Petros Koublis Treats Photography Like Landscape Painting

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Petros Koublis Treats Photography Like Landscape Painting

The Greek photographer has an Impressionist's approach to the camera.

Petros Koublis has spent 17 years behind a Pentax K 1, photographing the wildly beautiful Grecian countryside. In his startling images, the world stands still—harsh winds are paused as they sweep the golden wheat fields, raindrops are caught quietly kissing the edge of deep ponds, and animals are caught unawares, frozen in a moment of tranquillity. The photographs escape the intensity of metropolitan Athens, just a few hours away.

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A landscape, Koublis says, is an illimitable state. "It's not restricted within the visible area in front of our eyes, and extends in undefined distances and it reaches for the limits of our perception." With a definition that echoes so much of what was once encapsulated on canvas by the likes of Alfred Sisely, Edgar Degas, and Claude Monet in late 19th century Impressionism, it's no wonder that you can detect motifs of the genre within Koublis' work.

Like the landscape paintings of Sisley and Degas, his practice revels in the freedom of the open air, allowing his images to be totally and utterly consumed by nature. "My work focuses on nature because I prefer to be there. I spent my childhood within it, undisturbedly studying frogs and snails, bugs and spiders," the photographer explains.

Through his deep connection to nature, Koublis offers us his impression of the world and in turn creates psychological landscapes where our emotions and subjectivity greet one another for the ultimate form of escapism. "I capture the subtle imprint that the world leaves on our senses, processed not through the mind but through our feelings. My images don't provide proofs. They are sensuous objects that show how I don't care so much what the world looks like, but rather how it feels."

The greatest likeness to Impressionism is, of course, the way Koublis has captured the light. Through an undisturbed flow of radiant sunlight across the surface of his shots, Petros frees his subjects from the confines of composition.

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"This contemplation on the nature of perception becomes even more important than the subject", Koublis says. "Which is the transition from realism to impressionism."