Marek’s passion for photography grew independently as he explored new places and cultures, eventually leading him to perfect his technique and create his own Instagram account. Marek believes in the importance of living in the present moment, surrounding oneself with the right people, being patient, and believing in the power of hard work to help create one’s own luck.
I guess I’ve to thank my dad for having found my calling from a young age. He instilled in me a passion for travel and cinema.
I’m from Poland and pretty much the whole southern border of Poland is mountains. I am glad I could visit many places in this part of the country. There are three in particular that are my favorite: Karkonosze mountains, relatively close to my home, looking best in the winter season; Tatra mountains, with the most spectacular alpine landscapes, but also the biggest crowds; and Bieszczady mountains, the least visited of the three and the wildest, but also the most difficult and time-consuming to get to. My love for travel and nature started in my home country.
Cinema helped me with shaping a particular sensitivity for images, which then evolved into my passion for photography. Both passions grew quite independently and for a very long time, I was more focused on discovering places and cultures, having my camera just for capturing these moments for myself and maybe my family. At some point, nature, and mountains in particular, became the main subject of my voyages. The beautiful places I saw created a greater need for showing not just a place but also its atmosphere, so I started perfecting my technique.
It was a long process from simple snapshots to conscious photography. As my trips increased, I also took a lot more photos. Not just hundreds but tens of thousands. With the first compact camera, I shot over 100k photos. Then, with my first DSLR, I made big progress in the quality of my photos. At that time I didn’t even have a smartphone so my camera was the only way I could take shots. The need to improve my photos became stronger with every shot, and this eventually also led me to create my Instagram account. This allowed me to see some amazing work of photographers from all over the world. I quickly realized it’s not only what I see that’s interesting, but also how I see it. I started spending more time on editing, I tried different software which helped me make big progress.
Still, it’s being on the spot, not postproduction, that gives me almost all the satisfaction. Mainly because it is the adventure itself that impacts me most. I could name so many remarkable experiences from my trips, either close to home or far away, like driving through Monument Valley in the US; a spectacular sunset at the shores of the Dead Sea; waking up hearing birds and gibbons from a canopy level of a Lao rain forest; or hiking up a steep trail of Lone Cone mountain near Tofino, Vancouver Island. I recall one moment in particular, which occurred during my 3-month trip around China back in 2013 that has had a long-lasting impact on me. I was spending a night in a yurt at a small family farm, somewhere in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. I was sitting outside, and I couldn’t have embraced the number of stars in the sky. Someone turned on the light in the yurt and it lit up among the darkness, with a spectacular sky above. I instantly imagined the photo I would like to have from this moment. I tried quite hard to get that image and overcome the limitations of my simple camera. I don’t recall an earlier moment when I had such a clear vision of the photo and spent so much energy to make this image happen.
At the same time, and what makes it more memorable to me, this moment was part of the most important project I’ve ever done for myself (the China trip). Probably not the most impactful in terms of my photography as I don’t have too many decent shots from there to share, but it opened me up as a traveler. This was a budget trip, and I had to combine it with daily work at my previous job. I only planned the initial four days, the rest was planned on the go. It helped me realize that no matter how far away you are, and how different a culture may be, there are some universal ways of communicating with people. Also, generally, people are kind and will try to help you if they see you’re in trouble. As I visited some less popular places, I was frequently told I was the first Westerner someone had a chance to see in person. I often felt like a celebrity, being approached by random people on the street, being asked to take pictures of/with me, and attracting a lot of attention. In the beginning, it was nice, but after a few weeks it was a bit overwhelming (so I know I would never like to be a celebrity!)
As a result of these travels and my pursuit of capturing the essence of the landscapes, I’ve had many insights that helped me to be better every day, as a human being and a creator.
First and foremost, Time is Now. Don’t postpone your dreams and ambitions for a better future. If the future favors you then there are always many other goals and projects you can jump on, but if you have a chance to do something you’ve dreamed of, do it now.
I think it is essential to have a group of people you can trust, learn from, exchange ideas with, and be there for each other, so all of you can grow.
It happened so many times that I lost hope for any improvement in weather conditions and left the spot, only to witness amazing sunset colors, for example, a little later, from a place I could not take any decent shots anymore.
I’m a very rational person who believes more in coincidences and probability theory rather than in fate. If you believe you don’t have luck when trying to achieve something, just try again, and again, and again.
In a landscape photograph, I mainly look for the atmosphere. This also often comes down to luck. I can plan, but you still never know if everything together will give you that mood you envisioned. It happens often when I visit a nice place but I don’t take a single shot as “I don’t feel it”.
I like scouting new places, looking at the map, checking sections with possible views, and then visiting them to verify their potential. I prefer to walk unknown paths rather than check the terrain’s topography on Google. When I see a place with some potential for interesting photos, I check some mobile apps to see how this place is lit throughout the day, with a major focus on blue and golden hours, and consider how the place would look in the mist. Then I wait for the right weather forecast or just go and hope that something interesting will happen.
I recall one sunrise in the Karkonosze mountains, 2h drive from my home in Wrocław. The weather app showed good chances for the conditions I hoped for and in the place, I wanted to photograph in these particular conditions. I spontaneously took my backpack, jumped on a train (I don’t have a car), and hiked up the mountain in heavy rain for 3h hours with a stomach ache that caught me just before I had hit the trail. Then I slept on the floor of a mountain hut, left it at night to be at my spot an hour before sunrise… and the sunrise was worth the whole effort. Planning and luck coincided at the right moment after all!
Of course, there is much more to a photograph than planning and luck. The light, the tones, the location, and the story are the four ingredients needed to generate a powerful image, in my opinion. Light is king in landscape photography and can transform the most trivial and average object into a piece of art. The tones are the second ingredient, next to the light, that creates the atmosphere of a photograph. They give substance to the scene and tell the story of an image: keep the same light but change the tones and you will switch from a happy to a depressing mood or the opposite.
The tones can also help in making your personal style pop. The location has been the beginning of my photography journey. I started as a traveler, willing to see new places, be amazed by the beauty of nature, and discover things not many people were privileged to see before. This need still exists in me and I believe it’s a distinguishing factor. Finally, the background of the picture. The story behind it – is not so easy to convey through a photo but so important for its value and impact. It motivates me to do more, gives me satisfaction, and reminds me of a lesson learned.
When it comes to editing the photos I took, I can’t tell if I have a very defined style. I often hear my photos are quite dark, mood-wise, but I wouldn’t say it myself. I do like naturalism with a dash of a dreamy atmosphere, which doesn’t mean I apply this rule to every photo. What inspires my editing is the original condition I witnessed or the feeling I had deep inside me when experiencing the moment. I probably sometimes go too far, but generally speaking, I don’t like when an image looks fake or the colors go completely unnatural. I usually try to keep viewers’ attention with the light, not the colors, I actually quite often desaturate my photos, especially when I want to achieve a more dramatic, moody effect. Let me show two examples of a before/after so you can see the diversity of my work. I’m sure this will develop over time and I do not want to limit myself in any way.
In the future, I would like to see myself in a similar place where I see myself now, meaning that when I look back, I have a feeling of accomplishing some interesting projects; not regretting time spent on things that turned out irrelevant to my profession or personal growth; being proud of progresses I made over the previous years and having challenging and ambitious plans in the years to come. I see this happening by taking care of my physical and mental well-being, maintaining meaningful relationships, and yeah… the financial status is not something to be forgotten, though, in the end, it’s not really about the money but what we do with it and how we prioritize things in our lives. I believe I have figured it out the right way now and I hope this will stay this way in the future. I would definitely love to grow as a photographer so I’ll keep trying new projects, challenge myself and not be afraid of failing at trying new things.
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