Shooting the streets with my Pentax by Lukasz

Shooting the streets with my Pentax

by Lukasz

Hi my name is Lukasz. I’m from Poland but I live in Ireland since 2005.

My childhood is a period of communism. That was hard time, and the cameras usually came from the Soviet Union, from our “friends”. When I looked at the photographs when I was young, that was another world, sometimes escape from reality. At the beginning I thought not about to take pictures, I just liked the watch them. Later, after the change of regime when it was already much easier and cameras were available, I lost interest in photography. When I get older I bought my amateur camera, and that was the start of my passion. When I started the adventure of photography I did not think about the lenses or the full frame. I did not have a favourite photo subjects, but after some time I became interested in street photography and street portraits. Generally decisive moment speak to me the most, ordinary people in an ordinary world, tired faces of everyday life. Maps of life written on their faces that everyone interprets differently. For me the most power in photography is multiplicity of interpretations. No one can tell another person what is good and what is bad. Everyone has an opinion and can defend it. With curiosity I look at people and their kind, which I try to capture in my photos. Each portrait is different, and each moment is unique, so I try to photograph so as to capture what at the moment is the most unique and unusual.

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I used pentax k20, but now I use k-5 and usually my favourite lens pentax 77mm ltd. 1.8 but sometimes 35mm 2.4.

Greetings Lukasz.

My facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-by-Luca/588506824581547?ref=tn_tnmn

62 Comments

  1. There are so many variables here so that the comparison is between apples and bananas. I do not trust the results with regards to sharpness. But great effort for a quick comparison.

  2. Hello Lukasz
    I’m a photographer from Ireland and have worked with many Polish people in Ireland and I really got on well with all of them without exception. I have briefly discussed political matters with those old enough to remember and it seems that Communism promised much but delivered much less and was a big disappointment ?
    Your photography is superb and your images work so well together-all life is there, sad happy and funny all together.
    Keep shooting ! our paths may cross one day in Dublin or some other location in Ireland.

    • Thank you, if I will be in Dublin’ll let you know. It would be nice to take pictures together. I love the pictures of old people, they have maps of life in his face.

  3. Dear Lukasz,

    especially like the color photos.

    Are they jpegs right out of the camera or did you use photoshop or lightroom? I am crazy about colors so always want to know how people get this.

    Besides this: very nice photos, you captured the moment!

    Best regards
    Heiner

  4. Hello Lukas,

    Thank you for sharing your amazing street photography shots. I myself used to use pentax. Loved it as it was my first camera and taught me the majority of what I needed to know about photography. Love how you don’t focus on gear and focus on getting out there capturing unique moments. Keep up the good work =)

  5. Really enjoyed them. No gimmicks, just solid depictions of interesting-looking humans. I like that you limit depth-of-field to make the subjects pop.
    Enjoyable enough to make me follow your personal link.

    But I’d love it if you had a dedicated photo site; I’m one of those stubborn facebook-resisters.

  6. Very nice set of images. Rarely do I go back to review the images in a posting a 2nd time, but your photos caught my attention. So many stories… My favorites are the man sitting with a cane, and the last one of the man with a cigarette. Also love the 2 saxophone photos. And the guy with the Vaporizer. OK, OK – I like them ALL! Well done.

    • I am thinking as you are. These are fabulous photographs, especially when offered as a group. They stand on their own (a telltale sign of greatness) with no inane commentary needed.

  7. Just to say I was really gripped by these portraits of people in their settings. Some of them might feel stronger still if you decentred the subject (as you also do in others). As to Russian cameras, you might be interested to look at Swedish Jens Olof Lasthein’s work with a swing-lens Russian camera in “White Sea, Black Sea” (if you can borrow a copy – of the book, not the camera! – prices even used are astronomical!) Also Danish Joachim Eskildsen “Roma Journeys” would I am sure interest you.

    • It can be found at Amazon for an arm and a leg. If you do buy from them, use the Amazon link on this site.

    • I just watched the pictures of artists recommended by you. Absolutely stunned! Someday I would like to take even few photos like these. Thanks.

  8. All pictures well done. The exhausted woman leaning up against the building is a one in a thousand decisive moment capture.

  9. Hi Lukasz!

    To be honest, I never quite understand the complaining about life, the hardship, “under” communism. I mean, all people being equal and all that, what more could you wish for? As opposed to the degenerate capitalist West, where people are just exploited.

    Anyway, I sincerely like your images, although the post processing, sharpening, contrast, saturation, sometimes feels a little overdone.
    Thanks for sharing!

    • Imagine North Korea, that’s what it is to live “under” communism.
      I, also was growing up in one of the socialist countries, it was not very happy.

      • I had a friend from Opole. He tried to make it in Ireland, but got homesick and returned. He seems content now with a wife and two beautiful boys.

        I think he missed the fine Czech Pilsners on tap at his local pubs.

    • I like to be exploited in the degenerated West, have millions of people above me as long as I can say what I want, go where I like, drive a nice car, eat exotice fruit, have good med. insurance, photograph with a Leica etc Just ask my fellow countrymen from the former GDR (East Germany) how much they missed this and other things under communist rule!

      Br Heiner

  10. Polish people rusofobic as the Hell. What a you a doing in Ireland, Back to democratic Poland. Russian was best FREND to Polish people, but not any more.

    • You can’t judge if you never lived there. Poland loves Russians, but hate russian government and we feel sorry that you need to live in Russian country. We know capitalism is far from perfect, but communism isn’t either, especially in the way it was introduced in Poland by russian government.

      Lukasz, really great pictures!

      • Never having lived there, I still know all that. Funny innit? I was merely commenting on the combative nature of Vitaliy’s response, but you must have missed that.

        By pure coincidence, one of my two year old twin daughters’ mane is Vitaliya, after her uncle Vitaliy.

      • And it is said by the representative of a country which should be grateful to the Russians for the preservation of their state twice for a century, your condescending sympathy is just pointless.

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