The real life is on the pavement, not on the computer screen.
What is street photography? The classic approach to street photography tells us people should be in pictures. But how liberating it is to break these rules and forget about them. That’s why you won’t see too many people in my photographs. Instead, my pictures often feature holes in the streets, cracks in the walls, and mundane pavements where hundreds or thousands of people daily walk by, absorbed by their own affairs and businesses. Walking through the streets of Warsaw, I hear the city’s unique noise and breathe not always fresh air; I feel alive. It was the moment when I knew that real life was on the pavement, not on the computer screens, smartphones, Netflix, websites, Excel files, or television.
Real life is not comfort, certainty, luxury, or easiness. The last one bore me to death. Life should include challenges, struggles, hardships, uncertainties, losses, and daily getting out of your comfort zone.
How can we do the last one? For example, we can take cold showers, eat only in the evening, or avoid food for as many days as possible. For me, life is not equal to convenience. More frequently, existence hits as hard as one would fall on the pavement. Indeed, when I was young, and when I was running near my beloved Grandmother’s house in Rudniki, I fell and hit my head on the pavement. It hurt like the rest of my life. But it’s these moments of discomfort that make us feel alive, that make us appreciate the beauty in life.
Even if there are moments of happiness and tremendous joy (I have many such moments; I would not describe myself as a sad and unhappy person), I still claim life is simply brutal. We can be sure that hardship, uncertainty, and, finally, death await all of us. But by embracing these challenges, we can live a more fulfilling life.
