Kyriakidis’ photographic exhibition will run until the end of July at Jimmy the Saint, 87 Gladstone Street, South Melbourne, VIC. For more information visit www.facebook.com/jimmythesaintcafe and for more information on Jim’s work, visit www.facebook.com/pages/Jim-Kyriakidis-Photography