Tony Pierrakos

Little did I know at the time, as a child running around the laneways and streets of Brunswick and Carlton that some 30 years later I would be walking the same lanes and streets, this time with camera at hand. I can’t recall why I asked my parents for a camera for my 12th birthday, but that’s when it began, first I thought photography was family pictures, then by the age of 16 I wanted to take sports images and photojournalism. By the time I accepted a position to study at RMIT the thought of making a living from photography was far from my mind, photography had become an art, to be view by your peers and general public in galleries. The years after graduating from RMIT in 1996 were filled with European and South American travel along with commercial photographic assisting, which I did not have a passion for. Through luck or fate I ended up opening a stall in 2001 at the Queen Victoria Market. So intone photography was created, keep it simple, create my own photographic artworks of my favourite subject matter which was Melbourne urban landscapes.

The last twenty years have been a great journey, a lot has been learnt, experienced and thankfully achieved. The opening of my string bean container (intone photography urban) has the potential for me to showcase a new and exciting range of works and ideas. I have learnt many things about trying to make a living as an artist, my most important rule was to always interact with the client, to better understand what they want and to help them understand what could be better. Another rule is to not rest on your laurels, many failures have come from doing this, develop ideas, push the boundaries, source your products and protect what you have built, I know far too well that what I have been able to achieve is far too rare unfortunately, so I don’t take it for granted.

I look forward to collaborating and exhibiting along side my fellow Greek – Australian artists, learning and sharing the processes we take creating our art pieces and gaining inspiration at the same time.

This pandemic has been a trying experience for most of us, if not all. Its been a bit of a reset button for myself, my reaction was to purchase a brand new lens and head to the streets and document the lockdowns, I loved the experience and produced some work that I was very proud of, much of which I shared on my social media instagram page @intonephoto which was well received, on the flip side my work also showed a lot of sadness in the imagery, mask wearing kids, shop closures along with bare streets.

Thank you for taking the time to read my artist bio.
Tony Pierrakos

• Bachelor of Arts in Illustrative Photography RMIT
• (2001 – Present) Business owner intone photography Queen Victoria Market 
• 2013-2014 Antipodean Palette Exhibitions
• 1997 Centre of Contemporary Photography Agfa Summer Salon
• 1995 RMIT Graduate Exhibition
• 1991-1992 Brighton Bay Graduate exhibition