Day 2 of SnappedAway In-Depth Series with Ziemowit Maj. Today I talk to the photographer about how he got interested in the art of taking pictures, why 35mm is his favourite lens and who are his photography masters.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your photography style to our readers?
I’m originally from Poland, where I have graduated in Fine Arts with a Master Degree back in 2005. For the last 8 years I have been London based, and have been gradually moving towards photography as my main medium of personal work, I have been fully committed to it for about 5 years now.
How did you get interested in photography? And why did you pick photography as a medium and a form of expression. Why is it right for you?
I have been shooting film since mid 90s, but nothing overly serious, it was more a supportive medium for painting and then later performance, installation and video work. It took me many years to fully understand the inherent strength of pure photography. Being a video artist and big cinema lover was a roundabout way to the still image.
How did you learn how to shoot? And what did you find the most helpful source of information along this way (classes, tutorials, reading manuals, having a mentor)?
Initially I have been taught by my father as a teenager (basic exposure etc), then I had film photography classes for 3 years as part of my degree. After several years of not really shooting much, I had to learn afresh, this time with a DSLR. Online video tutorials were a great help technique-wise, but you still have to experiment yourself, and of course shoot a lot, and I mean a lot.
How about your photography style? Can you describe your journey to where you are right now?
I started kind of where I left off, shooting candid black and white high contrast images of daily scenes, urban spaces and candid portraits, with a lot of grain in it. After a while though the whole digital process of adding grain to clean files felt awkward and fake, like it’s somehow just not in the nature of digital. With NIK Software you can get really close to that grainy look, but at some point that was not what I wanted to do anymore, so I abandoned it. I remember it clearly, I said to myself – that’s it, no more black and white.
My colour was really heavy handed at the beginning, I got trapped in post, it was too tempting not to alter the image then, everything was dark and too saturated. Took me a while to get to a point where it was becoming clean, almost straight from the camera, I also simultaneously moved from longer lenses to 50 and then to 35mm and pretty much stayed there, it’s still my default field of interest, I like the feeling of almost touching the subject in space.
I kept on shooting fragments of daily life, busy streets and silent pieces, one critic said I focus on the seams of reality and I kind of like that description. Stylistically the approach was becoming very different, I was rather “realistic” and “transparent”, maybe a bit too naïve as well. Recently I’ve been experimenting with harsh on camera flash and I love the results so far.
Somewhere in between my personal work there were commercial jobs popping up, promo shots for musicians, dancers and artists in London, a bit of portraiture, where I’ve been playing with on location multiple flashes etc, very different challenges but lots of fun as well.
Do you remember your first most inspiring photographer/ photobook/ exhibition in your life? And how about other photography masters? How do they inspire you and how do they influence your photography style?
Daido Moriyama and Garry Winogrand were shocking to me when I first saw their work, later on Frank and maybe surprisingly Nadar as well. It takes some time to get past the “wow” with Moriyama and Winogrand, I think people treat them too lightly too often. After the strength and emotions of those guys came the madness of Eggleston, he has gripped me tightly for a long time. I also remember one of Paul Graham’s exhibitions at the Whitechapel, it was mesmerizing to be honest.
There are too many great people working out there to mention all of the influences, I try to keep in touch with my RSS which is not always easy. It’s not only photography though that fuels me to shoot, it’s music, poetry, cinema, London as a place has been a great influence for sure with it’s many facets, and all the people I’ve met working here in the creative industry throughout the years.
How do you work? Are you after a specific project or a single frame? Do you come with idea first or the idea finds you when you are shooting? How do you find your project ideas?
Mostly I just flow through time with my camera, without a project in mind. All my finished projects were born in an act of retrospective analysis, where I could see a closed chapter so to speak, I would gather the most representative images from that period, unless it’s something very specific like my things from Japan where it was a short, very intense shooting period, a hommage to the are bure bokeh school of sorts. I don’t believe in projects with a “list of goals to achieve”, a definitive purpose and statement. Smells too much of a classroom.
What is your favourite or memorable project/ photo you have worked on. Why? And also what are the two projects you will share with us in the following days.
The most memorable, hm, I guess it’s the Japanese one, it was very intense 3 weeks of pretty much non stop shooting while travelling through the country, I remember postprocessing on the Shinkansen, while at the same time shooting the commissioned architectural work. I need to go back there and see what I can do now.
What I would like to share however is something different, somewhat predictably it will be my most recent series, “Blue Take Over” shot between 2013-15, which was the culmination of the crisp transparent phase with the bit of my latest obsession creeping in, and one of the older ones, “Side A: Props”, from 2012-13, where you can still see the transition from the heavier, darker older approach to the later phase. I think it will be interesting to compare the two.
What do you personally find challenging as a photographer?
I struggle to find time for my personal work, but that is the sad reality for most of us, so nothing new here. I’m also not that good at self promotion, and tend to neglect that side of things, a very amateurish thing to do.
Do you have your favourite lens? Why this specific one? Favourite camera?
Nowadays I shoot in digital with Canon cameras, 5dMkIII being my main one, I need fast reliable autofocus and this body has it, and yes, I do have a favourite lens – its the 35mm 1.4L. After some time with longer lenses I was gradually going wider and closer, and 35 seems to be the sweetspot for me, it’s exactly the right look for what I want to achieve. My other lenses only get used in commercial work.
What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a person starting as a photographer.
Nothing very original I guess: shoot a lot and only show the best and be honest to yourself about it- be your own worst enemy when judging images. Carry your camera on you all the time and leave the lens cap home. Stick to one lens for a period of time. Study the great you admire, get copies of their photobooks, stay in touch with the online exhibitions. Don’t be afraid to shoot in public, don’t be shy, people care a lot less than you might think.
Check our previous blog entry with an introduction to Ziemowit Maj’s work and stay with us for more of Ziemowit’s photography.
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