I wanted to make this post in celebration of the Polish Independence Day that is coming on November 11th. Poland has struggled with democracy, freedom of speech, and basic human rights in the past years due to the oppressive, far-right and Euroskeptic government ruling the country. This is changing now that parliamentary elections last month revealed the opposition was chosen to take over, which will open many new doors for Poland on the international scene and start positive change within the country. Truly an Independence Day to celebrate.
just curious, Krakow, PolandZakopane, PolandMy home – Kraków, Poland
4. Found on a hike in the Andes, Peru7. Abandoned airport in Berlin, Germany8. Krakow, Poland10. An road to nowhere, Virginia Waters, England3. Abandoned airport in Berlin, Germany6. Machu Picchu at 6 am, PeruAbandoned airport in Berlin, Germany2. Krakow, Poland5. An old train station, somewhere in Slovakia9. An old castle in Trencin, Slovakia
As a first post of this season, I just wanted to introduce myself – my name is Tola, and as you can probably tell from the header image and the bad pun in the feature series title: I am a photographer. This is my third and probably last year at Arts at Michigan (I am graduating), so you will see a bunch of new content, but also the good old posts like photography tutorials or themed series. For the new readers, I am a Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience and Classical Archaeology student from Poland. I love traveling almost as much as I love sitting at home sipping a cup of good coffee. I will pet every dog I see on my way to class and in addition to photography I dance often and paint occasionally. This post is an introduction, so maybe instead of jumping into what I prepared for this semester, I will start by simply introducing myself – and since, after all, I am a photographer, I will cut the text short and instead show you through pictures the places that shaped me over the years.
My home – Kraków, Poland
My first college years – London, UK
In high school I briefly lived in Peru and took this picture somewhere in the Andes
After Peru I moved to Rabat, Morocco
Finally I moved to Ann Arbor after transferring to UMich in 2021
Never lived in Italy, but always wanted to 🙂 (and I did excavations there!)
Today I am giving you pictures I took in Austria a few years ago, but not with my usual DSLR but with an Olympus OM-1, an analog camera that essentially taught me photography. In analogs you only get 36 pictures and there is no automatic mode, which means you do your best to learn different settings and assess light conditions before using one of your 36 chances. These pictures were taken on an expired film which is what created the flares and the funky colors in some of them. I left them unedited to keep the vintage feel.
