Photography Now!

You’re fascinated by photography, but you feel you don’t have enough experience? In January you’ll get a chance to learn from the very best during the Photography Art Workshops Festival. The cherry on the cake will be an exhibition of street photography at Galeria Pauza and the Tourist Service Centre.

The aim of the event (21-22 January 2012), organised by the Photography Art Workshops with the DOC Foundation and the Galeria and Club Pauza, is not just to present photos or photocasts, but to introduce the actual photography process. And so at Pauza and Diamonds Factory you’ll be able to see films on the history of photography, listen to lectures, take part in workshops and meetings with artists, see exhibitions of photography and post-production equipment, and attend portfolio reviews. Workshops and lectures will be led by experts including Wojciech Grzędziński (winner of the World Press Photo, Grand Press Photo, BZWBK Press Photo and Visa D’Or News awards and photographer of President Bronisław Komorowski), and Wojciech Plewiński (one of Poland’s most important photographers and author of hundreds of cover photos for the “Przekrój” weekly). There will also be an announcement of the finalists of the Learned Man competition, organised with the Jagiellonian University’s Student Union.

A life examined
The educational section will be complemented by the exhibition Street Photography Now!, previously shown at the Warsaw Print Museum. This extremely effective photography genre enjoys unabated popularity. In spite of its name, it doesn’t have to be created on the street: the scenery of the captured moment can just as easily be a beach, park, shopping centre or any public space visited by people. What’s important is the author’s reflex and spontaneity – and at times not worrying too much about asking for permission to take the photo… The subjective, critical or even ironic look at the protagonists frequently sets the value of the photo, and the frankness of the final image is more important than perfect form. The exhibition is based on an album, prepared by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren, containing photos by 46 contemporary authors and taken at streets of New York, Tokyo, Delhi, Dakar and other cities. It will be shown alongside works by Polish street photographers.

For over a hundred years, photographers armed with increasingly better kit have been spending day after day hunting for the truth about society and its life in everyday situations. The festival and exhibition are sure to pass the bug on to many other aspiring photographers. (Dorota Dziunikowska)