Glart

My name is George leontaras, I was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1966 and grew up in Stuttgart as the firstborn of my Greek immigrant parents. We returned to Greece in 1978 and more specifically we settled down in Nea Ionia, a suburb of the Thessalian city of Volos, which came into existence due to the settlement of some of the hundreds of thousands of Greek refugees that fled Asia Minor after the catastrophe of 1922. Volos is famous for its luscious mountain Pilio, where Centaur, the mythical half man-half horse wise creature roamed and lived. Volos, also known as Iolcos in ancient times, is where Jason and the Argonauts took off on their expedition for the capture of Golden Fleece.

started to experiment with photography in the 80's using a Zenith SLR which I bought with my modest savings. I used to hike mountains, roam the streets of different cities and go to every imaginable place in order to capture the “perfect” photograph. After a few years, I became the owner of an even better camera, the Minolta Maxxum 5000i, which my brother brought to me as a gift from the Unites States of America.

Filled with great joy I plunged with even greater enthusiasm into my photographic adventures. I bought filters, zoom lenses, macro lenses and I even set up a dark room with all the accompanying, necessary gadgets and tools for film development. However, in the end of 1995 the financial burden associated with film development became too much and I slowed down on my quest for photographic excellence.

Around 2007 things started picking up again as the age of digital photography dawned. I realized that the costs of digital photography were much fewer since I no longer had to use dark rooms and its traditional film developing techniques. So I decided to buy my first Compact DSLR camera, an Olympus 550UZ with an 18x optical zoom. And that was it! I got into again big time! Since then I own a Canon 40D with an Allround Sigma 18-200mm DC OS lense and a Canon Macro EF 100mm 1:2.8 L IS USM lense.

As a person I am like all other persons on this planet. I live as we all live. I breathe the same air as we all breathe. Despite my weaknesses and empowered by my strengths, I keep traveling this chosen path. My favorite quote which guides me in life is one by Socrates in which he says: “I know that I know nothing.” Art brings people together, and more specifically, what brings us together is our passion for photography, as well as our sensitivities and love for this splendid world…

I am here to travel along with you all...