South African Townships

South African townships in 2003
Children:




And the place where they live:

Silesia

I am going through the process of scanning my old negatives. It is a never-ending task.
The pictures below are from Silesia - the region in South-Western Poland. It was formerly polish heavy industry hot-spot. I write "formerly" because it is not anymore...
Demonstration of miners against job cuts in Ruda Slaska, Silesia


Instead of going to school this children have spent their day gathering pieces of coal, which fell (or was stolen) from train transporting it from the coal mine to a buyer. Many families were (well, some still are...) so poor that they couldn't afford to buy coal that is used in Silesia during winter months for heating the houses.
The plastic cases were used to separate bigger coal pieces from sand and coal dust.
Siemianowice Slaskie, February 2002



Hunger strike in Ruda Slaska, the miners demanded more money for their work.


1st of May 2002 in Katowice. Before 1989 1st May parades were huge. Like in any other communist country it was obligatory to participate in order to show your personal support to The Communist Party. In 2002 only a small group attended, most of them old or simply crazy. The banner says "Noble Upper Silesia where is your conscience??"

Cirnivici, Ukraine

spring in Ciernivici, Ukraine


drinking vodka with some new friends


party at a local club- At first, I was told that photography is forbidden in this disco- a bit later friendly chat did the job and I was granted the permission

city bus


We had to pay 100$ bribe ... but I think it was our mistake to break the rules

More images from Ukraine

Corpus Christi

I am not very religious person, but I really love Corpus Christi- for me it is the most colorful and beautiful of religious festivities –at least in Poland. This year Corpus Christi will take place on 11 of June.
The images below were shot a year ago in Chorzow Batory, Poland. Usually this kind of photography is a bit like collecting post stamps to me :-) But so many people shot this parade, that I had to play somehow and photograph it in a bit different way.

Illegal immigrants in Calais, France

some more images from Calais, France illegal immigrants story shot with mamiya 645 posted before

Myvatn lake insect invasion

I was in Warsaw yesterday because I have received a nomination in Grand Press Photo contest– it is an award for polish photojournalists. In my case the nomination didn’t turn into an award but I was happy anyway to see some of the best work made by polish photojournalists.
The Grand-prix winner is truly stunning you can see it on grand press photo website.
For me it was strange to receive the nomination for a picture in the category “environment” because it is not particularly my cup of tea. I shot it in Iceland on the shore of the Myvatn lake (midgets lake) which is known for hordes of flies and mosquitoes. Below the photo you can see the 100% crop that does the picture justice.




100% crop from the picture above:


more pictures from Lake Myvatn in Iceland here

By the way

here are the rules that I follow during shooting of this (never to be shown as a whole) series
1.buy cheapest available film in a pharmacy
2.take your favourite very expensive camera (to balance dirt cheap film)
3.get in my girlfriend's soon-to-be-wife car
4.drive somewhere
5.shoot while driving and NEVER look into the viewfinder
6.wait patiently for the results- at least couple of weeks
I think that I have already about 40 rolls of this kind of ...something in my archive

Iceland melting glaciers

Vatnajokull glacier is the biggest glacier in Europe. Vatnajökull has been shrinking for some years now, because of climatic changes. Until 1930 it was growing...









much more from Iceland in my online archive

Monsoon rain in Mumbai, India

This one is my favourite:






more of Monsoon on the streets of Mumbai, India HERE

my wintertime shooting