Yannis Kolesidis
Yannis Kolesidis is a Greek photojournalist based in Athens. He worked for Reuters from 2004 to 2013. Currently, he is working for the Athens Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) and the European Pressphoto Agency (EPA). His photographs have been published in international newspapers and magazines such as New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Time, Stern, Paris Match etc. His work has won a number of awards, most notably the second prize in the World Press Photo 2009 competition, in the “People in the News” category.
Kolesidis began collaborating with Reuters in 2004, covering major national and regional events until 2013. His bylines have reached readers of the New York Times, the Guardian, Time, Stern and Paris Match, as well as the Greek press. Today, he works with AMNA and EPA, continuing a rigorous schedule across assignments that range from politics and protest to human interest and environmental stories.
His awards track a consistent standard. Alongside World Press Photo 2009, he earned first place in Pictures of the Year International, General News, in 2012, and third place in Natural Disaster in 2014 for an Athens flood rescue photograph. Additional honours include Canon Editor’s Choice Overall Winner and AMAN Best Photo in 2017, plus early recognition at POYi and the FUJI Film Euro competition Press Awards. These distinctions reflect both speed and sensitivity under pressure, coupled with the patience to build trust with subjects and deliver narratives that hold public attention.
Beyond daily news, Kolesidis develops sustained documentary work. In 2008 he travelled on assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières in Niger, Zambia and India, producing a body of reportage that informed audiences about frontline medical and humanitarian realities. In 2009 he presented a major solo exhibition in Athens, consolidating his early period of international recognition and laying foundations for later long form projects.
Since 2019 he has helped shape Greece’s photojournalism ecosystem as co founder and organising committee member of Athens Photo World, supporting public engagement with visual journalism. In 2022 he launched The Islanders, an ongoing multimedia documentary examining winter life on small, hard to reach Greek islands through photographs, video, time lapses and recorded testimonies. The project reveals communities after the tourists depart, focusing on resilience, isolation and the rhythms of seasonal economies. It extends his commitment to observing ordinary lives with patience and clarity while adapting narrative form across media.
Began his professional career at the Greek photojournalism agency Icon Press, where he worked until 1997. That year, he joined the photography department of the newspaper Ethnos, covering national and international news, including the 1999 war in Yugoslavia. From 2004 to 2013, he worked for Reuters, documenting major events such as the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the 2008 riots after the murder of a 15-year-old teenager, and the financial crisis following Greece’s entry into the IMF. Between 2005 and 2009, he was also a permanent member of the photography team of KAPPA magazine of Kathimerini. In 2009, he presented his work in a large solo exhibition at Technopolis, Athens. Since 2014, he has worked for AMNA and EPA, covering the banking collapse, the referendum, and the migration crisis. In 2019, he co-founded Athens Photo World, and in 2022, he created the multimedia platform “The Islanders” with iMEd’s support.