Today (I wrote this text on the 21st of September, 2024), I will write some thoughts about documentary photography.
Documenting reality wasn’t and isn’t the goal of my artistic adventure. However, street photography, which I’ve been doing for almost 9 years [I started doing it in October 2015], has significantly shaped my perspective. It’s not just about capturing the physical changes in the urban landscape, but also about my personal growth. I’ve come to understand that photographing newly built or destroyed buildings can be a meaningful way to capture the evolving urban landscape. I undoubtedly gained a new, proper perspective on the surrounding reality thanks to street photography.
For the first years of taking photos on Warsaw’s streets, I was not interested in picturing fleeting moments in buildings’ lives.
When I saw that the building had been demolished, I did not pay too much attention to photographing either the vanishing object or its successor that had started building after the old one was destroyed. Still, when I noticed many changes in my surroundings throughout the years, I realized it was worth playing with documentary photography. Of course, I always try to add my inner artistic touch, which often involves capturing the interplay of light and shadow or finding unique angles to present the subject. Today, when I see buildings devastated, destroyed, or built from scratch, IÂ try to photograph them.
The same issue is with roads.
When I see some constructions, I try to picture at least some parts. The truth is that Warsaw has been constantly changing not only through the last decade, but I think it changed rapidly since the early ’90s in the XX century, after the collapse of communism. Undoubtedly, there are various reasons for this, including the proper economic and political environment. Still, I think the prosperous (for most of its inhabitants) Warsaw and Poland are thanks to the hardworking people living in my homeland. We, the Poles, can be proud that many of us work hard for a better future. That’s why I play documentary photography – I want to document how the capital of Poland changed throughout the years. By working and paying taxes, doing street photography, and writing and managing my blog, I want to contribute to the prosperity of Poland.
