I recently started wandering around the longest river in Great Britain. The River Severn starts in Bristol and it goes all the way towards Wales for another 220 miles. So far, I explored about 20 miles around the river, starting from Bristol and I am really excited for another 200 miles ahead of me.
The fascinating thing I find about creating personal work is that I can do whatever I want and I have time to think without any distractions. It boosts my creativity and inspiration. I always feel very calm and relaxed during my solo trips. I never expect to come back with lots of good images. On my last trip I shot only 40 photographs and I came back only with 7 images that I liked. Sometimes it is not always about capturing a good picture. To me, photography is usually about enjoying and experiencing the moment. It is about freezing the memory.
Today I am going through all my archive boxes. It looks like I started to shoot on film in 2017 and I really can not see any other way of capturing the world. What I really find fascinating about the negatives is that they will stay with me forever, unless I lose them. I love the whole process of creating an image. Going out to the field to capture the moment and then coming back to the darkroom to process the film and spend hours printing the images. It feels like an addiction to me. Time flies way too fast when we are enjoying ourselves.
Going back through the archives is very emotional to me, especially when it comes to my personal work. All the memories are coming back. Some of them make me smile and happy, others are a bit sad and frustrating. Other times when I look at my work I wonder what I was thinking? At the end of the day I feel relieved by all the photographs I have taken. It is the best therapy for my mind.
Sometimes, I wonder what my life would look like if I stayed in Poland. Who would I be? How would I feel? What would I think? And most importantly, would I ever pick up a camera? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Few days ago I travelled towards the Severn River and I ended up walking around Newtown where I met Clive. He saw me walking with the camera around the neighborhood while he was cleaning his car in front of the house. At that moment, Clive was the only person I saw around me and I really wanted to photograph him. He was a very kind man. Clive told me about the best places around the river which could be interesting to photograph. He was really patient and calm with me while being photographed. I just love this gentle smile on Clive’s face. I still don’t know how people do that when I take their portraits. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because they feel comfortable in front of the camera or with me?
We, as humans, are created by other people and the environment we are surrounded by. It has an impact on who we are, how we feel and what we think. Above all, it has an impact on our actions and decisions which are creating our future.
I strongly believe that in our lives, everything happens for a reason. The people we meet and the space around us shapes us all. I might be overthinking right now or maybe not. However, this is what I usually question myself when I am looking for someone to approach and ask for their portrait. Who are they? How do they feel? What do they think? I am passionately curious about other people. I just simply observe, listen to the story, think and then capture the moment.
I sometimes wonder about those questions myself as well. The answers might sound super cliche but they are true. Who am I? I see myself just as a simple girl with the camera who is curious about the world. How do I feel about it? Astonishingly grateful as I can’t imagine myself living a life without curiosity and documenting it using such a simple tool like a camera. What do I think about it? It happened for a reason.
