HRH Prince Nikolaos has always been mesmerized by big, open spaces filled with natural light. The way the light shifts from moment to moment, altering the beauty of the terrain in the process, is a never-ending inspiration. His desire to capture these perfect plays between the light and its surroundings is what has fueled his passion for photography.

Greece is Prince Nikolaos' other muse. The breathtaking views he has captured of his homeland are his love letters to the country that has always been in his heart and thoughts, even before he moved to Athens in 2013. His images purposefully show a different aspect from the blue and white Cycladic themes most people associate with the land. His are authentic depictions of lesser known locations, off-the-beaten-path, that only locals are usually privy to glimpsing.

He says that Greece's constantly shifting light is unique throughout all seasons, filled with movement and color -- even on an overcast day, there is light hidden behind the clouds just waiting to shine through. Desiring to reproduce exactly what he sees in any given moment, Prince Nikolaos never enhances the canvas of nature which he captures in his photographs -- leaving that up to the nature's discretion and his deft use of his camera's aperture and speed.

Prince Nikolaos credits his introduction to the world of photography to his uncle, King Juan Carlos of Spain, an avid recreational photographer who fueled the teenage prince's interest one year during summer holiday. Soon, Prince Nikolaos had amassed a collection of lenses and photographic accessories and was photographing friends and family; until a fateful rainstorm while on a canoe in Bangkok destroyed his equipment. He spent the following 15 years borrowing other peoples’ cameras until his wife, Tatiana, re-introduced him to his passion by gifting him a camera of his own. Today, his camera is his constant companion -- whether he's taking a sunrise hike up Mt. Parnitha, or during his down time from volunteer missions with Axion Hellas -- and in these moments he loses himself behind his camera's lens.

Along with traditional methods, Prince Nikolaos also prints his photos on aluminum as well as on thin, white marble slabs. The marble printing is particularly poignant because in these, Prince Nikolaos is printing images he has captured of the Greek landscape directly on a piece of the land itself -- its marble. These one-of-a-kind pieces of art are more than mere photographs: they are tangible depictions of moments in time. This is what makes Prince Nikolaos' marble pieces so impactful. Because time, just as a ray of light, may be fleeting, but its memory is always present when captured through the photographer's lens.

“A photographer’s means and medium is light; without light there is no photograph… I think that light is a very spiritual and divine thing.” - HRH Prince Nikolaos