He studied photography in the Athens School of Arts and Technology and received his BA (Honours) from Middlesex University.

In 1987 he started a working relation as a contractor for Reuters and in late 1988 he was offered a staff job with the agency based in Athens.

He also covered the Israeli–Palestinian conflict for many years, earthquakes in Kashmir, Turkey, Greece and Iran and major news events around the world.

He took part in group and solo exhibitions in Athens, Thessaloniki, London, Edinburgh, New York, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Portugal, France and Dubai.

In 2000, Behrakis survived an ambush in Sierra Leone where the American reporter Kurt Schork and Spanish cameraman Miguel Gil Moreno de Mora of Associated Press Television were killed.