Zangaki

The Zangaki brother’s history is shrouded in a mystery almost as enigmatic as the Sphinx they so loved to photograph. If you enter the term: "Langaki photographer" into Google, you get almost as many results as you would for the term: Zangaki. This is because the Z written in the plates of the Zangaki brother’s vintage photographs has often been mistaken for an L. Even vintage photography specialist Bernard Shapero has a made this mistake, listing two vintage photographs, on the same web page, under the two variations of the name.

Their first names also cause problems. They are believed to be G and C Zangaki. Vintage postcards published in the early twentieth century exist signed: C Zangaki and he is thought to be Constantine Zangaki. His brother was probably George. Search for Zangaki in Wikipedia and you discover it is currently asking for the contribution of an article on an, Adelphoi Zangaki, sometimes mentioned in regard to the brothers. However, the Zangakis famously toured in a horse drawn mobile darkroom and one of their wonderful vintage photographs exists of the Sphinx with the wagon parked beside it. Adelphoi Zangaki (Brothers Zangaki) Photography is clearly written on the back.

At some point the Zangakis shared a studio in Port Said with Hippolyte Arnoux. It isn't clear when this was, or whose studio it was but examples of vintage photographs by the Zangakis and Arnoux taken in a studio with the same backdrops and props are common.

To further muddy the waters, according to Dr. Nikos Kokkinos, Wingate Scholar and Research Fellow at the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College, London, – "Some photos of the Suez Canal taken by Arnoux, particularly those depicting locations south of Port-Said, were to be found later with the names of the Zangaki Bros or Peridis & Georgiladakis attached. I imagine that the Greek photographers somehow ‘inherited’ the negatives of Arnoux. Or, possibly, they worked for Arnoux before they started their own businesses (in Port-Said and later Cairo), and that they may even have taken the photographs themselves in the first place on behalf of Arnoux. Unfortunately we do not know much about their relationships or exact dates – but Arnoux must have been the oldest, already working in 1869 in the opening of the Suez Canal. Alternatively, the Greek photographers may have bought the negatives in the open market after the death of Arnoux. This is an area on which I am still gathering information, and bibliography is very thin on the ground." (http://www.vintageragtrader.com, 2010-08-26)