Chris Thomaidis (b.1953 Kastoria, Greece)
Chris began his photographic career in 1981, working freelance for corporate, multi-media and editorial clients which evolved into a position as director of photography with a multi-media firm. The years working on visual content for Fortune 500 companies were invaluable when Chris returned to independent work in 1988. His professional work has been recognized in American Photography Annuals, Communication Arts Design & Photo Annuals, PDN and many advertising and design award competitions. He has lectured at OCAD and Toronto Metropolitan University, and mentored youth in the Magenta Foundation Incubator program. He has worked pro-bono with PEN Canada on several annual reports, and with other non-profit organizations. Throughout his career, Chris has made a conscious decision to make personal work that differed from his professional work. His fine art photography can be found in corporate and private collections throughout North America and Europe.
About My Work
My work is based on the simple narratives of the everyday captured in urban and natural environments, documenting the cycles of change, decay and regeneration through the seasons and years. Much of this work is created using multiple images from my archive, carefully composing layers of each image with painted and three dimensional elements to achieve the desired results.
Photographed in various conditions and time of day, the surf would recede, moving multi-coloured grains of sand. Sand that would at the same time absorb water, creating tones and textures that changed with each passing of surf.
Composition of Great Lakes beach sand. Quartz (87-94%) (white, pink, natural, grey). Feldspar (10-18%)(grey, brown, blue). Magnetite (1-3%) (black). Less than 1%: Garnet (red), Calcite (white), Ilmenite (red, brownish-black), Hornblende (green, brown, black), Epidote (yellowish-green, brownish black)
I considered some of my earliest colour work as abstracts observed in natural and urban environments. In their essence, these environments are an endless tapestry of shapes, colours and textures, blending into one another. Using various photographic techniques, artist mediums and experimentation, I create abstracts imagery to convey this blending.
Studio still life photography has been a vital part of my practice. While working in studio allowed for total control over the final result, it was through experimentation that often lead to photos that exceeded my original intent, as was the case with the Winter Garden series. I first began working on the series in 2014, then again in 2016. In 2023 I returned to the original files and combining them to create new work.
Ice Topography is a micro look at water in its solid form. Slowly melting and releasing thousand of trapped air bubbles. Constantly changing, splitting into pieces and colliding with itself, creating unpredictable abstract shapes. While only a few inches across, these pieces of ice melt and reshape themselves in response to time, temperature and motion, similar to the sea ice in our polar regions.
This collection of images has come to represent my experience of Toronto. Many of the photos are of places I remember from my youth. Others respond to these photos in a way that evokes familiarity. Maybe it’s the slightly fuzzy quality, just like a real memory. People know that building, they have walked by that statue or under that arch. It says a lot for the subtle influence of a city built form. Photographed between 1992 - 2002 on film using a homemade lens.
Currently being updated
I have worked within many genre of photography. My archive is a varied collection of single images and multiple image series, made over forty five years.
About the Prints
The highest quality archival papers, pigment inks and quality materials are used to assure longevity.
All prints are printed with 1/2” - 2” white borders depending on their size. Custom sizes and borders are available on request.
Printed on demand on receipt of payment. Shipped within 10 business days. Rush service is available at an additional fee.