Lumia Instagramer of the Week: Mateusz Jaszak
“Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world.”
After learning more about our latest Instagramer of the week Mateusz Jaszak, a physics student at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland we’re sure he gets this quote by Bruno Barbey. Another thing we learned is that Mateusz is one busy bee-in addition to a passion for mobile photography and nanotechnology, he’s currently working on a Windows Phone App called Personal Black Box and acting as manager of his local Instagram community IgersTorun. What’s more, he’s a fellow of Polish Mobile Photography Enthusiasts Group Grupa Mobilni and IgersPoland, and an EyeEm Ambassador in Poland.
Which Lumia do you have and what do you like most about it?
In the past, I’ve used Nokia N95, 500 & Lumia 610. It was the beginning of my adventure with mobile photography. Since August 2013, I’ve been using Nokia Lumia 520. I like manual settings of a camera and a software stability. It’s never let me down.
Where do you shoot most of your photos and what sort of photos do you like to take best?
I usually take photos of street life of Toruń & Bydgoszcz. I love black & white and high contrast which I bring to my photos. It’s an aesthetic preference I have for the ways that the visual vocabulary of black and white can underscore emotion and mood in a photograph, particularly of people. The contrast makes apparent patterns, shapes, relationships that I feel I can use as a kind of grammar to say what I want to say.
What are your top tips for taking Instagram photos on your Lumia?
1. If you want to take photos of natural human behaviours (a core of street photography) you have to be with them, a couple of minutes, in their natural environment (restaurants, parks, streets). First, observe. Second, find a target, imagine a picture. Third, shoot.
2. Don’t waste time with autofocus in Nokia Camera app. For landscapes, use ‘infinity’ value. If you practise street photography, experiment with manual focus.
3. Remember about backup. Turn on auto upload to OneDrive. Your photos will be safe on your cloud and hard drive.
4. Print your pics. Compare how your pics look on paper, a screen of your computer and Lumia. Calibrate displays.
Which five Lumia instagramers do you recommend everyone to follow?
@mortenordstrom – reflections, colour street photography in the best quality
@robmulally – silhouettes, beauty of Australia
@kennethnguyen – this man dreams about flying and is looking for symmetry at every step
@pureview1000 – Juxter, a curator of Windows Phone Showcase on grryo.com. He shows amazing everyday.
@dr_pajchiwo – my colleague from ‘Mobilni’ group. He synthesizes zen with black & white. Some pictures look like they’re from dreams.
I love black and white and silhouttes. I took this photo during yearly student carnival.
This man looks like a poppy in the meadow.
Sitting people remind me of birds on transmission lines.
Light spots, contours, moving cards without motion blur- my little masterpiece.
Colour street photography- temperature of colors and brightness tells you how it was here- cold and sadness.
Blue! My favourite colour.
My quaint interpretation of street photography.
In this picture I presented my psychophysical state- somnolence.
Pure minimalism.
An experiment with low perspective- mission accomplished
We’re loving both Mateusz’s take on the language of photography and the captivating work that he creates. If you are too, be sure to follow him and let us know which photos spoke to you the most in the comments below. And remember, if you think you’d like to be featured as Lumia Instagramer of the Week, make sure you follow us and hashtag your photos #Lumia.