I DIDN’T KNEW

Dimitris and I have known each other for several years, but it took me long enough to learn that he is one of the best luthiers in Greece. He is a low-key person and exudes a calm and kindness. Similarly, his guitars exude finesse and solidity. They are truly works of art and understanding the love Dimitris puts into their construction helps you appreciate the effort and talent behind each one.

Hear here.

BACKGROUND

Dimitris grew up in a family of woodworkers spending most of his childhood inside workshops. Later, he found his way to Greece's greatest luthier Pavlos Gypas' workshop where he was his apprentice and later co-worker for several years. The second person who acted as a teacher and mentor, up to this day, is master luthier Dominique Field. Both experts in building traditional classical guitars helped him shape his style in that very same direction. Since 2010 Dimitris keeps his own workshop in Athens Greece and his guitars can be found in guitar salons all over the world.

THE SESSION

We decided that we had to do the shoot in Dimitris' studio, because we didn't want to move the guitars and I definitely wanted him to help me with the handling and positioning of the guitars for each shot. I'm notorious for being clumsy, so there was no way I could handle pieces of art like these. Actually, I think I didn’t even touch the guitars throughout the whole session.

The photo shoot lasted several hours and was a very creative, albeit tedious, process. He explained to me countless little details related to their construction (such as the fact that on average it takes 3 months to complete each guitar) and the result came out more than excellent. Of course, with such masterpieces, it couldn't be otherwise.

EDITING

On the editing part, it took me many, many hours on various small details, such as blackening the background, "tying" different lighting in some difficult shots, precisely matching each pose and more. The most time-consuming part, however, involved erasing small grains of dust that were not easily visible in the dark workshop with the naked eye. That's where I needed frequency separation technique and a lot of work with my Wacom pen and tablet.

The challenge always lies in how complex the subject is, and these are extremely difficult cases. The patterns of each guitar's wood and the awesome detail add extra degrees of difficulty.

The poses, of course, were all Dimitri’s requirements, but we also got some more unorthodox ones at my suggestion. The final result is completely satisfying and you can see some of the images here.

More information: https://www.dimitrispiperidis.com