About the origins
Photographic Sander - since when?
Photography has always been present in my life, though it often had a utilitarian or vacation-oriented character. It’s not that I didn’t take photos at all — I took a lot of them — but for a long time, there was no conscious effort to create an image, even though now and then I managed to capture something decent.
Canon Powershot A510
As a child, I had experience with point-and-shoot cameras (Minolta F25) and digital compacts (Canon Powershot A510). The first digital SLR in our household was a Nikon D90, but the camera on my phone seemed more appealing due to its convenience. For a long time, I proudly used a Sony Ericsson C902 — Bond’s phone (albeit from a rather mediocre film, but still) — and things like lossy compression or a smudged lens never really seemed like a problem to me.
Sony Ericsson C902
The time for “serious” photography only came in 2022, but this time it truly clicked. It started with digging out and restoring an old Praktica L2 camera. A few rolls later, I bought a Nikon D50 with a kit lens from a pawn shop — just like a proper Nikon user — and alternated between the Praktica and the Nikon to unleash my creative side. For a very brief moment, a Nikon D70 passed through my hands, but I eventually acquired a Nikon D300 with a 35mm prime lens from a trusted source, and it quickly became an extension of my hand. From time to time, I mount other lenses to extend my visual reach.
Nikon D300 + Nikkor AF 70-210mm f/4-5.6 D
Practice (or “Practika”) helped me develop a sense of my own skills, and people began to praise what I was doing, which only increased my desire to delve deeper into the subject. In September 2024, I started a one-year photography program at a school in the capital. I completed the course without honors, but with a solid foundation, a wealth of new experiences and knowledge, and a few valuable contacts. Szumne Ziarno is a continuation of this passion and a way of expressing myself.
Sources of knowledge
A list of titles for those who would like to know what I base myself on in terms of theoretical knowledge:
- Burzyński, Roman. Zaczynam dobrze fotografować
- Cyprian, Tadeusz. Fotografia. Technika i technologia
- duChemin, David. W kadrze. Rozważania na temat wyobraźni fotografa
- duChemin, David Poza kadrem. Żyć fotografią, żyć z fotografii
- Hedgecoe, John. Praktyczny kurs fotografii
- Langford, Michael. Andrews, Philip. Fotografia według Langforda dla każdego, czyli jak robić świetne zdjęcia
- Langford, Michael. Andrews, Philip. Fotografia według Langforda dla fotografów, czyli jak opanować tę sztukę
- Langford, Michael. Andrews, Philip. Fotografia według Langforda dla mistrzów
- Pękosławski, Zbigniew. Fotografia w praktyce amatorskiej
NOTE: the following titles are polish in some degree, without any official english translations. But please bear with me, you have to keep in mind that I am from Poland, we do have great books written in our tongue and I shall stick to them, nethertheless.