George Pappas, Featured Artist

About George Pappas

I have been involved (on and off) in photography for almost 30 years.
When I was a young teenager, my mom bought me a rangefinder film camera and I started to learn the basics of capturing light. But I eventually lost the camera (and mom got REAL mad at me). I didn't get another camera for about another 10 years, at which point I bought a Canon T90 (film SLR). That camera was later replaced with a Canon A2E (film SLR, eye-controlled auto focus). My introduction to the digital world was about to happen.

Conversion to Digital Photography

At first, I was extremely skeptical about digital cameras (as were many other photographers). I didn't think that digital would be able to match the quality of film grain for many years to come. However, one day I was at a party and a friend had a 1 MP camera. I laughed at it. But my friend took a photo of my wife and I which he emailed to me a few weeks later. I was blown away by the image quality. The colors and detail were amazing (especially for a 1 MP).

I then decided to give the digital world a try and bought an Olympus CAMEDIA C-700 Ultra Zoom (2 MP, 10x optical zoom). I instantly fell in love with the digital world: instant feedback, the ability to take hundreds of photos and immediately delete the bad ones, no need to store and process film, etc. In that first year of going digital, I took over 2,200 photos! I was hooked. Soon thereafter, I decided to replace the Canon EOS A2E (film SLR) with a Canon EOS 10D (6 MP). I have since upgraded to a Canon EOS 30D and am looking to purchase another camera (possibly the elusive Canon EOS 40D) soon.

George's Favorite Subjects

Over time, my photographic interests have changed. I was brought up in midtown-Manhattan (New York City, New York) where I was surrounded by millions of people. Everywhere I went there were people. So I naturally didn't want to take photos of people. As a child, I was always interested in science and nature, but there was very little in the way of wildlife in the Big City (besides pigeons and rats). So when I first got into photography, I wanted to take nature photos of whatever I could find in the immediate vicinity: sunsets, beaches, flowers, etc.

When I later moved to Northern Virginia, the natural world really opened up to me. I started to take photos of birds and other wildlife at the local parks and refuges. I joined a photo club (the Northern Virginia Photographic Society) which helped open my eyes to the wonderful work of other artists.

Expanding the Photographic Horizons

After I converted to digital, things really progressed rapidly. I started to get involved in photo challenges with a few of my co-workers. We would agree on a topic and the rules, and then go out and take photos. The photo challenges really expanded my horizons, since I would have probably never tried some of those shots of my own free will. I would have probably stayed within my "comfort zone" of nature photography.

I have recently begun to experiment with computer artwork, specifically fractals and computer-generated images. In summary, I like it all, but still have a special affinity towards wildlife photos. I love to be outside enjoying the fresh air and listening to the bird's sing, while I wait for my next great shot.

Interested in Using George for Custom Work?

I will be adding new images constantly, so please come back and check my portfolio frequently. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you need a business card in a different orientation, would like to use one of my images in another arena, or have a special request.