Nicholas Samartis

Nicholas Samartis (born June 14, 1965) is a photographer and director best known for his fashion and celebrity portraits in the pages of Vogue.

Life and career
Samartis was born in Athens, Greece, although he spent his early years in Sydney, Australia. He currently spends his time between Los Angeles, New York, Athens, and Sydney. After studying at Sydney College of the Arts, Samartis moved to Paris, where he began his career in photography at Pin Up Studios assisting Oliviero Toscani, among others. Upon return to Sydney, Nicholas began a five-year tenure shooting fashion editorial and covers for Australian Vogue as well as all the major advertising campaigns there. During his 10 year tenure at American Vogue, Samartis photographed some of the world's biggest stars, including Anne Hathaway, Keira Knightley, Amy Adams, Katie Holmes, Gerard Butler, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Kate Bosworth, Hugh Jackman, Ashley Judd, Ashton Kutcher, January Jones, as well as supermodels of the day, including Giselle, Doutzen Kroes, Karolina Kurkova, Raquel Zimmermann, Shalom Harlow, Naomi Campbell, Milla Jovovich, Gemma Ward and Lauren Hutton, artists including Jeff Koons, musicians including Gwen Stefani, Franz Ferdinand, Ben Harper, Joss Stone, and Deborah Harry from Blondie. For Warner Music, Samartis has photographed Tom Petty, Prince, Billy Joel and James Taylor. And in the U.S. has undertaken campaigns and work alongside designers including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen for The Row, Alexander Wang, BCBG Max Azria, Saddlelites Jeans as well as campaigns for Nordstrom and Bloomingdales.

In New York City in 2006 at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, Samartis was lauded as a fashion icon at a reception hosted by the Australian Consul-General, Ken Allen and Anthony Pratt, Chairman of Pratt Industries—celebrating his achievements among international luminaries of the fashion and magazine worlds including representatives from Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg, Ralph Lauren and Conde Nast's Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ.

Nicholas has also directed film, most notably a commercial for Christian Dior. He now divides his time shooting both photographs and digital video in the new medium 'fashion films'.

In 2012, he was featured in the Australian edition of Masters of Photography. American Vogue's photo director Ivan Shaw says, "Nicholas Samartis' work fits seamlessly in the tradition of the great celebrity and fashion photographers. His pictures uphold the traditions of the classical portrait while at the same time express a modernity that makes them truly of the moment." Samartis' archives and catalogue are represented by Getty Images worldwide.