Aleko Syntelis

My work

Products and materials

Design, jewelry, bottles, stone and surface samples. Usually shot in studio with controlled light, against a deadline set by a catalogue, a launch or a trade fair. I give special attention given to pieces that require technical lighting setups; items with multiple finishes and materials such as, stone set into polished metal or a matte object with a mirrored edge. Different parts of such objects require different light and instead of compromise one for the other, a balance has to be found. If you sell outside Greece, your imagery is judged next to work made in Paris and New York, and that is the standard I shoot to.

Architecture and interiors

What matters is how brass, plaster, timber and stone actually read next to each other, not how wide a room can be made to look. Stone and plaster want one approach, glass and metal another, and understanding the way the space interacts with light is the key to revealing the. best details. It is a similar problem that needs to be solved in product prohotography at a different scale: moving light across surfaces until the materials become legible. Commissioned by architects, interior designers, hotels and materials brands who need to document their product post-installation.

Fine art reproduction

For artists, galleries, estates and institutions. Colour is measured against the work rather than judged by eye, and the surface stays visible: brushwork, impasto, canvas weave, paper grain. Shot on site when the work cannot travel, including large and fragile pieces. Delivered as print-ready masters, or taken through to finished prints. I have three years of experience working on a large format glicée printer. I have made editions for artists and galleries, so I can collaborate with the best printers in Athens to guarantee the highest quality archival product.

Commercial fashion & Beauty

E-commerce on model, lookbooks, campaign stills, and advertising details of product next to skin. Garments, jewelry and cosmetics are still materials, and leather, silk, stone, metal and cream behave on a person much as they do on a table, with less time to solve them. Beauty sits closest to the product work, utilising precise lighting so a lipstick or a pigment can pop out of the frame while the skin beside it remains convincing.

Who I've worked for

Seven years in commercial photography, most of it in New York, shooting for brands, dealers, and creative businesses. Syntelis Images has traded under its own name since 2022, and has established itself in Athens as of 2026.

The project I point to first is Mantiques Modern, a high-end vintage dealer in Chelsea, New York. The objects were mostly gold, silver, bronze, and crystal, although I have worked with almost every material and texture. The goal was to represent the quality of objects for people to confidently buy online without ever touching them. They were my client for about 5 years. My photography allowed them to survive the storefront being closed during Covid by building their first website after 25 years of business and selling directly to clients with monthly catalogs. As a bonus, during that period their Instagram grew from roughly 1,500 followers to more than 11,000. I was not the only thing happening at that company. But photography developed their brand's aesthetic in the digital world.

How a project runs

You tell me what the images are for, where they'll appear, and what your deadline is. If my work will need to integrate with an existing catalog, I spend time in pre-production to ensure it matches on the day of the shoot instead of making corrections in post. I'll send a quote & sample contract once we have an understanding of the deliverables, structured as: a fixed fee, the number of finished images, a clear licence, number of included revision rounds, and a delivery date set against your deadline. The licence covers the use you've described. Licence terms can always be broadened later but additional post-producton can be required for different media and will be billed a la carte.

References are useful even when they're not fully representative, which can happen. Part of my responsibility for clients less experienced in creative direction is to understand what you were drawn to in that image, then blending the references to fit your product and brand. Copying references frame by frame tends to produce a picture that misrepresents the product and can read as inauthentic to your customers.

On the day of the shoot, every object needs attention before a set can be finalised: products needs cleaning, manufacturing defects need hiding, and its critical to study which angles best convey the mood. Pieces that combine finishes such as, stone set into polished metal, and matte textures next to mirrored surfaces, are objects that take more setup and nuanced adjustments to the lighting, because each part asks for something different and that balance takes time to be perfected.

My ethos is that three things are solved in camera and are not left for correction in post: how light sits on the surface, the geometry of the object, and its real colour. Files that fake any of the three can look fine on a website but fall apart when you have the product in hand or at their worst can look like renderings or Ai.

For product photography, a lot of the day is setup. Clients are welcomed on set but it is important to consider how many people are needed since shoots can run slower as you add people. The perfect balance is met when all critical decisions can be made on set instead of needing extra revision rounds in post.

If selects were not made and signed off on-set, they are sent as they were on the day of the shoot: exposure and contrast mostly resolved, colour accurate, surfaces not retouched. You choose from those, and the finishing happens after the selection, so hours and budget doesn't get wasted on files not used. Revisions are there in case I'm slightly off our initial brief and its not working the way you or I had hoped; anything requested out of scope is new work and gets billed as such. Deliverables are defined in the quote and contract but expanding the quote is always an option if your needs change throughout the process. It's worth sorting out apsect ratios and media channels in pre-production, since that's what people most often come back for.

If the budget won't stretch, I favour cutting deliverables or scope rather than the quality. Fewer images or a less ambitious concept, finished the same way. And retained work is priced differently: the look is established, usually less time goes to creative direction, new products drop into the aesthetic we have already built.

The kit, and the reasons for it

I shoot with a medium format 100 megapixel Fujifilm GFX — because details fall apart when a client crops in, and it's almost always necessary. Profoto and Briese for flash. ARRI HMI, and tungsten when something has to be lit continuously rather than frozen. Capture One and Photoshop for live-capture and finishing.