Bradford Trip 26-27.05.2009

Unforgettable time! Two days full of emotion, beautifull landscapes, places and full of thinking, fun and relaxation . Most fascinating was National Media Museum in Bradford - especially Kodak Gallery in LG floor full of old cameras, negatives, cyanotypes, tintypes, 3D projectors etc. Amazing!! I run from one side to other like a small excited girl and I spend most of my time there!!! Another important and very exciting part of Museum was Don McCullin exhibition - In England - really enjoyed watching it!! Another interesing point of trip was short stop in small city called Hebden Bridge. Beauty spot, small old town in north of england. I love places like this. Small community, all people know each other - it's nice! We spend night in small YHA hostel in Haworth - friendly place, good standart and situated in wonderfull area. I've planned another stay there in the end of summer. Will be nice to go there one more time. It's funny , but I would like to have all this places, all landscapes just for me, don't share it with other poeple, stay there longer, think about what I see, unhurriedly. Delight landscapes, sights, fresh air... all of this just for me... It's just big shame, that something wrong happened to my camera, as all beautifull images which I've taken are not really good, I have to check it and fix it. But what is it? It's sad as I don't have many images from this trip... I have to go there again!!!

'Photography for me is not lookin- it's feeling. If you can't feel what are you looking at, then you are never going to get others to feel anything when they loook at your pictures.' Don McCullin.

Pembroke, Newgale and St Davids - 24.05.2009

Another fascinating trip - this time other part of Wales - Pembrokeshire. Beautiful coastline of Newgale, amazing turquoise water, blue sky, sunny weather.

St David's - another stunning part of history - small town with old cathedral and bishop palace. Full of tourists, old pubs, shops, houses. Few hours is definately too short time to explore this place. I didn't know what to do, which places I should 'catch', which elements, and how. It's sad that I can't stop, think and then photographing. Time is cruel! I want to catch all single part of each building. I can't concentrate just on one thing. I want to catch every single stone, every brick, flower... everything around me is so beautiful! So many ideas! It's just crazy!??

What should I do? It's just stupid to photographing 'everything' I should concentrate, think about most important subjects, ideas, systematize all. But how?






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Warsaw - July 2008

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Memories from Warsaw/Warszawa. Two days is to short to explore this beautifull city. I want to move there some day for month or two to visit all interesting places there. I don't like big busy cities like Warsaw, but I am from Poland and it's shame that I don't know my Capitol City. I know Cardiff - Capitol of Wales better than Warsaw.
This year I am planing to vistit Wroclaw and Lubiaz (Sl0t Art Festival).

Memories from last holidays (Poland 2008 - Kolobrzeg City).

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Polish photographers in Wales

I've meet large amount of Polish photographers in Cardiff. I will indtroduce three of them (favourite ones) shortly to show how different views and how different interest we have:

Bartek Nowicki studying BA Documentary Photography in University of Wales, Newport. He documented Polish Labour in UK, photographing life in Poland also made lot of portraits in different countries. My favourite series from his portfolio is Set called Polish Labour - clever layout of 5 images constructed together to show two side of life - work and home/familly.

Michal Iwanowski - finished MA in Documentary Photography at University of Wales, Newport, specializing in portraits and painting with light, he recieved The Project Assistance Award (British Journal of Photography in association with Nikon). Really great collection of portraits of his friends and other people (volounteers). Interesting point of view and amazing effect of painting with light - it's incredible he just used basic torch, which he bought for 50p in tesco - but what a beautifull result!

Maciej Dakowicz - MA in Documentary Photography at University of Wales, Newport, documentary photographer. His set of images, which he made during last 4 years in Cardiff are really amazing and good known - his photos were published in The Sun, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Fakt, Der Spiegel, NEED magazine, BBC, YAHOO, Serendib Sri Lankan Airlines magazine, Etihad Airlines magazine, The Independent on Sunday, Vacature, New Welsh Review, Kruger, Get Lost!, Digital Camera, FOTO Magazyn, Amateur Photographer, Photography Monthly, DC Photo, Outdoor Photographer, Himal Southasian, World Pulse Magazine, HK Magazine, Star Tribune, Wales on Sunday, Click, Globtroter, Out Traveler, Adbusters. He is really huge!!! Just look at his work and you will understand WHY? !!!

It's time for me to think about the future. It will be long way...

Another amazing trip - Big Pit

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Another amazing and really exciting trip with 'Uni team'. This time almost all people from my group (BA Photography 2nd year - 2007/2010) - Rita and Manuel (Rita's boyfriend) , Malcolme, Anna, and tutors Tim, Steve and Andy. I've never seen so beautiful lanscapes here in Wales before - hills full of sheeps, rocks, green grass, trees small lakes. Weather was really nice for first 20 minutes but rest of time raining - what a pity!!! I've made few good photographs there but I have to visit this place again this summer I have so many ideas to use there!!!

What a shame that I don't have car - I can travel to places which are served by trains or buses olny - I would like to travell to other unexplored places with possibility to stop on my way and take photographs everywhere not just where National Express or Railway have their stops. Wales is so beautiful, so green - hills, coast, waterfalls, national parks, lakes, mountains - I can't get to most of this places just because I don't have a car. It's sad.

Another places we visited today was Butetown, Blaenavon Ironworks and Big Pit. Another bit of history of this amazing country. And I want to know more and more and I began to be fascinated of it. I live here 4 years and every year visiting the same places - Barry Island, Swansea, Llantwit Major, St Fagans, Cosmestone Lakes, Cardiff Bay - what about other places around Cardiff - Castell Coch, Caerphilly Castle, Caerphilly Mountain, Taff Trail, National Parks, waterfalls? I want to explore all of it and more!

Three other trips to go - unfortunately I will miss one on thursday 21st May (work) - anyway I will go to two other Bradford and Hereford. I can't wait!

It was another day full of emotions, relax and fun.

Thanks for that, guys!

HDR - magic, abstract, imagination, inspiration

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HDR is a strange and really powerfull technique. I've never tried it before, so presented images are not excellent examples, anyway I really enjoyed creating hdr photographs. HDR is full of mysteries and magic. Realistic hdr for me are not really impressive I prefer unrealistic look, strange abstract colours and magic shape of clouds. It is really enjoyable! Some of them looks a like paintings, other one like cartoons or computer graphic. And it is for me HDR - imagination, bit of magic and elements of abstract.

Here you can find my book/guide about St John's Church in Cardiff and Llandaff Cathedral - for which I used HDR.

Lacock Abbey - amazing trip

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Todays trip was really exciting and amazing for me and it will stay long time in my memory.

The village is really amazing, atmosphere of it remind me 'Bleak House' 2005 (BBC) which is a fifteen-part drama serial adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel 'Bleak House' (published 1852-53). I finished watching this serial few days ago, and I am still impressed by it, especially now after trip to Lacock Abbey. The village and buildings are almost the same like in film!!! It is really amazing feeling to be there!!! Like moving back in time... I love places like St Fagans in Cardiff, Lacock Abbey, Cosmeston Lake near Cardiff - I can feel atmosphere of past there - its magic!!!

Another important point of trip was museum - full of old images, old notes and old cameras - my favourite one which especially paid my attention was Coronet Midget (1935) which is smaller than box of matches!!! It is amazing!!! Film for this camera is smaller than half of pen's cap!!! It's very impressive! I can't belive that it's worked in the past and people used them! It's almost impossible!?

Most important and most exciting was visit in William Fox Talbot house... it's strange feeling to be there and take picture of the same window, which he take long long time ago (1835?)... first negative ever... it's a big shame that I had with me just digital camera!! I will definatelly go there once again this summer!!! This time I will use film camera!

Thanks for my tutors - they opened new doors in my life - once again!

My first exhibition!!!

Here you go! My first exhibition!!! Nothing big - just two images - but I am really proud and really happy! It's first exhibition in my life but I think not the last one, I will try to arrange other exhibitions during this summer, so finger crossed!

All informations about The Big Event 2009 are on poster on the left side of page or here.

You can also find few of my photos on The Big Fuss website - click here. Just three of them, but I am really happy that The Big Fuss help me believe, and give me chance to show my work to others.

My name is also included in A-Z Artist Directory - click here.

Many thanks to David Lee and Zaeger Jones from The Big Fuss!!! Thank You guys!!!

Can't wait to see my work exhibited! :)

Magic Chalice

Painting with light - magic chalice.

The pictures of the „magic chalice” I took at home, on the table. I used a black cloth as a background, together with a black shirt. The shirt was used to create an effect of a folded surface on which the chalice stands. As a source of light I used a glow stick (colourful tubes with a shiny fluid inside, used as bracelets during parties). The pictures were taken with a Pentax K100D Super camera with a function „bulb exposure” on, which gave me control over how long I can move the tubes. I chose many colours of sticks. The effect I got by moving the tubes around the chalice is a colourful mist, the tubes inside the chalice created a beam of light reaching out of it and the tubes that were moved around the folded shirt gave an effect of roughness of the surface and mist surrounding the chalice. I did not edit the photos in Photoshop because I thought it to be needless.

Walking trough Canton

Walk trough the Canton.

All portraits made during my walk trough Canton area of Cardiff. I used Pentax K1000 35mm film camera and B&W Ilford Delta 400 film; then scanned film using Nikon Scan software. All images are manipulated in Photoshop (using 'posterize edges' filter and colour balance). I cropped people's faces and photographed just half of it. I've made 20 photographs - people of different age, sex, from different countries and cultures. I've choose just 18 pictures to final collage prints.

The project which I have done, seemed to be easy. I was to approach 20 people on the street and take their photos, of course with their consent. The pictures were basically to present the face. I’ve decided to frame them　in a slightly different way so that the series was original and different that the others. Therefore I’ve taken the picture of only a part of the face i.e. one eye and nose.

Everyone hides something, has some secrets and can’t be seen through completely. Face and eyes can tell us a lot but they cannot become the only thing by which people are being judged. That was basically the essence of my project. The worst part of the whole enterprise was obviously approaching people on the streets. Fortunately, everyone was nice and I managed to do my project smoothly. Never before have I met those people. I walk the route from my home towards Cowbridge Road East several times a day and despite that I have never paid attention to people. Having done my project, I perceive world a bit differently. Now I meet the people whose photos I’ve taken very often. They remember that I have taken their photos and we are no longer passing ourselves indifferently. Now I pay definitely more attention to people. I observe passers-by and think whether it would be possible to get to know them all…

You can find book with all my photos from this serie here: on my blurb account.

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