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Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka – A New Challenge!

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:29:42 +0000

Since March 2012 I’ve been assigned as the official photographer for Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka im. Fryderyka Chopina in Gdańsk, a job that’s as hard as it’s rewarding!

Belowe you have shots from two concerts. One concentrated around the orchestra and the conductor, the other focused on Maxim Vengerow.

More experimental shots can be found here.

Bóg by Woody Alien as staged in Teatr Miejski w Gdyni

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 07:31:58 +0000

You can read more about the play here. For me, it was just plain awesome. Laughed untill I cried;)

Ps. more private stuff can be found on my private blog now.

Bubble Chamber @ Klub Chwila – 8 III 2012

admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:21:38 +0000

On Thursday I’ve shot a quick assignment for Wp.pl – shooting Bubble Chamber as they played in Warsaw during Zrób Głośniej competition. We left Gdynia around 8 in the morning and landed in Warsaw at around 14. Guys played at 18 and waited up till 22 for the results, then a couple of goog bye greets and a long way home. I hugged my bed at around 5 in the morning, after uploading some pic from the CF and making an early selection of the pics. The portraits were done on-the-spot – we needed one for further news about the band in Wp.pl. My first idea was to shoot the guys on Widok Street (which is one of my favorite streets in Warsaw) with the Palace Of Culture and Science in the background or just play with some random street shooting. We didn’t have time for that as we had to head up to the club. But the toilet there – we had to take the pics there. I really liked the spontanious one after Jacek had to yawn ;) The others were taken during the trip back, along some road we thought led to the highway. It didn’t. But the shot turned out pretty nice. Worth running like hell from all those cars ;)

I thought about staying in Warsaw for a day or two more, but in the end I went back with the guys. Cool thing though, some friends of mine popped in along the way. It wouldn’t be the same without seeing Basia or Ola while being in Warsaw. If it wasn’t for that damned dEUS gig, more people would show up thought. Even Piotrek from FYH! Showed up and gave me some Cds from his new label. If you’re into some nice guitar stuff be sure to check out FYH Records.

Funny thing – years ago, I could stay awake for 2 or 3 days. Now more than 18 hours on my feet and I’m dead tired. And if you count „no-red bull” policy of mine, by the end of the day you’ll get one big zombie…And the festival season hasn’t even started yet..

Below are the backstage pics and portraits. The pics from the gig can be found here. They are not the best, but the conditions weren’t easy either..

PS. I’ve put up some much more personal photoblog to stop flooding BBP’s blog with private stuff. It’s in Polish only but the pics are universal. And if you haven’t, you should like BBP fanpage on Facebook. Lot’s of unpublished stuff there!

“A 100% of my love – up to you true star”

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:53:57 +0000

Ah, Warsaw. City I used to hate to the bone and now I love returning to it eventy couple of weeks. This was a very different trip. No photo commisions, just meetings… Felt pretty strange.

Managed to visit one of the most charming people on the planet, Basia, helped Natalia with some of her stuff, cooked some meals for Monia and hanged out in Radio Aktywne. Lot’s of work, lot’s of nice thoughts! Thanks mates!:)

Flow Kolektiff

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:53:07 +0000

From mid-January, BlackBoxPhoto is a contributor to Flow Kolektiff, a group focused on PR and management. Our first assignment was to shot some portraits of the girls and overall pics. Turned out pretty fun – Magda and Natalia know how to behave in front of the camera.

Big thanks goes to Michał Jaskólski for his help during the shot and letting us to mess in his flat. Cheers mate!:)

Off Festival 2011 – Day 2

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:26:46 +0000

I don’t know what else can I add to what I wrote in the previous update. Oh, and it was raining a little. But it wasn’t as bad as what happened during the third day.

NOTE: Do NOT use any of those photos. All the coprights belong to me (Joanna ‘frota’ Kurkowska) and some pics belong exclusively to Wp.pl. And I’m good at sending invoices ;)

Off Festival 2011 – Day 1

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:02:45 +0000

Best festival? Best party? Best mates? I have one answer for that: Off Festival 2011. Everything was just perfect (except for the thunderstorm and me going back in the train with too much stuff) – we reserved four rooms in one hostel, talked about music and gigs all the time, swaped CDs, met some new people and ate in the best veggie place in Poland (in my opinion).

And the people. You’ve got to love off because of the people. All kinds of friends from all over Poland (and abroad), some you see every day, some just for a couple days in a month, some you meet once a year… But the music junkies are all there. Metalheads, ambient-lovers, drone troopers, pop fanatics, cold wave surfers, experimental geeks, dance dudes – Off, like any other Polish fest I’ve been to, brings them all together for three days od musical bliss. I don’t know ANYBODY (that’s right!) who didn’t like this year’s edition. Talked with around a 100 (or more…) people and everybody were happy as hell.

The bitter part was that the day before my clients server went down and because of some malfunctions, I had to upload the pics one by one. The biggest drag of all time and before I got to enjoy some free time before the gigs, I found myself uploading the pics one-by-one like crazy. Even worse, days before Off my D300 went crazy. Bogna Kociumbas helped A LOT lending me her D700 with 24-70 2.8 plus 85 1.4. A company of brothers that is hard to forget and for the three next days it was pure bliss to shot with this gear. I think, it was then when I’ve decided to buy the D700 as quickly as I could. And if anybody asks what’s the best festival coverage I’ve done in 2011 – I’m putting all my bets on Off 2011. Really nailed those shots!:)

NOTE: Do NOT use any of those photos. All the coprights belong to me (Joanna ‘frota’ Kurkowska) and some pics belong exclusively to Wp.pl. And I’m good at sending invoices ;)

B., M. & some random mess

admin — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:05:20 +0000

During November & December I had to stay in Warsaw for a couple of weeks and stayed at Ola’s wonderful flat which has the largest number of CDs/vinyls per square. Meanwhile her boyfriend, Michał, came to visit and my friend Basia came around a couple of times so we managed to snap some random shots around the house. Nothing too serious but how can you be serious when there’s a pink flaming looking at you from you neighbor’s windows? Despite the opinions running around, Warsaw can be fun!:)

Some geek info: Mostly used 50 mm (plus Sigma’s 20 1.8) and natural lights. I’m totally in love with Ola’s walls. Great background!

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:45:03 +0000

It was a very intense weekend (which started on Wednesday..). It began in Warsaw and ended in Gdańsk, where I shot SpaceFest for T-Mobile-Music and Projekt PR. Concentrated on spacerock/indie/drone/alternative sounds it’s one of the best indoor festivals I’ve seen this year and I hope a second edition will take place in 2012. Pure Phase Ensemble’s gig was just mindblowing. See for yourselves:

There’s gonna be a CD released from the gig and I’m so excited!!!

Muzyczny Pchli Targ – 6 XI 2011 – Desdemona, Gdynia

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:58:53 +0000

More pics from previous editions:

First edition
Second edition