Essay Example on Tomasz Gudzowaty - Biography and Works

Tomasz Gudzowaty is a polish art, portrait photojournalist and a documentary filmmaker born in 1971 in Warsaw, Poland. He gained the international recognition and identification through a series of publication and awards evidenced through his works. Through his photojournalist activities, there is a series of events tied to his practices. Along with other achievements and practices, he is a winner of various competitions. (for instance, NPPA's Best of Photojournalism, B&W Spider Awards, National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, and the International Photography Awards). He is one of the best-known polish photojournalists (Gudzowaty, 2013).

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In a collection of most of his works, Tomasz Gudzowaty has pursued various distinctions focusing mostly on the social issues, sports, and wildlife which according to the photographic projects, he has traveled on all the continents to over hundred nations. Over the recent years, he is using portraiture in almost every photograph he captures. In the presentation of his work, it has appeared in magazine publications, several books and has also gained presentation in individual exhibitions at galleries and museums worldwide.

Early Life

With Tomasz Gudzowaty's birth in 19th September 1971, he acquired the interest in photography from his early childhood owing to his uncle, who was focused on amateur photography and was a self-appointed chronicler in his hometown. Initially, Tomasz Gudzowaty wanted to become a lawyer and earned a master's degree from the University of Warsaw in the faculty of law and administration. He is the son of a philanthropist and businessman Aleksander Gudzowaty.

Additionally, he is married to Melody Gudzowaty, who in different perceptions had excellence in several beauty pageants. For instance, she won the Miss Dominican Republic International 2012, Miss Islas Baleares 2008, and was a second runner-up in Reina Hispano-American 2009. Also, became the third runner-up in the Miss International 2012. However, soon after he returned to his actual and passionate vocation, he switched to photography on a full-time basis. In recognition and acceptance of his achievements, Gudzowaty acquired high regards and consideration form the national and polish state organizations. The honor included the acquisition of the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta that was awarded by the Poland president in 2000. Also, in 2013, the Polish Olympic Committee awarded him the Gold Olympic Laurel in photography.

Career and Personal History

During the 1990s, Tomasz Gudzowaty had made extensive travels to Asia and Africa and had had the chance to win several awards. There is a load of photographs captured by him, but he earned a global breakthrough in 1999 when he won the first prize in the World Press Photo competition, in the category of nature-singles. The picture involved young cheetahs just before making their primary prey or kill. In the context of the photograph, it gained naming as the First lesson of killing which learned presentation in a variety of places for example schools.

As a confirmation of his position in the photography of nature, Gudzowaty won two more prizes in the World Press Photo in 2000 in the same category which proved his professionality. There are many works by his involving nature that gained publication in many exhibition and magazines following his focus and intellect on his work. After a few years of break, Gudzowaty got back into nature photography in 2008 working on a project concerning Antarctic emperor penguins which gained titling as the colony (Gudzowaty, 2016).

Nonetheless, he acquired the accreditation as a photojournalist in 2000 during the Summer Paralympic Games held in Sidney and Athens in the year 2004. During the years between 2003 and 2004, he acquired other international awards for example, with a photo concerning the Shaolin temple in China monks which rendered a print in his path as a sports photographer.

, during a similar timeframe, he made other projects involving the documentation of environmental and social issues allow over in a global context. The most common documentation includes a photo story regarding workers in the Chittagong ship-breaking yards. There are several works by Gudzowaty concerning his different categorizations being nature, sports, and also environmental and social issues. However, the achieved awards are also many considering that he is one if the best polish photojournalist is covering one of the critical aspects of life.

In one way or the other, understanding his personal history render more exposure to his pieces of works which is evident through film, presentations, and also books. With the high number of awards under different categories, it is easy to confuse his actions since they gain delivery in different perspectives. In his focus on sport-related photography, his project renders a grounding on the structure of sports. He aims individuals of all ages involved in games apart from the main characters. For example, the documents, amateur racers in Mexico, sage yogis in India, and children players in Mongolia.

Samples of Tomasz Gudzowaty work

Figure 1.0 wild beast Migration

Figure 2.0 1999, 1st prize singles, Nature

Figure 3.0 2000, 2nd prize singles, Nature

Figure 4.0 2009 3rd Prize singles, Sports

Figure 5.0 2013 3rd prize stories, Sports

Figure 6.0 Shaolin Monks workout

Figure 7.0 Mexico's car frenzy

Figure 8.0 From series Chinese Gymnasts,

Tomasz Gudzowaty Style

Gudzowaty's style in his photojournalism is a practice that most of the journalists are not practicing. His style revolves around his ability as an individual who is highly elaborated and ensures the promotion of questions concerning the limits of outstanding photography and the possibilities that there is the new creative medium. In most of his publications, displays, or projects, he has rendered them in black and white, in the formation of photo essays. Severally, the photo essays are majorly composed of twelve images portraying the bigger picture among other involvements. For example, as a photographer in sports, he maintains his passion and interest in the metaphysics of games and sports under the epitome of social awareness. However, people ask him about his inspiration and in most cases, he refers Sebastiao Salgado among the artist proving influence to him (Nagourney, 2016).

Additionally, Gudzowaty began using (Linhof Master Technika) a large format gadget or camera in 2007 in his works and photography apart from the commonly used 35mm SLR that he used rarely. With the shift and change, it rendered a direct impact on the formation of his style. The move ensured the creation of more elaborated compositions and provided a shallow depth of focus. Also, he is focusing majorly on the portraiture which is becoming a substantial part of his career among other interventions as most of his projects clog with portraits. His style of photojournalism is evident from the recent achievements in several competitions (such as The Taylor Wessing Photography Portrait award given by the London National Gallery.

However, there are different practices I like about his style. With his new focus on portraiture, Gudzowaty is maintaining a proper eye on the crucial parts concerning social awareness and keeping the focus on them. For many photojournalists, they focus on other practices which in one way or the other, end up implicating their works and leave the audiences wondering what the message in the projects or photographs was really. In every picture or art, it is essential to understand the underlying features present. Also, people acquire different understanding concerning given piece of art according to how the photographer captured. In most cases, some of the photos lose the meaning, or the viewers understand different which may also render and effect especially if they perceive wrongly. For the example of Gudzowaty, he strives to maintain that his pieces of work do not lose meaning and drive the intended message home. One of the ways to support the essence includes the use of portrait which is something he is doing currently. As a result, it creates the involvement and makes his work unique and different. Thus, it is something I like about his style.

Conclusion

In the context of the entire photojournalism, Gudzowaty is one of the best photojournalist presenting their arts in different ways. The society is forgetting about the most critical section of life which gain reviving through the use of photojournalism. In most cases, people use the photos for the wrong reasons which render implications in the future. However, for Gudzowaty he is photographer striving to bring the meaning to the less involved facts of the world. With his unique style and focus on the documentation of the world formations, it renders him as exceptional thus creating reasons as to why I chose him. In different perceptions, he is evolving the entire sports photography which comes as a result of his photojournalism roots towards artistic and creative expression.

References

Gudzowaty, T. (2013). Tomasz Gudzowaty | ND Magazine. Ndmagazine.net. Retrieved from http://ndmagazine.net/photographer/tomasz-gudzowaty/Gudzowaty, T. (2016). Biography. Gudzowaty.com. Retrieved from http://gudzowaty.com/index.php/home/tomasz-gudzowaty

Nagourney, E. (2016). On the Prowl with a Wildlife Photographer. Lens Blog. Retrieved from https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/on-the-prowl-with-a-wildlife-photographer/