From the mid-1980s until 1992, he was a working photographer based in Athens, Greece; Islamabad, Pakistan; and New Delhi, India. His clients were the weekly news magazines and his work was represented by JB Pictures in New York City. In 1992, he began work on a long term project on the dwindling Greek population of Istanbul, Turkey. The project was published as a book titled The Last Greeks of Istanbul, and was one of the first photobooks to be published in Greece. The Benaki Museum plans to acquire a portfolio of the work for their permanent photography collection. In 1998, Sakellariou and his wife moved to Binghamton, NY. A year later, he began teaching photography at Binghamton University where he continues to teach today.