What does photography mean to me? Why do I photograph? Does it enrich my life or lives of the others? What do I want to say? It can be a pure coincidence, but since I started to use Fuji cameras, these and other, similarly big and heavy questions pop up in my mind more and more often. Most probably though it has much more to do with the fact that I am turning 40 in a month.
As some of you may have already noticed I am spending time in South Korea these days. On vacation, visiting my wife’s family. I have been to Korea a couple of times, but being in such a remote location, far away from my European “roots” always is (and most probably will always be) some kind of an “exotic experience”. Deep down we always stay who we are and where we are from.
For me, photography happens exactly there, on this deepest level. Those magical moments when I decide to press the shutter button are every single times my “self-portraits”. I am strongly convinced that the best, most impactful photographs ever created happened in those magical moments, when their creators, the photographers – consciously or (rather) not – were totally themselves. They did not made those photographs for any assignments, they pressed the shutter, because their heart had suddenly beaten faster – they experienced an emotion, which was a result of their own experiences, of their hopes and fears.
Those of you, who have reached the point on your photographic path, where the equipment (cameras and lenses) itself starts loosing its importance, know very well what I am writing about.
Today, one month and four days before my 40th birthday and approximately thirteen years since I took my very first photograph, I have reached the point, where I say a big NO to photographic genres and categorisations. I have been struggling for the last couple of years with defining myself as a photographer. I have been trying to choose for me a proper label (travel photographer, fine art photographer, portrait photographer), but I had been always failing in maintaining any given category for more than a couple of months. I knew something was wrong.
Today I know that such rules and categories are not for me. I see things and meanings everywhere. Everyday life regularly presents me with such amazing scenes, that it would be a crime not taking these photographs, because they don’t belong to the genre I am specialising in.
Life is fine art. There is beauty everywhere, so I am not going to limit myself anymore in this regard. I am going to share my emotions with you, the viewers, wherever they derive from.
I am reinventing my own photography and from today on I will be presenting and publishing my photographs as TOMASH. The first one is a photograph of my wife I took just two hours ago. Please visit and bookmark my new website – you will find only one photograph over there. It is my new beginning and I strongly feel that I have finally found my way.
I will be presenting a new photograph every other day and you can follow me in a way of your choice: my website, my Facebook page, my Instagram account, or my Twitter feed.
There is so much fine art in life. Wish me luck.
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