Hélène Hadjiyianni

"Kobe used to say, 'Fall in love with the process and not just the results.'" Hélène Hadjiyianni is reflecting on the time she spent documenting the basketball player Kobe Bryant on commission for a sports brand. It was by chance that Hélène specialised in sports photography but working with athletes like Bryant has taught her about her own craft.

"I find athletes incredibly inspiring in the way they approach their practice and their mindset, and I think it also shaped something in me," she says. Hélène appreciates the process of image-making, driven by care and curiosity about whatever she is photographing.

On nights out with friends to clubs, Hélène would be constantly taking pictures. At one, she was stopped by the manager and told she needed permission. "So, can I take pictures?" she asked. He laughed and said yes, as long as she shared the images.

Before long, Hélène started photographing and was regularly covering events at the music club. A creative agency who held a party at the venue liked what they saw and invited her to join and capture some of their projects. Her first job was as a backstage photographer on a campaign for Nike. Within a year, she was commissioned by the brand to follow the lives and training of Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.

Since then, Hélène has continued working with various sports brands, covering both international tournaments in central Paris and grassroots football in the suburbs. "I remember the richness and the energy of the Parisian youth," she says. "It nourished me because I was documenting not just physical movement but the movement of emotions too."

In 2023, Hélène returned to filmmaking to shoot ANAÏS, a documentary about Anaïs Quemener, a care worker and marathon runner who came back from a breast cancer diagnosis aged 24 to become a national champion. The film garnered critical acclaim with wins and nominations for Best Documentary at a string of international festivals.

Beyond their performance, it's the discipline and dedication that athletes exhibit for something they care deeply about that inspires Hélène. "I wanted to share her story with as many people as possible because I felt it carried so much hope, and said something fundamental about life, resilience, commitment and passion."

You didn't set out to photograph sports, but it's become your specialism. How would you describe your particular approach to sports photography?

"I'm not sure I want to define my style through one specific visual aesthetic or feel limited by one way of making an image. Maybe it's because I'm still exploring or because I don't have enough distance from it. But I do feel that there is something maybe organic and poetic in the way I see people, or the world, and I definitely feel there is something cinematic in my photography. For me, photography has always been connected to the idea of memory. A photograph freezes something that was alive for a fraction of a second, and that image exists long after the moment has disappeared."


Was there a moment when you felt you'd found your path as a photographer?

"I'm not sure there was a precise moment. When I was studying cinema, I wanted my master’s thesis to be about the poetics of the body. But when I sat down to write, I felt like I didn't know what I was trying to say. Photography became a way to explore those questions. I started photographing bodies, movement, faces – trying to grasp the invisible things the body carries: strength, fragility, intimacy, resistance, joy, doubt, love, connection. I was interested in trying to capture something that is alive, and yet impossible to hold onto. I never found a formula. It's more of a question I want to keep asking: what is the formula on this one? Maybe staying curious and continuing to explore this question is a way of stepping onto a path as a photographer."


You're a fan of macro. How does that perspective serve your image-making?

"Perhaps there is nostalgia for my childhood microscope in my love for the Canon RF 100mm F2.8L MACRO IS USM. Following my documentary with Anaïs, I shot some stills with her using this lens. I wanted to show her skin, her scars, her body in close-up. I did microscope-scale frames of her body that I put in parallel to shots of nature on Réunion Island – volcanic lava, leaves and other natural elements. I've always loved going deeper into materials and macro is amazing for that. It's a very specific kind of photography that helps me portray scale, and that's something I love doing, aesthetically and photographically."


What piece of Canon kit can you not live without, and why?

"The Canon EOS R5 is so intuitive and has given me more freedom when I'm photographing movement, or working in environments where I have very little time to react. The silent shutter is extremely useful in some situations, but it's also made me realise that you sometimes lose something in the relationship with the person you're photographing when you don't have that sound, so I've learned when to use it to best effect. If I can have the EOS R5 and a Canon RF 35mm F1.4L VCM lens, I am happy. With that setup, you can go almost anywhere."


What else could we discover in your kitbag that helps you elevate your work?

"A photograph of my big brother on the beach as a child, taken by my parents. I go back to it to keep my sense of direction and remember where that curiosity started. Headphones, because music is often where inspiration comes from before starting a project; I love everything from classical to metal. I also have a little kaleidoscope that I sometimes put in front of my lens to explore shapes, fragmentation and different ways of framing. Sometimes I'll also have small mirrors, in different sizes, that I use to play with perspective."

"For a long time, I thought I had to clearly define myself as a filmmaker, as a photographer or as an actress (which is something else I do). With time, I've realised that these different parts of me and my practice actually speak to each other: what I learn through acting informs the way I photograph people; cinema influences the way I think about an image; and photography has taught me to slow down and to observe. I've also learned not to be too attached to a particular timeline – I think careers can develop in unexpected ways and, sometimes, something that feels like a detour is actually preparing you for what comes next."

Website: hlenie.com

Instagram: @hlenie