Interview: Photographer Marcin Kwiecień (Aprilus Fotografia) (Poland)

Can you tell us a little about you?

I was born in 1975 in the south of Poland. I work as a tailor in my family business on a daily basis. I’m married for 18 years.

How and when did you get into photography?

The role of the observer has always been my strong point because I was rather taciturn and due to my speech disadvantage at a young age, then my passion was drawing, but I was not as talented as I would like, maybe because of that I was drawn to photography.

I started "quickly" to fight my shyness and after a quarter of a century I'm here (laughs).

My passion for photography was born very slowly, my first camera (Canon 50E) I bought probably in 1997 I do not remember, but I remember that in 2000, we made a wedding session with my wife because we did not want to have fake posed photos which was then probably fashionable and so it came out naturally and quite good.

Apparently at that time I wanted to be real and honest in my photographs. More deeply in portrait photography, I started to deal only in 2016, when I did the first few photographic sessions for the models, earlier, as I mentioned, I practiced my skills only on my spouse who was never happy when she was supposed to pose for me. (laugh)

What does photography mean to you?

Saying very briefly and honestly I think it means "a lot" because nothing else today does not consume my free time like the whole process of photographing. This is a kind of drug after which I feel satisfied, especially during retouching my mind is free from stress and I have a chance to express myself in this way and in the sense of heritage, maybe I also leave something positive in the hearts and minds of others, I want to believe ( laugh).

In addition, I am a recluse so photography heals me and is a pretext to leave the house to creatively spend time getting to know interesting people.

Where do you get inspiration from?

Today, I notice in my photos that I was inspired subconsciously even very distant situations in my life, experiences, fears, fascinations, movies, video clips. The discovery of this has become part of my theory of independent photography, it can be said in a different way, but in a nutshell: Assessing someone's artistic work is like judging him and his quality of life, so if the work is honest and is largely a photographer's creation, that is the sum of his personal experiences and fantasies. Often, we can accidentally offend the photographer commenting his work uncomplimentary because he takes it very much to himself and emotionally to himself.

I like to introduce myself in blissful deep states while retouching photos and this is always accompanied by good music, very nostalgic, often it is film music with a large dose of atmosphere in itself. It has always inspired me and let me sharpen my senses, cutting me off from the surrounding world

Please briefly describe your style for our readers.

As for the style, it is difficult for me to define it myself because I have never thought about it or planned my style, and it is constantly changing and going into a fascinating unknown.

The only thing that does not change is the timeless beauty and I think here rather about character, emotions, atmosphere than about simple external beauty. I have also often heard statements about my photographs such as; "You show women in a unique way" or else; "You have a sensitive look, for a man :)" I accept every such flattering statement as a good coin, enjoying that someone liked my work and I do not think about working on my style.

Think you in what you want in the picture?

I think quite a lot about different things, so I think about it too, before the sessions I'm always stressed and try to make things easier for myself. For example have a crib in my pocket with a sketch I do not want to forget about, but I noticed that I rarely follow these notes during the session . This is very helpful because there are usually a lot of things that distract me from my previous intentions so there is a sketch that is a good point to start with. And because my main and unchangeable goal in photography is to show as much of the model's personality and natural beauty as possible. So I'm 100% committed to this goal.

Studio, on location or both?

Of course, it depends on the season of the year in my case, but I prefer definitely locations.

In my case there is a problem with that, I do not have time to search for great locations and a good spot makes all the difference, so my photography is usually minimalistic and located in nature which I appreciate and love to show due to my ecological worldview.

The studio gives quite different creative possibilities of producing the image and in this case you have to be more organized because there may be problems with liquidity and the model may start yawning when stagnation appears.

Would you consider yourself a Hobbyist or a paid professional?

Hobbyist, passionate dreamer :D

Nikon or Canon? Favorite lens?

It's just a tool, an analogue, a digit, a Canon, Nikon all the same, everyone has their habits, I'm used to Canon and I am interested in Sony. I have a favorite focal length of the lens, it is 50mm, maybe even 80% of my photographs are made with this lens. I take a lot of equipment, cameras, lenses for the session because you never know what will be useful, it's probably my neurosis and in the end I use very often only one lens just 50mm

What do you think of our new magazine?

Every photographer needs the audience to stay in good mental condition and even if he complains that it is different, he does it not only for himself but also to delight and move. Magazines like this are very much needed, here among other talented photographers and models we can present our work to a wide audience all over the world.

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