George Maschalidis' life is filled with photography. He shoots professionally in a range of genres and his personal work includes street photography, landscapes and astrophotography. In his homeland, Greece, he's best-known as the co-founder of Photo Contest, the country's biggest online photography community.

"When I found the magical world of photography and videography, I fell in love with it," he says. "I'm really lucky because I quickly realised that this was the job I wanted to do and the career I wanted to explore."

"For every competition, our members go out to create something unique," says George. "Then they upload their photos on our platform, where there is discussion on what they did well and not so well, and they learn to improve. Every day, I'm trying to inspire people with my work and share my knowledge. Meeting members at events is fulfilling for me, because they often thank me for giving them the push they needed to explore photography further."

In addition to running Photo Contest, George has his own professional photographic career, which includes commercial, wedding and event photography and videography. In his spare time, he especially enjoys street photography and landscapes.

"I love street photography because you never know what to expect when going out on a shoot. Every moment, every shot is unpredictable and unique," he says. "I also love shooting landscapes – which sometimes include astrophotography – because it's a way to come closer to nature and understand everything around us. The reason I love these two genres is that I can balance city life with life in nature at the same time."

In the future, George aims to further develop his own personal and professional work. "I would like to focus more on my work and my personal development around photography," he says. "I would also like to travel to some unique destinations such as Iceland and Africa. I really want to explore and capture these amazing locations, especially their landscapes."

What was your first camera and why did you choose it?

"My first camera was the Canon EOS 600D which I bought in 2011. I chose it because I wanted a camera that could shoot high-quality images and video for my YouTube channel. It also had a vari-angle screen, which was very helpful for all my solo content creation."

What, for you, makes a strong image?

"The emotions and the feelings a photo captures are what makes it strong for me. Technically, of course, it's things such as the light, the framing and the composition, but if the image doesn't resonate with people on an emotional level, it's not going to work."

What do you aim to achieve when you set out on a shoot?

"In every genre, the aim is different. When I am shooting a wedding, my goal is to capture the couple's happiest moments. When I'm shooting an event such as a business conference, I have to photograph everyone and everything in the venue. But at the end of the day, the goal is to capture feelings in every situation."

You have been running Photo Contest for more than 10 years. What do you most enjoy about it?

"I love sharing my knowledge with others and inspiring them. When I started in photography, I'd have been very happy to have had a 'George', a guy who creates educational online content in Greek, to show me techniques and explain in detail, for example, how each setting on your camera affects your photos. That's the reason I'm still doing it – to help other amateur photographers improve their understanding of photography."

"Photographers usually focus their entire career on one genre of photography, but for me, it's important to be able to explore and experiment in more genres. This has enabled me to face different challenges and adopt things learned from one genre into another. This is not only technical knowledge, but also expands to interpersonal skills, new creative opportunities and a variety of unique experiences. Bottom line, do what you love and do it your own way."

Instagram: @maschilidis

TikTok: @maschilidis

YouTube: www.youtube.com/photocontestgr