The Zangkakis brothers from the island of Melos began their careers as photographers in Egypt. They specialised in taking pictures of monuments in Port Said, where they lived in 1865. They used the albumen printing process to produce a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. Their business thrived in the 1870s and 1880s when they travelled across the eastern Mediterranean to take photographs with a distinct artistic flair. They returned to Greece in 1888 and published a photo album with pictures from Athens and Piraeus. Despite their popularity abroad, they remained relatively unknown in Greece because they did not participate in local exhibitions. Their work mainly attracted the attention of Greeks in Egypt, with whom they maintained extensive business connections throughout their lives.