Meet our photo competition winner

[Peter_S.]

Photography is not my only passion.

I recently turned 70. I make animated films and work really hard to have them ready for film festivals.

http://www.danielzagorski.com/

I have done lots of extreme and crazy things in my life. I built and flew hang gliders and motor gliders. In 1991, I won the Polish motor gliding championships. I have cycled over most of the mountains in Poland and taken part in mountain bike marathons, and I was also very active during my "Pioneer" days (a former Polish youth organisation similar to the Boy Scout movement).

As a graphic artist, I have my own workshop, where I work on etching, aquatinting, mezzotinting, lithography and linocuts.

Photography has always been in my life. My father was an amateur photographer and I spent many hours with him in the darkroom from an early age. I started my adventures with an analogue camera. At that time, there was only one option: the Soviet-produced Zenit camera. Later there was the Praktica from the GDR with my favourite 20-mm lens. To this day I use the 42-mm PENTACON 1:1.8 50-mm lens.I also used a bellows camera with 9 x 14 cm film and Pentacon 6 x 6, which I brought to the Tatra Mountains along with its heavy 35-mm and 180-mm lenses, e.g. to the Świnica and Rysy mountains...

Then I took up workshop graphics.... Then there were 3D animated films.

All the time, I was accompanied by the now-digital Canon 550D camera... with which I also made films that were awarded at festivals, such as "Interpretations" — a film about a painter, which I made with 3D animation.

The photo that won the competition was one of a series of self-portraits. Below are some others from this cycle.

They were created in a 13-m2 room where I live (because I don't have a studio). Photos are taken against a black background, illuminated with two flashes and two umbrellas. Canon 550D camera with an 18–55 mm kit lens... as dark as night... triggered by an infrared remote control. Completed with a 3D object which I made myself. The inspiration was searching for new expression in photography. Building virtual worlds is no different from studio photography and the combination of these two worlds succeeded because 3D techniques have reached the photo-realistic level.

My "Internet son"—Arkadiusz Makowski, winner of National Geographic competitions—forced me to send my work to the competition... he said: "You should send something too, because I'm sending something.... You're going to get schooled... :)".

I was incredibly surprised when I got the message that I had won.... especially since I have a lot of film plans for the year and I was looking for a camera. The project is called "DEDAL & IKAR" and the camera needs to match a 4K drone, and my historic Canon wouldn't be able to cope.

Here is a link to the trailer — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODFdZVLUez4&t=2s

I rarely send work to photographic contests, I focus on sending films to festivals.

It is clear that the most important thing is imagination and willingness to complete projects, even though you have to make a lot of compromises and fit into a "0" budget … :).

My etching teacher once told me, when I had doubts about whether or not to make animated films.... "Bagiński did 'The Cathedral', so you can make it too... and that was very good advice that I always recommend.…..!!!...:)

Most of the projects, including an hour-long animated film, I make by myself without a grant, working 14 hours a day... an hour-long film is made and shot in 3.5 years.

Photography is always a part of all my undertakings, because from it I have learned how to compose and work with colour. It also showed me that the most important thing is imagination, and all technical aspects allow me to realise it.