I had my first photo session at the age of 7.
At an old, post-German cemetery in the village where I come from. In Bytnica.
The Kiev camera was older than me, and the models were girls from my street.
It’s a pity that no one put film inside. There is no evidence of my first interactions between me, the camera, and people.
With the same camera, a few years later, I took a beautiful portrait of my wonderful grandfather.
I remember the emotions accompanying each shutter release. I was born for this magic.
Then the places, people, photography equipment, and I changed.
I remember many emotions accompanying the creation of my photos, which takes me back to people who are no longer here, to places I may never visit again, to the scents carried by the wind outdoors or those left behind by people in my studio, and to the music that sometimes flows even from a silent image.
For what else is photography for, if not memory?
I was born in 1982 in Krosno Odrzańskie. That’s the middle of the western part of Poland. I went to high school there, then in Zielona Góra, I went to university where it was obvious that not painting or graphic design, but photography would completely dominate and fill my professional and free time.
There were ups and downs. I worked in various places, with different people. I did different things. I changed with the world.
Sometimes I took more photos with my phone, sometimes I just looked and thought: this would be a perfect frame. And I remember a few of them because emotions followed them.
In 2021, I moved to London. The pandemic had locked down the entire world, airplanes were not taking off, even if the plan had been different initially. And in this world, still as a photograph, I decided to move.
After a few canceled flights, I finally boarded a plane at the Berlin airport in early January.
What connects my photographs from Poland and England?
Me and my emotions.
How are they different?
There are more clouds here.
www.annadrupka.com
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