Interview of Margarita Mavromichalis - @tita_mavro

Hello Margarita, you are the "Best Street Photo project" 2025. What do you think about being selected as a winner among hundreds of other photographers ?

It is a huge honor and achievement to be selected among so many other talented photographers. To have any kind of distinction in a prestigious competition like PISPA is a big achievement but to be a winner is huge. The level of talent that exists is very high and I admire so many of my fellow photographers, they all deserve to win. We, photographers, only know the amount of work and dedication that we invest in what we do and when our work is recognized the satisfaction is unmeasurable. Competitions are important as they force us to dig into our work and revisit years of shooting. It is a valuable process that leads to maturity.

Can you tell us about your background and how you became a photographer ?

I am a translator/interpreter by profession. I have always loved languages and speak five. Photography to me is like another language and most probably the most important one. It is universal and conveys strong messages that can be understood by all. I have always photographed since I was a teenager and had a dark room back in those days. But then life got in the way and photography remained part of my life but as a hobby. When I moved to NY in 2009 I made the best decision in my life and I enrolled at the ICP where I studied for 3 years. I have never looked back since. I rediscovered myself through photography and it gave me the kind of freedom of expression I had suppressed for too long.

What about the series « When The Pavement Breathes », How did you build this project, and what are your plans for the future ?

From the very beginning of my photography journey, I knew that I needed the human presence in my frames. This led me to explore portraiture, documentary and street photography. Photography gave me the permission and the passport to explore the world through my lens and to document moments that often go unnoticed in our daily life. It forces me to slow down and breath life.

The images of “When the pavement breathes” represent a small selection of those moments from different parts of the world, moments that have gone unnoticed and often contain some humor, but when framed they create an image that makes the viewer pause and wonder.

This is an ongoing project that I plan to pursue for as long as I can walk and shoot, but in the near future I plan and hope to publish a book. I am in talks with a few publishers and hopefully this dream will become reality soon.

As the winner of our photo contest, what advice can you give to photographers who want to apply next year ?

My advice is not to hesitate to submit but work hard on your submission. Take the time to revisit your work and chose strong images but that work together well. It is a very valuable process which helps you to understand your work better and also gives you a sense of direction. Create a narrative that will keep the judges interested. Choose your images carefully, paying close attention to the first and last. I wish everyone good luck and be persistent.

Margarita Mavromichalis (@tita_mavro), speaks five languages and studied translation and interpreting. She likes to think that photography is her second language, as it’s a universal language, one that is understood by all across the world and conveys messages in the most powerful way.

Margarita moved to New York in 2009. She continued her studies for three years at the International Center of Photography where she also served as a Teaching Assistant for several years. In 2014 she moved back to Greece where she devoted most of her work covering the refugee crisis as it developed on the island of Lesvos. She currently works in Tokyo.

Margarita is mostly attracted to street photography and the elements that evoke emotions and surprise in our everyday life. Furthermore she is passionate about documenting current events that she feels very strongly about, highlighting their social impact. Her work has been displayed in exhibitions in New York, Boston, San Diego, The Museum of the City of New York, the Brooklyn Historical Society and most recently in Budapest, Athens, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, London and lately in Tokyo. Selected images are part of the permanent collections of the Museum of the City of New York and the Brooklyn Historical Society.

She has been published by the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post and her work is also featured in numerous photography publications by teNeues, Prestel and Hoxton Mini Press. She is the winner of the Pollux Award (2016) , the Julia Margaret Cameron Award (2018 and 2020) , finalist at the Miami Street Photography Festival (2018 and 2020), was nominated for the 2019 Prix Pictet Hope Award. In 2021, she won a Gold Medal at the Budapest International Foto Awards, and a Silver Medal at the Prix de la Photographie Paris. Finally, in 2023 Margarita was nominated for the prestigious Leica Oscar Barnack Award.

Margarita teaches numerous workshops around the world during which she mainly focuses on street photography. She enjoys sharing her passion for photography with like minded people and discovering cultures and places through her lens.

Her website : http://www.margaritamavromichalis.com/