254 - Tomasz Tomaszewski

Tomasz Tomaszewski has a Ph.D from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and is a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers, the Visum Archiv Agency of Hamburg, Germany, the National Geographic Creative Agency of Washington D.C., and the American Society of Media Photographers.

He specializes in journalistic photography and has had his photos published in major newspapers and magazines worldwide including National Geographic Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, GEO, New York Times, Time, Fortune, Elle, Vogue. He has also authored a number of books, including Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland, Gypsies: The Last Ones; In Search of America, In the Centre, Astonishing Spain, A Stone’s Throw, Overwhelmed by the Atmosphere of Kindness, Things that last, and has co-illustrated over a dozen collective works.

He has held numerous individual exhibitions in the USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, Brazil, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia and Poland. Tomasz is the recipient of many Polish and international awards for photography. For over thirty years he has been a regular contributor to National Geographic Magazine USA in which eighteen of his photo essays have been published. Tomasz has taught photography in Poland, the USA, Germany and Italy.

Tomasz’s most recent book, The World Is Where You Stop was published in 2023 by Blow Up Press.
 

In episode 254, Tomasz discusses, among other things:

• His insecurity about his English
• Truth
• The wisdom of age
• His father’s advice ‘don’t forget about art’
• Progress
• His discovery of photography
• Spending five years working on his first book, smuggled to the states and published in NY.
• Spending time in the USA
• His new book The World Is Where You Stop
• Metaphor
• Photography not being dialectical
• The appeal of a good single malt
• His teaching academy
• Bravery as the mother of all qualities
• His dream to play the piano and how music is pure mathematics

Referenced:

• Raymond Chandler
• Aristotle
• Uffizi Museum
• Susan Sontag
• Nasim Taleb
• James Nachtwey
• Garry Winnogrand
• Cartier Bresson
• Keith Jarrett

Website | Instagram | Interview in ‘Hot Mirror’

“Most of the time when I was working for Geographic, I wanted my photographs to serve a purpose, to tell a story, or explain a person to another human being. But this time I only wanted to capture surprise, maybe, wonder, occassionally joy, amusement, but also discomfort. In short, anything but a desire to tell a story.”

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