Podcast Episode 6: This is Elena Haralabaki
We’re really excited to bring you a brand new episode of our Podcast: Episode 6 with the absolutely fantastic Elena Haralabaki! Hailing from Greece, Elena is the winner of no less than nine This is Reportage Awards (six Reportage and three Story Awards) and has more than 150 award-winning photos from other organisations. But as you’ll hear from the Podcast, she’s also incredibly humble, and has so much to share with us, including info about:
growing up in Athens, how she went from fashion to weddings, finding her original clients, speaking at Inspiration conference, what makes her happy, the friendliness of the photography community, how she captured a specific Reportage Award, how Greek priests are more relaxed, wanting a wedding with umbrellas, studying photography, what has worked for her in terms of marketing, social media, associations and awards, top tips for getting better at the documentary side, tips on shooting close, her inspirations, what she listens to on the way to a wedding, the most challenging aspect of wedding photography, not shooting specifically for awards, tips for people just starting out, the last movie that made her cry, Ouzo (!), the first thing she does after a wedding, her editing, people who have impacted her life, the future, and more…
You can listen to our Podcast in a few different ways: Over on Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, or right here in this post (where there’s also a full transcript of our Elena Haralabaki interview for those who prefer to read). Here’s our full catalogue of the best wedding photography podcast episodes, too.
If you’ve enjoyed listening, consider subscribing to the show on iTunes – and, if you *really* enjoyed listening, we would be massively grateful if you could give us a review and/or rating; thanks so much! And thanks loads to the people who have already left a review for us; so kind of you, and truly appreciated.
Alan Law: Hey, Elena.
Elena Haralabaki: Hi.
Alan Law: Hi. How are you?
Elena Haralabaki: I’m fine. How about you?
Alan Law: I am great, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining all the way from Greece.
Elena Haralabaki: I’m so glad that I’m here with you.
Alan Law: Honestly, it’s brilliant.
Elena Haralabaki: Thank you very much.
Alan Law: Thank you for giving up your time and talking to me. It’s brilliant. It’s fab. We were just chatting before we started this, and you told me it’s actually raining in Greece. I thought you never had any rain.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. We don’t have very often rain here. We have endless sunshine all the months.
Alan Law: You are so lucky over there. I love Greece. You grew up in Greece. What was your childhood like? Did you say you’re from Athens?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, I’m from Athens. I grew up in the center of Athens.
Alan Law: But there’s no beach nearby, is there? Or is there?
Elena Haralabaki: No, it is about 30 minutes away. But now I live near the beach. My house is near the beach. I don’t live right now in the center.
Alan Law: Oh, okay. Cool. Nice. That’s nice. Was it really busy growing up in Athens? What was your school life like?
Elena Haralabaki: I think normal. I grew up in the center. I had many things to do. As a teenager, I could enjoy parties in the center.
Alan Law: Nice. Yeah, that’s handy. Did you want to be a photographer from an early age? Or did that-
Elena Haralabaki: I think that I always wanted to be an artist or a photographer, but I didn’t know that. I had a camera almost every day with me.
Alan Law: Oh really? Great. Okay.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. I wanted to take a pictures of my friends, my family; at school, my classmates, my teachers. So I liked it. I didn’t know, of course, that I would be a photographer.
Alan Law: So how did you get your first kind of wedding? How did you get into that?
Elena Haralabaki: I was very disappointed with my job in magazines.
Alan Law: Oh, okay.
Elena Haralabaki: I didn’t like it. I didn’t like this area. It was very competitive and very stressful. I had to work many hours a day. I had a friend who was a wedding photographer and told him, “Can I come with you and see how it is to be a wedding photographer?”
Alan Law: Cool. And you liked what you saw, I guess?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. Yes. It was amazing. There are happy people everywhere.
Alan Law: That’s cool. That is a big plus side of our job, isn’t it? Being around so much happiness and joy every weekend.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, it is amazing.
Alan Law: So that first wedding that you went along with, was that kind of a traditional Greek wedding, or… was it In Greece?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, it was in Greece. A traditional wedding in Athens. It was not an amazing wedding, a big wedding. But I liked the people, and so that was the beginning.
Alan Law: When was that? How long ago was that?
Elena Haralabaki: That was before about 13 years.
Alan Law: Thirteen years?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: You’ve been doing it for 13 years?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Wow.
Elena Haralabaki: Ten. Ten years.
Alan Law: Wow. You don’t look … Because I can see video as well… you don’t look old enough to be doing it for 10 years. You must have been very young when you started though.
Elena Haralabaki: I am old, Alan. I’m an old lady. Believe me.
Alan Law: That’s funny.
Elena Haralabaki: I don’t do Botox yet.
Alan Law: So after you did that, that you went along with your friends, did you just start your own website? How did you get images for a portfolio? Did you shoot more friends’ weddings and things? Or …
Elena Haralabaki: No. I didn’t shoot friends because we were very young. I didn’t have friends to get married.
Alan Law: Right. Yeah, that’s tricky, when you are super young, I guess.
Elena Haralabaki: There is an exhibition here about weddings, and I just went there with some photos from the weddings I did with the other photographer, and I found new clients. It was easy.
Alan Law: Great. Cool. Have you always found it to be quite not … So is it less stressful than the kind of fashion work that you were doing for you?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, because I am alone. I don’t have any boss. I’m more creative. I can do whatever I like.
Alan Law: That’s cool. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: It is adventurous; you travel a lot. You see new people and new couples. We have many couples coming from abroad here in Greece, so I have friends from all over the world.
Alan Law: That is great, isn’t it, about our industry? That you get to meet so many people from all over.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: That’s great. You recently spoke at, was it Inspiration Conference? Wasn’t it?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. Yes.
Alan Law: How was that? Did you enjoy that?
Elena Haralabaki: I enjoyed it very much. It was an amazing experience for me. I couldn’t imagine that I could be a speaker in a conference.
Alan Law: Wow. Yeah, but you’re so good. Of course you were going to be asked.
Elena Haralabaki: I’m just a photographer. I couldn’t imagine that, that I could speak. I could be a public speaker.
Alan Law: You are doing it in English, I presume?
Elena Haralabaki: In English, yes.
Alan Law: Wow. I can’t imagine that, honestly. I mean, I get nervous talking in my own language, in English. To be able to speak to other people in a different language, that’s amazing I think.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, it was difficult. For the first time, I think, I was really nervous. But it is like bungee jumping. You go on the edge and you see and you’re nervous. You’re really nervous, but then you enjoy it. Something like that.
Alan Law: Yeah, you really enjoy … That’s great that you enjoyed it.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, I was with friends there. I went all alone, but I found so many good people, warm people, and it was like I was there with my best friends.
Alan Law: That’s super. Was that in Portugal, was it?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Oh, cool. It’s lovely there as well, isn’t it? It’s a beautiful place.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, beautiful. Very beautiful place. I would like to stay more there, but I couldn’t. I had a wedding-
Alan Law: Oh, okay.
Elena Haralabaki: … after the conference.
Alan Law: Right. Cool. So I’m going to change tacks slightly now. So I’d like you to think … What’s the first thing or things that come to your mind, what makes you happy?
Elena Haralabaki: Happy? I think my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my dog.
Alan Law: Those are all good things in life. Right?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Cool.
Elena Haralabaki: I want to have people around me. People make me happy.
Alan Law: Wedding photography is quite a lonely industry, isn’t it? We’re out there on our own, working on our own, and then we’re editing at home all alone. So, I think it’s really important to spend much time with family and loved ones as well.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, yes. You’re right. But it is not so lonely. We are not lonely. We have each other. I have so many friends on Facebook; they write me all the time. If I have a question about something about photography, I can ask a great photographer and tell me something or we can share our knowledge.
Alan Law: Oh, right. Yes, yes. It’s great how people are so open and sharing like that.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: There’s one specific … You won a Reportage Award, – you’ve won lots of different Reportage Awards – but one that I love especially is taken from below, I think, during the ceremony, where you’re super, super close to the couple and the priest, I think. Do you know which image I mean (shown above)?
Elena Haralabaki: You mean this photo that the priest gives his blessings?
Alan Law: Yes, that’s right.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: And you’ve taken it from below, and it’s really, really … I mean, super close. How did you get that shot?
Elena Haralabaki: It was easy. I just put my camera there. After some tries to have the best framing, I did this. It was easy, really.
Alan Law: I love it. I asked because I think a lot of photographers are maybe scared of getting that close during the ceremony. But it’s great that you weren’t worried about that and it was all good.
Elena Haralabaki: Maybe because we have better priests. We can do whatever we like during the ceremony.
Alan Law: Oh really? That’s fantastic. Yeah, that’s very different to, say, UK weddings, where lots of vicars are very strict. Sometimes we can’t even be at the front; we have to be right at the back. So-
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Yeah, so it’s a lot more relaxed for you in Greek weddings generally?
Elena Haralabaki: I don’t know, because it is a challenge for me to do other weddings. Not only Orthodox weddings here in Greece; I want to take more photos from other traditions.
Alan Law: Right, okay. Sure.
Elena Haralabaki: I like that.
Alan Law: Yeah, it’s good to be varied, isn’t it, as well?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Are you saying as well as … So traditional Greek weddings, lots of people come to Greece as a destination wedding area, I guess. So you’re shooting couples of all different nationalities and-
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: This is such a challenge for me. I love it.
Alan Law: Yeah, that’s so cool. Have you ever shot a wedding in the UK?
Elena Haralabaki: No. No, unfortunately.
Alan Law: Well, I think … Yeah, I think you’ve got the weather over in Greece that we don’t have over here. But it’s great over here as well.
Elena Haralabaki: I want a wedding with umbrellas. I don’t have …
Alan Law: That’s so funny because all UK photographers will be thinking, “We don’t want any umbrella weddings anymore.”
Elena Haralabaki: Why? It is so strange for us.
Alan Law: We should do a swap. We should do a shoot swap.
Alan Law: You studied photography in Athens, didn’t you, I think you said?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Did actually doing a proper course and education in photography … Did that really help you? I ask because I think a lot of wedding photographers don’t have any formal education in photography. I was just wondering if it really helped you.
Elena Haralabaki: In reality, I think that it helped me because I saw so many images, so many photographers from other areas, from other kinds of photography. I don’t believe that you have to be educated. Maybe you have a talent or you work hard for this. I think that photography reveals everything; reveals the age, the education, the personality of the photographer, all the personal work, all the hard work, from the whole life.
Alan Law: Sure.
Elena Haralabaki: So yes, I think that I took something from the education, but I worked hard afterwards. It is not only the education, of course.
Alan Law: Yes. That’s the key, isn’t it?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: You’ve got to apply and work hard, which it sounds like you really have done. In your education, did they talk about the business side of photography at all, or was it-
Elena Haralabaki: No.
Alan Law: No? And that’s a big deal, isn’t it? The business side is so important.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, it is. I studied marketing and business administration for four more years after-
Alan Law: Oh, okay.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, and I learned many things. It was very helpful in order to promote my business. I’m not such an expert, but it helped me.
Alan Law: That’s really good. Yeah, because a lot of wedding photographers think, “I can take a good photograph and that’s enough.” But it really isn’t, isn’t it? The marketing side is so important.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: In terms of marketing and getting yourself out there and being found by couples, what’s been really effective for you in that way?
Elena Haralabaki: I think nowadays the social media is the first thing that we have to care about.
Alan Law: Yeah. Do you enjoy doing that?
Elena Haralabaki: No. I don’t like it, to be always on Instagram and Facebook and promote my business. I want someone else to do this for me.
Alan Law: Would you get someone else to do it? Some people do outsource that, don’t they?
Elena Haralabaki: I hired somebody once, but he made a website. Oh my god, it was awful-
Alan Law: Oh, really?
Elena Haralabaki: With so many words, not so many photos.
Alan Law: Oh, okay.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. I didn’t like it, and I said, “No. Okay, Don’t do it. I will do it.” He wrote things for business only. “She’s the great photographer, and she’s the best photographer, in the world and you must take her.” You know, these things?
Alan Law: Right, yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: It’s not me. It is not my point of view.
Alan Law: Right. Okay. Sure. Yeah, I guess that is the danger of outsourcing that.
Alan Law: So how do you get most of your weddings, do you know?
Elena Haralabaki: Google.
Alan Law: Cool.
Elena Haralabaki: I think that my photos are everywhere because of the organizations. I don’t know. They find me easily.
Alan Law: Right. Well that’s great, isn’t it? So I guess you found submitting to … Because you’ve won lots of awards in lots of different associations, that by winning those awards, that’s helped people find you?
Elena Haralabaki: I think so, yes.
Alan Law: That’s cool. Good.
Elena Haralabaki: Because they tell me about the awards.
Alan Law: Great, well yeah, they must be finding you that way then.
Elena Haralabaki: This is fantastic. I couldn’t imagine that. I want more awards, you know?
Alan Law: Well I’m sure you’ll get them.
Elena Haralabaki: For marketing. For this.
Alan Law: Yes, definitely. Me as well, as a wedding photographer, I think about 80% of my couples say they found me because of various awards. So it’s great. It’s all good.
Alan Law: If someone wanted to get better at the documentary side of wedding photography especially, what would be your kind of top tips to help them get better at that?
Elena Haralabaki: I think that documentary photography’s difficult, because you have to be always on the move and feel the moment. You can’t be relaxed, you know?
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Especially if you feel that you see a great moment, you are going to take a good photo, you must be there. You must feel this moment and to have always your camera and see through your camera. You must have a very good knowledge of the framing first. You must understand the light, of course.
Alan Law: Yeah. These are great tips. It’s great. Your work especially, I feel that you get very close, which results in really intimate images. Some people are afraid of shooting very close. Do you have any advice for photographers who are a bit nervous of that?
Elena Haralabaki: I don’t understand why they are nervous. We are allowed to be there. We can do whatever we like.
Alan Law: Yeah, sure.
Elena Haralabaki: The couple believes in us. They believe that we are the best for them. We can do anything. Why not?
Alan Law: I totally agree. I totally agree. That’s great. We need to maybe … Yeah. Maybe a lot of photographers need to think about that less and just get in there and get the moments.
Alan Law: What inspires you in life? Where do you get your-
Elena Haralabaki: In life?
Alan Law: Yeah, in life?
Elena Haralabaki: Generally?
Alan Law: Yes, generally. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Generally. I love art. I love seeing paintings.
Alan Law: Oh, cool.
Elena Haralabaki: Photography, of course. I love going out with friends. I listen to music all the time.
Alan Law: Oh, cool. What’s your favorite music?
Elena Haralabaki: Well, I try to listen all the kinds of music. But I realize that I love most rock.
Alan Law: Oh really? Cool. So do I.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. Yes. I try to listen other kinds, but I just try. I can’t. I have always the same playlist, you know?
Alan Law: Oh, cool. Yes. And me, on repeat all the time. Do you have specific music that you listen to when you’re traveling to a wedding, like to get you in the mood? Or-
Elena Haralabaki: Queen, Under Pressure.
Alan Law: Oh really? That’s funny. A wedding photographer anthem. That’s cool.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: What do you find the most challenging aspect of wedding photography to be? What’s the most difficult, do you think?
Elena Haralabaki: I think that sometimes it is very difficult to take amazing photos under these circumstances. There’s not easy. There are sometimes difficult circumstances at weddings.
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: With people there, maybe they’re not so cooperative. I don’t know. Or there are not so many moments; they don’t cry. Why?
Alan Law: Cry, people! That is true though, isn’t it? If moments are not happening, it is trickier.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. You try to find the moment, but they don’t do. Of course it is rare, this kind of … You always fine something.
Alan Law: Yes. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. But it is better if you have more emotional people.
Alan Law: Yeah, it definitely is. It is, isn’t it?
Elena Haralabaki: Please, please. Cry, cry, cry.
Alan Law: Just going back to awards, and you’ve won so many; has it put more pressure on you to come back from a wedding with amazing images? Do you feel more pressure after winning awards, or you don’t think like that?
Elena Haralabaki: In reality, I don’t really care about the awards.
Alan Law: Cool.
Elena Haralabaki: I can’t have so many expectations from a wedding because it is not a photo shoot. I try to do my best. I’m there firstly for the couple, not for the awards.
Alan Law: Sure.
Elena Haralabaki: Then if I have a good photo, I will send it to take an award because it’s good for my marketing.
Alan Law: Yes. Oh, totally. I think that’s a really good way to think about it, as well. Not to shoot weddings for awards, but it’s just kind of a side benefit of it.
Alan Law: What would be your top tips for people just starting out in the industry? I hope a lot of different people will be listening to this at different levels, but some will be just starting out. Do you have any kind of good advice for people who are really new to it?
Elena Haralabaki: Well, I would say to forget the cameras and the latest gadgets, and try to find the artist within himself or herself. I think this is the best thing. To be more creative and to not think all the time about the cameras and the lenses and all the gadgets. I know people that they say to me, “Oh Elena, you take amazing photos. Please, what is your camera?” You know? I’m sorry, this is not my camera only. Of course I need a good camera for good quality, but it is not this. I try to be creative all the time and I keep constantly, I keep learning new things.
Alan Law: That’s cool.
Elena Haralabaki: So this is it. The creativity. Find the artist. We all have this artist inside because we love photography, so we are artists firstly.
Alan Law: Cool. That’s great advice. It’s not about the equipment; it’s about you as the photographer. That’s great.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Changing tack again, slightly. What was the last movie that made you cry?
Elena Haralabaki: Made me … Ah, Joker.
Alan Law: Oh really? I’ve not seen that yet.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Is it emotional?
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. For me, it was because … I don’t say more things because you have to see it.
Alan Law: Yeah, no spoilers.
Elena Haralabaki: This guy was very unlucky in his life. I won’t say more.
Alan Law: Okay. Yeah, no spoilers. No spoilers.
Alan Law: What’s a random fact about you that most people would be surprised to know? Anything unusual in your past life, or you have a strange party trick, or something different that people don’t know about you?
Elena Haralabaki: They don’t know many, many things about me, Alan! Look, I’m a very adventurous person. I’m very calm; I do yoga and meditation. But sometimes I am crazy, you know? I don’t know how you-
Alan Law: No, that’s good. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Two different personalities inside me. I don’t know.
Alan Law: Oh really? Okay. That’s cool. Good way to live life, I think.
Elena Haralabaki: I like parties.
Alan Law: And a wedding is like a big party, as well.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: You get paid to photograph parties.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, I love these parties and the music. Loud music.
Alan Law: That’s cool. Do you stay a long time through the night at weddings?
Elena Haralabaki: You know, I’m very tired every time. I stay of course, and they want me to stay and drink and dance. But believe me, I can’t. I can’t drink, I can’t dance.
Alan Law: It’s so tiring, isn’t it? It is so tiring.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: I’ve shot one wedding in Greece. In Skiathos? Yeah, Skiathos.
Elena Haralabaki: Oh, great.
Alan Law: Yeah, I was drinking ouzo and Sprite there. Just one or two. But I love ouzo. I love ouzo.
Elena Haralabaki: Ouzo?
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: If you ever come here, please join me to go out and drink ouzo.
Alan Law: Let’s do it. That would be great. I’d love that.
Alan Law: You’ve just shot a wedding. What’s the first thing you do when you get back home?
Elena Haralabaki: I do the backup immediately.
Alan Law: Oh, do you straight away? Yeah, that’s good.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: I’m nervous with the back up.
Alan Law: Oh right, okay. You can’t sleep until-
Elena Haralabaki: I can’t sleep, yes.
Alan Law: Okay, cool. Then what do you do? Do you have an ouzo then?
Elena Haralabaki: No, no. I am like a zombie. I sleep immediately.
Alan Law: Do you do very long days for … Are Greek weddings, are they full on and very intense?
Elena Haralabaki: Maybe they are, especially the weddings on the islands. As a photographer, you have to be there one day before, maybe, to shoot a pre-wedding party.
Alan Law: Right.
Elena Haralabaki: Then you have the wedding day. So maybe most of the times, two days.
Alan Law: Oh, okay. Wow. That is long.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Do you have a particular piece of software or app that you couldn’t do without?
Elena Haralabaki: I don’t think so. Except you mean Lightroom?
Alan Law: Yeah, well that’s … Yeah, that’s a great piece of software. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: Do you do virtually all your editing in Lightroom?
Elena Haralabaki: No, I use Photoshop as well.
Alan Law: Oh, okay. Cool. Yeah. What kind of percentage do you think you … How many images from a wedding do you take into Photoshop on average, do you-
Elena Haralabaki: Not so many. Just for maybe for dodge and burn or-
Alan Law: Right, okay. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: These kind of things. But I edit all the photos in Lightroom.
Alan Law: Cool. That is great, isn’t it? Do you use any keyboard shortcuts or-
Elena Haralabaki: No, I think I’m not very good with these things. I’m not so fast. I want to see every photo and see if I did something wrong. I want them to be perfect, all of them. So I’m not fast.
Alan Law: But that’s good, I think. A lot of people are obsessed with being really quick, but the end product is what matters the most, I guess.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, but for business it is not good.
Alan Law: That’s true. I guess it’s finding a balance is really important. Time and quality, as well.
Alan Law: Has there been somebody that has had a big influence on your career at all?
Elena Haralabaki: You mean photographer?
Alan Law: Yeah, it could be a photographer or anyone else in your life, really, who’s had a big impact.
Elena Haralabaki: Many photographers. I see so many great photographers out there and I love their work. Maybe I could say my boyfriend, who is always with me.
Alan Law: Oh, that’s cool.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. He’s also a photographer.
Alan Law: Oh, cool.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes. I think he doesn’t like so much weddings; wedding photography. He likes weddings. He believes that it is a very stressful job. He can’t handle this anxiety, you know?
Alan Law: Right. Okay. I understand that. Yeah. Some people weddings, it’s really stressful for.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, but he is always there for me. Always.
Alan Law: Aww, that’s great. Great. Good stuff.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: So I’ve got time I think for one more question. Do you think about the future? Whether you’ll still be shooting weddings in 10 years’ time?
Elena Haralabaki: I really don’t know, because I couldn’t imagine what I do right now. So this job has many surprises. I don’t know what is going to happen. I have a wedding in February in India.
Alan Law: Oh wow. Awesome.
Elena Haralabaki: That is amazing. I couldn’t imagine that. So I think that I can’t think of the future in this job. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I couldn’t imagine that I would be a speaker in a conference. I just want to be happy, and I’m happy with what I do. You know?
Alan Law: That’s cool. That’s cool. You obviously, you sound very happy and you look very happy. That’s brilliant. You don’t always have to be thinking about the future, and that’s why I asked that. I just think it’s very interesting. You don’t need to be. Yeah. Just being happy is so important.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes, it is very stressed to think all the time the future.
Alan Law: Yeah, live in the-
Elena Haralabaki: So we have to appreciate things around us. What we have. And think that there are some people that they cannot afford even the essentials. We are fortunate. We have everything.
Alan Law: That’s so true. Yeah.
Elena Haralabaki: Yes.
Alan Law: That’s great. Elena, thank you so much. That was absolutely brilliant. Thank you for your time. This was so interesting and great bits of information in there. That was brilliant.
Elena Haralabaki: It was my pleasure. Really, really. It was an honor. Thank you, Alan.
Alan Law: Thank you. Honestly, that was brilliant. People who are listening maybe on iTunes, I will put the specific Reportage Award we were talking about earlier on in the post so you can have a look at it. I’ll include links through to your website as well. Yeah, thank you so much. That was great.
Elena Haralabaki: Thank you. I send you my love from Greece.
Alan Law: Aww, and back here from the UK. Bye bye!
Elena Haralabaki: Bye bye. Bye.
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Thanks so much again to Elena for this interview! Visit her This is Reportage profile to see lots more of her work, or her own website over here.
If you enjoyed listening to Elena, check out all our other episodes over here, or consider subscribing to us on iTunes. If you’d like to leave us a review and/or rating whilst you’re there, we would massively appreciate it!
Would you like to join us here at TiR? Members receive a whole host of benefits, including 18 Story Award entries and 60 Reportage Award entries per year, an infinite number of images shown on your profile, invites to our parties, discounts on wedding photography related products/services, and much more. Join us soon if you’d like to enter our next Awards, as the deadline for Collection 12 submissions is 23:59 GMT on 23rd November 2019.
