Saturday, November 14, 2015
Featured Mobile Photographer Gosia Radziszewska
In the early part of the twentieth century, my grandparents on my mother's side emigrated from Poland to the United States. I love seeing photographs of what could have been my homeland from Polish mobile photographers especially Gosia Radziszewska who is featured here today.
What is your name and where do you live?
My name is Gosia Radziszewska and I live in Poznan, Poland. I was born here, but then my parents decided that we should move to the south of Poland. Even though I lived there my whole childhood, I always considered Poznan as "my city", so nobody was surprised when I decided to go back to Poznan to study there.
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| Into the Fog © Gosia Radziszewska |
Well, it's all thanks to my husband. Two years ago he convinced me to buy a real smartphone with a good camera (it was HTC One V). Then he showed me Instagram and Snapseed and I was quickly hooked on it. Though I didn't consider myself to be a mobile photographer at the time, someone else did. I was invited by Michal Koralewski to join "Grupa Mobilni", a group of mobile photography enthusiasts who want to promote this emerging art in Poland. I accepted the invitation and here my story actually begins. In the meantime, I switched to an iPhone due to better photography apps portfolio and edit possibilities.
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| One Story © Gosia Radziszewska |
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| © Gosia Radziszewska |
Do you have a traditional photography or art background?
No, I do not have such background though I've always had some artistic aspirations. For example, I used to write poems and short stories and my biggest dream was to write a novel. Now mobile photography is my main hobby. At work I need to be very technical, detailed and analytic, I just feel that I must somehow balance it with creativity in my leisure time.
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| Forgotten Place © Gosia Radziszewska |
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The subjects in your shots are always framed so beautifully by their surroundings - do you spend a lot of time waiting for the perfect shot?
Thanks Geri, it's really nice to hear that you like it. I know that some photographers have such patience and they can actually wait for hours to take a perfect shot. As a mother of an almost-two-year-old son I do not have much free time. I have to make quick decisions when I see something interesting. I take several shots so in the post-processing phase I can choose the best framing and adjust it a bit if necessary.
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| Tourists © Gosia Radziszewska |
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Do you go to a specific location in order to shoot, or do you just shoot while you go about your daily life?
Well, I used to take photos only during my home-work-home route but for a couple of weeks, it has changed. At first it was just a joke, I said to my husband, "Honey, let's go somewhere to take some Instagram photos!" and we actually did go together with our son for a special photo walk. This became our new weekend activity. We choose a good place for a walk, preferably with nice architecture surrounding. We go there, shoot some photos and on our way back home I usually start editing my shots.
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| Pigeons Attack © Gosia Radziszewska |
Do you do your editing on your iPhone, or do you use a tablet?
I edit my photos mainly on a phone, all my favorite apps are available there so I don't have to switch devices. I tried editing on tablet once or twice and I felt like a real painter then! But still it is more convenient for me to do my edits on my iPhone.
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| Green Stairs © Gosia Radziszewska |
Who or what inspires you?
To tell the truth, I don't have any favorite photographer whose art inspires me so much that I could say he or she is an artistic mentor I want to follow. This is because I get inspired very easily by everything that surrounds me. Beautiful sunsets, Instagram artists or our photo-collective "Grupa Mobilni". The latter has the greatest influence on me, on what I do and how I develop my skills. A group of like-minded people who share the same passion, who represent different styles, different approaches to photography, who are willing to share their knowledge, tips & tricks and their brilliant ideas - it is a great added value for personal development and an endless source of inspiration.
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| Dark Interiors © Gosia Radziszewska |
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| Knock, Knock, Knockin © Gosia Radziszewska |
Your work is mainly landscapes and city scenes. Is there any other area you'd like to explore?
My first shots where mostly landscapes and city architecture. I tried to avoid photographing people, because I was too shy to approach them. Then I read an interview with Joanna Lemanska, one of "Grupa Mobilni" members, and she said that sometimes to enhance her photo and make it more interesting or complete, she waits for someone to enter her composition. Sometimes she waits for 5 minutes, sometimes 15 minutes but her record so far is set at 1 hour of waiting - and it was worth it! It inspired me that much that I started to include people, who in fact are a part of a cityscape, in my compositions as well. So maybe one day I won't be that shy any longer and I will approach people close enough to take a good portrait photo, as this area seems to be very tempting.
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| Peaceful Landscape © Gosia Radziszewska |
Do you have favorite apps that you use for your work?
Exploring new apps is very exciting, but in the end it always turns out that I use only a few of them on a daily basis. For general adjustments, like cropping a photo to square format, brightness, contrast and so on I use Snapseed. When I want to add some scratches, light leaks or I want to play with colors on landscape photos I usually do it in Mextures. I really like the freedom it gives you to mix different effects on one photo by adding just another layer to it. I often use VSCO Cam to fade the colors with my favorite F2 filter and Alien Sky to enrich a photo with some nice special effects like sunbeams, a moon or sky full of stars.
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| Lights and Shadows © Gosia Radziszewska |
Have you ever exhibited your work. If not, any plans to do so?
Together with Grupa Mobilni we have already organized two mobile photography exhibitions which were in fact the first such big initiatives here in Poland. First exhibition "Mobile Cities" took place in September 2013. We presented mobile photos of several group members, including mine. Second exhibition was organized at the beginning of this year and it was related to our weekly review of Polish mobile photography "Mobilny Tydzien" (Mobile Week) where we presented 150 photos taken by over 80 Polish mobile photographers. In March my shots will be presented on our first international exhibition and again, it's thanks to the Grupa Mobilni membership! We stay in touch with a similar group, but from Czech Republic which is called "OpojenÃ" (aka The Rush Society) and they invited us to join their next event which will be held in Holesov.
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| Street Stories 1 - People in Love © Gosia Radziszewska |
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Thanks Geri for the invitation for this interview! I really appreciate it as well as all the work you do here at Art Of Mob. It is a very important and valuable input in promoting mobile photography as a new branch of art. I wish you all the best!
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Find Gosia: Instagram / Flickr / Grupa Mobilni
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