Meletzẽs

Spyros Meletzēs (January 20, 1906 to November 14, 2003) was a Greek photographer, born in the village of Saint Theodore in Imvros. He was the eldest son (of six siblings) of Menelaos and Kalliopē Giannakēs. He attended the "Boarding" and his family intended him to be a priest. The death of his father in 1919, when Meletzēs was 13 year old, forced him to breadwinner. In 1923, at age 17 (Treaty of Lausanne - the concession of Imbros to the Turks) he moved to Alexandroupolis, where he worked at a draper shop and later at the photographic studio of Alexandros Panagiōtou, who was a relative of Meletzēs. A landmark in his photographic career was his photograph of the boats on the beach of Alexandroupolis for which he won the first prize in the exhibition of Thessalonikē in 1924. In 1927 he moved to Athens. He studied photography with George Bouka - photographer of the royal family. In 1937 he photographed the Greek countryside in Epirus. During the Resistance in 1940 he follows and takes pictures of the rebels in Peloponnese and Eurytania. Meletzēs is considered the photographer of Greek Resistance. After the World War II he continues to take photographs of archaeological sites and museums and in the 1950s a lot of politicians and perosnalities of art. In 1953 his work presented and took honours in Rochester, Birmingham, and Buenos Aires. In 1955 he signs a contract with the Greek government and takes photographs of public works in Hevros. In 1957 he works as a photographer for the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and tours taking photographs throughout Greece (from Peloponnesus, Rumelē to Thrace) [http://el.wikipedia.org].