Michał Markowski: Black & Gecko

I do not have any professional photographic career behind me, I would describe myself as a photography enthusiast, I have fun with it and develop my passions.

At the age of 30, I decided that I had no passion. I didn’t have a broader plan, but buying a camera had been on my mind for some time. I just needed an impulse to do it.

Once a professional photographer told me that taking pictures and processing them was too difficult for me. I thought to myself, this isn’t rocket science. I started watching videos on this topic. I encountered creators who had valuable substantive content. I bought a camera and checked all the advice I had noted down in practice.

Currently, I work with MUA and mainly set the first assumptions of the session with her. Then together we choose a model corresponding to our idea. This is most often done through Social Media. If the location of the session is not known to me, I conduct location scouting myself. The last step is choosing the styling and this is probably the most difficult moment for me. Currently, styling has the biggest impact on my sessions.

First of all, I put emphasis on the reception of the photo itself. I love clean look, minimalism and geometricity. My photos are mostly saturated with colors and have a kind of film look.

I browse the work of other photographers. I choose elements that I like and process them in my own way. After some time, the photographer already knows when his workflow will be appropriate for a given subject.

I think it was the first session with a person experienced in posing for photos. Then I realized that the professional sessions I had seen so far were within my reach.

Unusual photography should evoke the wow effect from the first glance, and with each subsequent moment allow the viewer to discover more amazing things.

I try to divide sessions into a part in which I act in accordance with the client’s idea and one in which I have full freedom. I don’t always succeed, but you have to deal with it somehow.

I try not to look at other photographers. I’m afraid I might start unintentionally copying them. I choose individual photos in which I see a good idea. I can’t adapt everything to myself. Sometimes it takes a lot of creative changes. I often meet that other photographers have very good ideas, but not necessarily good execution.

I don’t hot edit my photos. I take a maximum of a few photos in the form of a preview. I always come back to editing only after a dozen or so days. It allows me to think better about my processing.

During an outdoor session in the winter, I had the task to photograph a fashion model. Unfortunately, we had a delay and the weather changed so much that we had very little available light. Fortunately, we managed to change the place of the session to a semi-open car park. Its lighting allowed us to complete the entire session, with a better effect than I originally expected. Always remember that skill and creativity always keep you flexible. This allows you to work without much stress.

Always compare yourself to your past self. Don’t look at others, believe in your own abilities and develop them. You take 1,000 photos and they’ll be bad, but if you get one right, you’ll know how to repeat it. Focus on one element each time, and when you master it, add another. After some time, you will see that your photos are multidimensional and refined in many aspects.

This is the beauty session with the gecko right now. Unique because I have not dealt with animals in this type of photography.

There are several projects we are working on. Everything revolves around beauty at the moment. It will be colorful for sure.