Aksela Kolodziejczyk - Blog

10 amazing Flickr photostreams

2012-01-26T19:12:00.005Z

I realised I never shared the love on my blog, so I think it is about the time I share some of my favourite photostreams from Flickr. They present different styles of photography and I value them for many reasons, so be prepared for variety :)

Floridapfe - Cherl Kim from South Korea. Extremely interesting shots of flower garden from Everland and lots of breathtaking photos from Everland zoo. Some of them are so real, that you can feel like you were about tpo touch the photographed object.
Marta Bevacqua - her photographs are amazing dreamy portraits, a lot of conceptual work featuring beauty of female body.
Dogs Trust - something for the dog lovers. Here is a sentence from their profile describing this photostream in a best and simplest way: Working towards the day when all dogs can enjoy a happy life, free from the threat of unnecessary destruction. Lots of pups to be adopted/
Mashuga - Gary Clark - true professional not affraid of working with one of the toughest subjects - homelessnes - presenting it a beautiful way. Very touching shots, reaching to the deepest emotions.
Federica Erra - beautiful emotional portraits with very solid and specific style. No "plastic" retouching, pure beauty with strong focus on the eyes.
Jean-Michel Priaux - lots of landscapes, a little bit surreal with strong contrasts and deep colours. They will take you to the unknown world of places with the element of fantasy.
Chris Lawrence - interesting approach to architecture and lifestyle. Focused on details and moments.
PhotoGavin - Gavin Hoey is the guy you want to listen to, as it is easy to get caught into the friendly atmosphere he creates. His photostream is full of end result images, which will then take you to - often basic, but useful - tips contained in his videos on YouTube or blog posts. Good for the oens that are just starting.
Ryan Lee - comes from the town I live in - Reading. His stream is bursting with colours captured in an amazing macro shots, mostly flora and creatures.
Lavazza Photos - photos from the famous yearly calendars from 2005

Kamila - portfolio shoot

2012-01-07T22:20:00.001Z

The beauty of the body

2012-01-04T19:14:00.007Z

No description, just pictures for today.

Wedding - Joanna and Wojtek

2011-12-31T00:06:00.003Z

Here is a very short photo relation from a modest wedding of one of the girls I got to know last year. It was organized in the house she is renting, there was no venue and no church. This was a wish of the couple. There was no time dedicated for the couple pictures, groom also didn't wish to have his photos taken, so please mind this is purely journalistic post, as this is what they wanted. In general - I can say - this wedding was nowhere close to the standard event you would associate with getting married, but since everyone is different we have to respect the will of others.

Hair and make up was done by Kasia "ciasteczko 25" know from her YouTube channel.

She is a YouTube guru managing blog about fashion and beauty (at the moment in polish only).

The weddinf itself had its official part in the registry office and then the guests moved back home. Below are some more of the photos from the day.

What happened last week in Milan

2011-11-13T12:25:00.001Z

Last week Milan was everything that you could not imagine when thinking of Italy. I could sum it up in two words: Heavy Rain. The weather didn't get any better even for a minute. It looked like someone shot the sky with lots of bullets and therefore whole water of the Universe was now leaking down.

Despite terrible rain, I had a good time with Daria (a friend from the college times). I have spent huge amount of money on colthing that I wasn't supposed to buy. All I had on me decided to protest and break: due to overload of water my shoes ended up in the bin. Before we left home and went to the airport my coat's life got to an end and I had to get rid of it (ohh, how happy I was that Daria wanted to throw her coat away). Just to top it up, on the second day, I discovered my favourite pair of jeans are ripped in the middle... I was about to explode, but decided to hold it inside and use it as an excuse for shopping :) You gotta find the positive side of the negative situation.

I was hoping I could take some proper photos, focus on details, but instead I took my camera out just once and only thanks to Daria, who was holding everything else for me and covering the lens from huge rain drops that were coming from every possible direction. So here are just the few shaky and dark shots from Milan. I thought it looked amazing anyway and the centre point of the city - Duomo di Milan - was magnificent.

Halloween @ Warwick Castle

2011-10-27T20:57:00.007+01:00

One day trip

The planning was quite spontaneous. One day Malcolm's brother (Ed) mentioned he wants to visit UK. We agreed on a date, but few days later it turned out to be uncovenient for all of us, so we rescheduled. Then Ed proposed another one which sounded much better. The day before his arrival we decided that we'll go to Warwick on Saturday. He came last Friday and they both went to a golfcourse first, when I - unfortunatelly - had to work. The game was final of their family's cup. I won't tell you who won, it's their little secret :)

Saturday morning was one of these, which I like the most. I woke up and on the entrance to our livingroom I was welcomed by morning brightness and lots of sun. You gotta love it ! Perfect energy boost guaranteed. "Boys" were still sleeping, so I had some time to myself. I made my favourite prickly pear green tea and prepared a breakfast for them.

It took about 2 hours to get to Warwick. Weather was very benignant and made us feel even better. Althoug the 10 minute walk and long queue for tickets was rather an uncomfortable experience considering the fact I drank huge mug of liquid before leaving home, I couldn't wait for the rest of the day. First few sights and I was feeling blissful relaxation.

Heroes eating heroes !

I think this should be forbidden ;)

... and more beautiful weather...

This was one of those things I couldn't understand. It was in the castle, but for me it didn't have anything to do with the era the castle comes from.

Haloween @ Warwick Castle

The first thing that we noticed was the mood which was already set for Halloween. Not being used to this celebrations from my early age I felt rather neutral about it, until I actually saw the inside of few rooms. The atmosphere, the twilight feeling made my flesh creep a little bit. I couldn't think of anything else than that it actually looked quite fun, so I took some pictures of the elements that actually caught my eye. Please mind I didn't have my Speedlights with me and the lighting was... well... let's say limited :)

Just few words to summarize.

Good company = good fun !
Having someone that can actually talk about what you see - thanks Ed:) - and be passionate about it is way better than comercial talk from the castle guide.
Warwick makes you stop sightseeing during lunchtime, so you would buy food from the courtyard. Well done dear Warwick Castle managers. It worked judging by the amount of tourists making their stomachs fuller and fuller.
We need to invite more friends and more often.
Place worth seeing, but really crowded.

Bruce Smith @ SmugMug's Meetup in London

2011-10-20T17:15:00.004+01:00

I recently went to London for a meeting with Bruce Smith organised by SmugMug. I have followed Bruce's work for quite a while. He impreses me with the simplicity and class that is getting a little bit forgotten in current social media self proclaimed young photographer's world, where "edgy" is one of the most popular styles in photos. His pictures speak for themselves. They are elegant, they are sexy and full of passion he expresses with every single bone and muscle in his body.

I have to say it was pleasure to be there and see who is that guy that stands behind the words of the first fashion photography books I have ever bought. Fashion Photography is a good source of basic knowledge for anyone that is just starting out. This publication allowed me to look at what I already knew from a bit different point of view. I have bought its "sister" - Pro Digital Fashion Photography: A Complete Reference Guide to the Tools and Techniques of Successful Digital Fashion Photography- and got it signed by Bruce, which was a nice touch.

After this experience I feel like I should visit networking events as well as meetings like this more often. It's great to see how different well known or less known photographers are to what you imagine.

I am alive !

2011-10-20T12:10:00.001+01:00

I am alive !

For all those who wondered what happened to me - I am alive .

There are times when life takes us on the journey, where we have to follow unknown paths and cross huge barriers and blokades. Last few months were exactly like this for me, therefore despite the fact I have not forgotten about this blog, I became a little bit negligent in updating it regularly. It was imposed by nature of my other creative duties and time required for self-development. I am truly sorry that I wasn't able to connect with my readers more often, but I promise to improve frequency of postings as well as content of this blog.

Next few posts will be featuring images and short stories from places and events I visited recently. Hope you'll like it :)

To get the latest news from me Follow me on Twitter

Mercedes-Benz World

2011-06-12T14:08:00.006+01:00

Work and relax ratio

Malcolm and I work a lot, to include some weekends and a lot of evenings, so we generally don't have a lot of time for exploring our region or going for some pleasurable trips. One day we decided we have to break the routine of straight line work-home and we googled some places where we could go and have a nice time. We wanted something that would relate to our hobbys. One of them is motoring, so as automotive fans we decided to visit a Mecedes-Benz World in Weybridge.

The home of Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is an interesting place for anyone who is interested in cars. Few floors of showrooms offer a variety of models from different years, from the very historic to the newest ones. You could also see some presentation where you cna enjoy a Mercedes-Benz CLK on its fascinating journey from sheet metal to high speed test drive as well as the real test drives in one of the best models ever produced.

There was also a small area for the fans of a bigger caliber with a model that looked a bit funny from the design point of view, but it was created for a special tasks.

The most amazing part for me was the F1 exhibition with the F1 car broken into smallest pieces you could imagine. Simply breathtaking.

There was also something that I found somehow funny, something for a woman that like to match all their wardrobe and accessorie pieces with their make-up, beauty regime. This nail polish made me smile for awhile, but in the end I thought it was brilliant idea.

Mercedes - part 2

2011-05-30T16:11:00.002+01:00

I have found few more pictures from the first shoot I did with Mercedes in Hotel Olandia in Poland. Enjoy ! You can also view th first part here.

Portfolio shoot - sneak peek - Mercedes

2011-05-08T12:25:00.010+01:00

Here is a quick sneak peak of the photoshoot I did for the model Mercedes
Ottako.

The location of this shoot was Hotel Olandia in Poland.

Portfolio shoot - Adela

2011-05-01T19:41:00.005+01:00

When I was on holiday I had few shoots for models' portfolios. One of them was for Adela. Beautiful girl with amazing eyes and delicate face. When I saw Przemek doing her hair and make up I couldn't help myself and I started visualising her as a little fairy, so this set up a tone for a shoot a little bit more than I planned. We went to a park near a place where I used to live. It has changed a lot since I visited my famila town last time. I discovered few interesting places prior to the shoot. We both agreed for a romantic style, as Adela didn't have any pictures that would show this side of her. It was a challenge for her, as she mentioned - she is generally more edgy girl. I think she managed very well. So here she is. Enjoy :)

Customer service - we bought our new "baby"

2011-03-01T21:36:00.007Z

We recently bought a car, our first with the driving wheel on the right side. Driving on left was something funny at first, but this – ohh this was even stranger. Well, I can only say that after watching Malcolm driving our new "baby".

One weekend we decided to make a round of test drives in few auto saloons. We started with Citroën where a nice guy welcomed us with a foreign accent. First impressions were good. Overall experience was very positive. He didn’t talk too much, which is the most hated characteristic of salesman, but he was open to questions and I found it perfect, as it allowed me to think and feel the car. The meeting wasn’t followed by a phone call, which I would normally expect, especially that we wanted to test a specific model that wasn’t available at the time of our visit.

Photo by Malcolm - @nineteen80one

The next place was Honda, where the building was much more representative. The men with fake looking tan, dressed in a very neatly ironed suit, leather polished shoes and some golden jewellery has put me off straight away. For some reason I don’t trust people that look like this, I always get a feeling they are hiding something from me, as much as they are hiding from themselves under ton of tan, watches, etc. Anyways, he started explaining how cool that car we were looking at is, which would probably work on someone that doesn’t have any idea about cars. He described how much faster that car could be thanks to the design of its lights, which for me personally was funny. I am aware that certain parts of the car can make it more ergonomic, but to say that lights can add to the speed… I don’t buy it. This salesman did his homework for the previous one too. He called Malcolm a lot of times, asking for his decision, which after a while turned to be very unpleasant, due to frequency.

Photo by Malcolm - @nineteen80one

In Ford presentation was very poor, as well as first impressions, after we were approached by some older looking sales guy. Due to the fact we are foreigners we were asked number of questions, so we felt a little bit like on an interrogation, but from the other hand it was somehow understandable, but it could be done in more subtle way. He tried to find out where we work and how much we earn to think if he even wants to talk to us. In the end he did talk to us, but only after we purposely expressed our serious interest after a test drive. It left us with sort of unpleasant feeling.

Then there was VW where we only had a very quick chat with some polite men and women. They didn’t have any of the models we wanted to see though, so the following week – after Malcolm found one car on the Internet – we decided to drive to Weybridge to see it. The dealer was relatively small comparing to Reading’s branch, but certainly better atmosphere. We saw our blue “baby” before we entered the building for more questions. Something was so beautiful about this particular car, that I could even call it a love at the first sight. We spent some more time on watching this Civic and after agreeing on terms and conditions we paid the deposit. It felt like the quickest transaction… followed by some doubts at first, but after we picked up the car a week later, it somehow vanished. In general customer service experience in this place surprisingly good. No needless talking, just hard facts – that’s what we liked. They called us as they promised, so no typical “we will call you back”, it all felt right.

Photo by Malcolm - @nineteen80one

What do you like as a customer, what do you pay attention to? How do you like to be served? Share your experience.

For more photos of our Honda Civic Type-S and other automotive photography check out Malcolm'c website: www.nineteen80one.com

TRAVELLING: Antigua - food and entertainment

2011-02-28T12:53:00.040Z

Today, as promised some time ago, I am going to write a little bit more about the food and entertainment experience from Antigua. There were few types of meals, of course every day was a different menu, but in general they served breakfast, lunch and dinner plus some afternoon tea/cake. The first one was a bit of disappointment, as I am not originally British (living in the UK though) I was not entirely happy with the choice of food. I loved the fruit salad bar (my life saver during whole stay) and this is how I mostly started my day. The choice wasn’t that bad, it was just not up to my personal taste, as except fruits a lot of things were fried and rich in fat: eggs in few varieties, sausages, bacon, fish, and toasts. Not much more as in continental breakfast meaning. There were some cereals, mostly with addition of sugar which I am trying to avid) and just one type of cheese, ham, a bit unfresh looking tomato and nothing more. So I ended up eating typical British breakfast muffins with fruity jam and drinking lots of juices. I sometimes tried to eat the local meals, which was additional to the meaty, egg part, but it was mostly hot fish (for me the worst form of fish) or sautéed bananas (which was quite nice difference). Breakfast was served in main building.

The lunch was also very Brit orientated with choice of fish & chips, burgers and usually one veggie dish which most visitors didn’t even pay attention to, so after few days (despite the urge to eat something unhealthy from time to time), we had enough and were craving salads, like never before. Last few days satisfied our need for some not meaty food, as it was grill/barbecue buffet style lunch, which was great, because you could fill your whole plate with salad if you wanted. The perfect combination was lots of vegetables and a bit of fries. Each lunch similarly to dinner was followed by a dessert, usually choice of local pies: banana, coconut, peach, fruit platters and ice-cream.

Dinner unlike lunch was served in the main building. The service was similar to a typical restaurant, with the exception of weird unhappy face expressions from some and more smile from others. Waiters were taking orders from the menus changed every day. What we loved about these meals was their presentation and what we didn’t like was – again – not enough vegetables. There were few times where the atmosphere felt very special due to the lights hang on the garden trees in between the tables. Looked almost like some posh wedding reception. Two times we were served buffet style dinners, which we loved as much as the buffet style lunches – thanks to the choice of vegetable based elements.

The funny addition to all meals were birds - which we first welcomed on our table,s but got really mad at in the end. The biggets mistake we did was to let the animlas melt our hearts and suffer for that - do not feed the birds, they can be very sweet but they end up being way too importunate. No further comments here...

There wasn’t much as for entertainment part, we didn’t travel much around the island though. The bars were open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. (beach bar) and 6 p.m. – late night (bar in the main building). Almost every dinner was accompanied by a local band Axis, singing nice covers. Sometimes there was rum punch and typical Caribbean music played by some older members of their society. Apart from that -if you didn’t pay additionally – you couldn’t think of anything else than some water sports: kayak, surfing, snorkelling and mini catamarans.

After over a week, we decided to book a big catamaran trip around the island, which was quite nice seeing all the tiny islands few square meters long and wide, it was extremely beautiful. Nice experience, sun, wind – simply relaxing. The other booking we made was for the “safari” in a 4WD car with air conditioning – yes, it was a relief. Two young guys were talking about certain regions of their country, explaining about people living in the villages, natural environment and local bars; we stopped in one of them for some lunch. They didn’t intend to take us anywhere else, but I insisted on going to the capital, I really wanted to see the real people and their lives, the atmosphere. For some reason St. John’s seemed to look like Havana from old movies I saw. It looked quite poor, but it had its incredible charm. I actually loved it, the warm colours of paint on the buildings, the sugar cane sold from the blankets on the streets, bananas, souvenirs. Everything seemed to have this no-rush feeling. Life on Antigua looks very different to our daily living. They never rush, they even work unflinchingly, but this only applies to local businesses run by local owners. They hate foreign style management; they leave their job if someone tells them to be more effective and tries to force them to take more western attitude.

Reassuming I can say that these are my own experiences and thoughts, so it could be totally different for someone else. It all depends on where you come from and in what mood you are, what you like and expect from your holiday. In overall I loved it, as it was my first proper holiday in the whole life. I expected more places to be available to go by foot or to see, but it was all worth it.

IMATS - London 2011

2011-01-30T12:34:00.029Z

Yesterday I went to IMATS in London. For those who don’t know – it is the International Make-up artist trade show organized in some of the biggest cities in the world (London, Toronto, Sydney, New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver) by Make-Up Artist magazine.

This year it was its 10^th edition. Thousands of make-up artists, body painters and stylists gathered in London to see the biggest make-up companies showing their best products and new businesses trying to make their way up. Since the phenomen of YouTube Beauty Gurus is still growing, it wouldn’t be as interesting if they weren’t present. You could see the well-known in the UK- pixiwoo sisters, in Poland - Kasia ciasteczko25 and other YouTube bloggers: beautystarlet, MakeupBrook, nieesia25 , spioch3232, TheBreathOfFreshAir. I highly recommend you to check out one of my friend’s channel: FigielkaUK and her short relation IMATS – LONDYN 2011 from this event (intro in Polish) filmed on iPhone to see bits and pieces of the show.

There were lost of amazing pieces of art, huge dose of creativity, some of them scary, some pretty and some just made me laugh. In general I was really happy to go, as I took it as an opportunity for networking and inspiration, even I am not a make-up artist. Being photohrapher requires head full of ideas and a notebook full of contacts, so this was a way to fill it in.

One of the stands caught my attention for its creations related to high fashion and editiorials.

Other exibitor for some reason reminded me of a movie Avatar and I actually don't knw why, maybe for the make up catching light i a very specific way.

There was certainly something for everyone ;)

I also felt very excited about the fact that Inglot was exhibiting on an impressive area, definitely something that couldn't be missed when walking. They took care of visual side perfectly, it was inviting, colourful, they had a lot of products exposed, lighting was good too. I am especially proud as being Polish still makes me keep my fingers crossed for all our polish businesses achieving a lot internatinally. Inglot is definitely one of them. It is great to see them growing year after year.

TRAVELLING: Memories from holiday - Antigua

2011-01-25T19:37:00.007Z

The holiday happened to be in October 2010, so I feel a little bit strange writing about it just now, but as our life goes so many unexpected ways, we have to sometimes take a deep breath, live on and see some things from a time perspective, so here you go – description of our long awaited vacation that a lot of people were waiting for.

I have never been on a real holiday in my adult life. Since I left home at the age of 18/19 I was constantly worried about money for basic needs such as rent, food, university, exams, transport fees, etc. I remember lack of understanding from my friends, colleagues, when I was leaving for work. Every vacation and lots of weekend during school/study year for at least 1-2 months I was working, so I didn’t have a time and a budget to go abroad. My life has changed a lot from that time.

Last year, after being in the relationship with Malcolm for almost 9 years, we have decided to save for a proper trip. Each month we have put something into our accounts, so we could finally go somewhere together. You wouldn’t believe, but for over 8 years of being couple we didn’t go on any vacation, except few day trips.We weren’t decided where to go until almost last minute. We considered Spain at first, but after all it seemed too commercial for us, to crowdie. Then there was an idea of renting a yacht with a captain, sailing all around the Caribbean for 2 weeks, which turned out to be too expensive. Third place we wanted to go to was Cape Verde, but in the end as a result of impulse and very short research we chose Antigua. We were afraid of a long flight, as none of us was ever on a plane for longer than 2,5h, but in the end – except boredom and a bit of uncomfortable chairs (but what chair wouldn’t be after 8 hours) – it wasn’t that bad. First thing that hit us, when we were still in the air was an amazing view from the window, bright colours and the size of the island., which looked even smaller that we imagined after looking at it on a Google Maps.

After we landed we saw a really long queue, which looked like it was going to take ages, but in the end it didn’t take as long as we thought it would. On the way to the hotel we got surprised by the state of surrounding environment. No – I am not going to say how amazingly beautiful it was. I will say something totally different here. There was old chipping paint on the buildings, drivers driving like there were no rules on the road, quite greyish landscape and mostly destroyed streets.

We arrived to the hotel (Hawksbill by Rex resorts), which took its name from the interestingly shaped rock that looks like pugnacious tropical sea turtle with a hawk-like beak. Apparently if you were lucky enough and woke up very early in the morning you could see lots of turtles laying eggs in the sand. We were quite tired, so we felt quite excited when receptionist offered us small fee room upgrade. We felt happy just to be there anyway and then she told us we had to wait. It took them about an hour to prepare our double. It was weird, but after some time on the island we realised that the reason for that was probably the way people work and live there. They don’t rush, there is no feeling of being late with duties and they still complained a bit about how busy they were. Lol, it took us a lot to understand it.

The room was not what we expected it to be, it had 2 beds, which seemed way too good at first, but then there were no proper glass windows, just a wooden blinds and nets. No air-condition, one fan on the ceiling. We quickly realised that only one bed will be used, due to extreme temperatures that were making us tired. The only way to avid it was to lie directly under the fan and even then it was still too hot, which for us (living in the UK with rains, winds and generally bad weather) should be pure dream. The other inconvenience was that the provisional “windows” were not protecting us from the sounds of nature (insects, beetles and whatever else it was). The volume was so high that it felt like one of them was sitting right next to me, which I found to be quite creepy. I hate everything that has wings, is an insect or similar and makes noise. How can something mostly really small be able to produce such a crazy sound at such a high tones. Yugh !

The morning brought an amazing view and extremely clear air. We quickly went to the beach and before everyone else was awake took a bath. Here I should stop and say that another thing that we didn’t expect was that days seemed very short, as at 5 p.m. it was already very dark and within 15 minutes everything was getting covered in pure blackness. People were heading to the bars. Getting back to the early hours of our days there, we loved the fact that first half of our holiday we could barely see anyone else using the beach that was the nearest to our building and there were 3 more, one of which was described as “clothes optional”.

The first day was also the time we got to know that there was no way we could easily explore the place due to thicket covering almost everything around and lots of rocks. We were a bit disappointed, as we planned taking lots of pictures, going to one of the hills to see the island from the higher perspective. It turned out we couldn’t go anywhere, unless we booked a taxi or some organised trips. We could choose from catamarans, speed boats, helicopter and 4WD cars safari. A little bit more about that in my next post.

Be Yourself - Be original

2011-01-21T18:02:00.000Z

We go through our lives,
Being somebody else.
It’s time to sit down for a while,
And ask- who am I and what do I need?

If I am who I want to be,
Or who they want to see.
Do I act like I need?
Or every time I do what they tell me to do.

Maybe it’s time to be a real ME,
Start with something new and cool.
And tell you NO if I don’t agree
This is the way to be myself.

But I have to remember,
I have to like what I’m doing.
And I can’t hurt other people,
If I need to say, what I think.

Changing my ways of thinking,
Seeing, acting, being..
Listening to another kind of music,
And put one cloth that differ from another.

Use a correct language, talk in a different way.
Don’t listen what they tell me to DO
If I don’t want to do this and I feel, it’s not right.
Just let it go, and decide about myself.

Let my dreams come true
Listen to my intuition.
Act like I wanted to,
And don’t use marked out paths.

Think about changes, and new ways for the life,
This is worth of it.
In fact, I will never be one hundred percent of myself
But I can just try.

Be Yourself - Be Original

I love Saturdays !

2011-01-15T09:26:00.013Z

Since the time I had to work 7days/week had past, I am very happy person to be able to enjoy Saturdays to the fullest. It is a day when all private projects, all unfinished cases get closed. It doesn't matter if I sped it cleaning the flat or if I have some photographic idea I want to implement as soon as possible. I just love Saturdays. The only thing that worries me is my friends and family that are really far away and I can't see them as often as I would like, but technology (thank you Skype and mobile phones) compensates it at least a little bit.

I like mornings, when I wake up with my biological clock (usually 7-9 a.m.) and there is no rush, nothing waiting to be done just right now, most of things are optional or day to day duties that don’t bother me at all. Favourite green tea from the Twinnings’s range makes me feel very refreshed and is a good start of the day. I am drinking it in my beautiful mug I got from Malcolm (yes, I really don't like pink, but this mug is an exception).

With passion: YouTube adventures - Ciasteczko25 in the beauty and fashion world

2011-01-11T13:48:00.002Z

This is an English version of the post I added yesterday. For photographs - please refer to its Polish version that was written for Kasia's Polish audience. You can see it here.

There was a time when I thought that achieving amazing effect on picture should be work result of one person – photographer. Experiences and life, as well as new ideas, requiring more and more time, organization made start trying to find some creative minds like myself. I wanted people that would think in the same categories, people with passion. People that would love to collaborate, even knowing that they only do it for their own development, often not getting paid for it. Cooperation of this kind is known as experience exchange, TPF (Time for Prints) or FT (Foto trading) – photos for model’s/haistylist’s/make-up artist’s portfolios.

I met Kasia thanks to YouTube. I stumbled upon her channel while searching for make-up inspiration for my fashion photoshoots. First thing that attracted me the most was her positive energy, so I subscribed and after some time I noticed even more – amazing talent growing in front of the eyes of thousands. I knew I have to meet her in person. I looked at her localisation – perfect! She lived relatively close, so one day I just packed and went to the village she works in. She welcomed me with smile as wide that I couldn’t imagine anything better, she was very open and it made me feel like we knew each other for ages. It was a breaking point since which we stayed in touch and started discussing potential collaboration projects. Enough about me, as Kasia agreed to answer few of my questions related to her make-up story. Fin the short interview with her below.

How did you start with make-up?

My story started when I was a little girl. I remember watching my mum every morning (she had to wake up very early for work). At 5 in the morning you could hear hairdryer working at full speed, mum was styling her hair, applying rainbow of colours onto her eyelids. She used to ask me if I liked her looks and I liked to give her advice feeling like a pro (I was only a child at the time). There was a huge shell shaped eye shadow palette she always used to create amazing looks. Next step for me was the time when I thought of becoming a fashion designer. Together with my best friend Oktawia we were letting our imagination go by drawing lots of princess style dresses projects. They were huge and colourful. It’s funny to think about it from the time perspective. After that I wanted to apply for an art school, but my enthusiasm got cooled very quickly when I got to know that I had to prepare 60 creative projects and after the application process I would never receive them back.

Was there a breaking point, when you decided that make-up is THAT thing you love?

I started using make-up when I was 16, at first mostly for the parties. I used to ask my mum and sister for the cosmetics. I started experimenting with colours, going to school as the only one with enough courage to apply colours. My friends soon started approaching me with questions about the techniques and products I used to achieve certain looks. I was their personal make-up artist for proms, weddings and other parties. I loved it! It was the time of opening many beauty studios in Poland. I thought this may be my way, but never actually did anything official with it. Passion remained.

What happened after you graduated?

I wanted to explore life, I needed some changes. 6 years ago I left the country and went to the UK, where I worked in few different places. I knew I want to do something related to the aesthetic aspect of living and that is how I ended in my current workplace, where a good eye and creativity is extremely important, but I wanted even more, so I started watching YouTube videos.

What inspired you to open your own channel?

2,5 years ago in my free time I watched a lot of videos made by the make- up gurus, I was so impressed, that they were sharing their knowledge with the world for free. I thought it was amazing and decided to add something from myself. I remember my first upload and all the positive reactions. It made me feel very motivated. At first there were comments and then came long messages, people started sharing their lives with me. I never thought I will be counting subscribers in thousands.

Do you have plans for further development for your channel/what are you aiming for?

I have so many ideas, but taking into consideration the amount of time we spend at work every day, there is not much left. Despite lack of the time I am trying to diversify the content on my channel. One of the plans for future is to start making DIY videos, where I would share my knowledge about fashion and clothes, which is my second love and passion after make-up. I would focus on subjects such as: how to make your boring clothes look interesting and add some touch of colour to your existing wardrobe. I don’t want to say too much though.

What are the bright sides of being on YouTube?

I love YouTube for the opportunities it gives us and easiness in information sharing. Every day I receive number of emails and comments. When I started I enjoyed every single one of them and it didn’t change. I never imagined how big it could grow, I really enjoy when people share their lives, and it is amazing. I love the social aspect of this website. I met so many truly unique people that are creative and passionate about what they do. I still get impressed on how – thanks to modern technologies – we can communicate.

What are the down sides of being on YouTube?

Definitely one of the least pleasant things is the hateful comments written by people that don’t have their own life and have to recompense that to themselves. I think the best thing we can do in this case is to just ignore them though. I have to say that it is very sad and sometimes even preposterous. It is also annoying when people think they know me so well, but they only know me as much as I will let them to know. Despite all that I am trying to be open and honest, I really admire people that have some goals in life.

I know there is a project you have just started working on. Can you share some details?

Yes, I have just started working on my first website. I would like to make it a place, where my current and any potential subscribers/fans (Fan Page Make Up by ciasteczko25 – in Polish) could find all the information they need. YouTube is great, but sometimes it is overwhelming and you can easily get lost, even when looking for something in one person’s videos. This website will be a one stop place for all the content that I already created and will be creating in future. It will be a place from where you will be able to easily navigate thanks to categories and sections.

Don’t forget to:

-subscribe to Kasia’s YouTube channel: ciasteczko25
-“Like” her Facebook Fan Page: Make Up by ciasteczko25

Z pasją: YouTubowe przygody - Ciasteczko25 w świecie mody i urody.

2011-01-10T21:09:00.009Z

Był czas, kiedy wydawało mi się, iż osiagnięcie wspaniałego efektu na zdjęciach powinno leżeć w rękach jednej osoby – fotografa. Doświadczenia i życie, a także nowe pomysły, wymagające coraz większego nakładu organizacyjnego sprawiły, iż zaczęłam poszukiwać ludzi, którzy nadawaliby na podobnych falach, ludzi kreatywnych, z pasją. Ludzi, którzy chcieli angażować się w projekty, wiedząc iż robią to dla własnego rozwoju, często nie otrzymując za to zapłaty finansowej. Wspołpracę taką nazywa się wymianą doświadczeń, TPF (Time for Prints) – Czas za Wydruk/Odbitki lub FT (Foto trading) – zdjęcia do portfolio dla modeli/modelek/fryzjerów/stylistów/wizażystów.

Kasię poznałam dzięki YouTube, natknęłam się na jej kanał szukając inspiracji makijażowej do moich sesji zdjęciowych w temacie mody. Początkowo przyciągnęła mnie głównie jej pozytywna energia, zasubskrybowałam więc jej kanał, a z czasem zaczęłam w niej widzieć niesamowity potencjał, odwagę i determinację. Wiedziałam, że muszę ją poznać na żywo. Zerknęłam na lokalizację – perfekcyjnie. Okazało się, iż ciasteczko25 mieszka całkiem niedaleko mnie. W pewiem wolny dzień postanowiłam więc odwiedzić miejsce jej pracy, nie pomyliłam się co do niej. Powitała mnie uśmiechem szerszym niż kiedykolwiek mogłabym sobie wyobrazić, otwartością tak niesamowitą, iż czułam się jakbyśmy znały się od lat. To było przełomowe spotkanie, ale chciałam wiedzieć więcej, jako że uwielbiam poznawać ludzi i ich życie. Dlatego też od tego czasu regularnie utrzymujemy kontakt, planując nowe projekty, rozmawiając o potencjalnych możliwościach współpracy. Ale dośc o mnie. Kasia zgodziła się odpowiedzieć na kilka pytań dotyczących jej makijażowej historii i nie tylko. Krótki wywiad z Kasią możecie przeczytać poniżej.

Photo by ciasteczko25

Opowiedz jak zaczęła się Twoja historia.

Moja historia zaczeła się już w dzieciństwie. Pamiętam, że jako mała dziewczynka uwielbiałam przyglądac się mojej mamie, która wstawała do pracy bardzo wcześnie rano. Już o 5 suszarka nie dawała spokoju, mama układała włosy, nakładała tęcze kolorów na oczy. Czasami pytała sie mnie czy powinna dodać coś do swego dzieła, dawałam wtedy rady niczym wielka specjalistka (a byłam przecież jeszcze dzieckiem) ciesząc się, kiedy brała je pod uwagę. Pamiętam wielką czarną muszlę pełniącą rolę palety cieni z ogromną ilością kolorów w środku. Następnie przyszedł okres, kiedy to marzyłam o zostaniu projektantką mody. Wraz z moją najlepszą przyjaciółką Oktawią siedziałyśmy i puszczałyśmy wodze wyobraźni, rysując projekty sukien w stylu „princess” (księżniczka), wielkie bufiaste i niezwykle ozdobne. Zabawnie myślec dziś o tym z perspektywy czasu... Nastęnym etapem była chęć aplikacji do szkoły plastycznej, która jednak została szybko ostudzona, gdy dowiedziałam się, iż nie ma gwarancji, iż 60 projektów które trzeba złożyć w ramach procesu aplikacji prawdopodobnie nigdy by do mnie nie wróciło.

Czy był jakiś moment przełomowy, kiedy stwierdziłaś że makijaż to jest TO?

Malować zaczełam się mając 16 lat, głowniena większe wyjścia. Kosmetyki pożyczałam od mamy i siostry. Zaczęło się więc eksperymentowanie z kolorem. Jako jedyna chodziłam do szkoły z odważniejszymi kolorami. Koleżanki zaczeły mnie podpytywać czego używam, by osiagnąć konkretny efekt, z jakiej techniki korzystam. Zaczęłam pomagać im wydobywać z siebie piękno. Malowałam na imprezy, studniówki, śluby. Uwielbiałam to. Był to okres, kiedy w Polsce zaczęły masowo powstawać studia kosmetyczne i gabinety zajmujące się zdobieniem paznokci/tipsów. Pomyślałam wtedy, że powinnam zostać kosmetyczką, wizażystką i zająć się czymś związanym z urodą i tak jakoś zostało...

Co więc zrobiłaś po szkole, do której wtedy uczęszczałaś?

Ciekawiło mnie życie, chciałam zmian. 6 lat temu wyjechałam więc do UK, gdzie pracowałam w kilku róznych zadowdach. Wiedziałam jednak, iż musze robić coś związanego z estetyką wizualną i tak oto skończyłam w miejscu, w którym niezwykle potrzebne jest dobre oko i kreatywna głowa. Ale czegoś wciąż mi brakowało, zaczęłam oglądać filmiki na YT, spodobało mi się.

Photo by ciasteczko25

Co zainspirowało Cię do stworzenia swojego kanału?

Kiedy 2,5 roku temu zaczęłam w ramach czasu wolnego przeglądać kanały makijażowych guru byłam pod ogromnym wrażeniem ich umiejętności i ilości widzów. Stwierdziłam, iż to naprawdę niesamowite, że dziewczyny dzieliły się tym wszystkim z innymi. Podjęłam więc decyzję, że spróbuję i ja. Pamiętam mój pierwszy filmik, byłam zszokowana jak pozytywnie został przyjęty, ile osób skomentowało i jak miłe były te komentarze. Zmotywowało mnie to do dalszego kręcenia, nigdy jednak nie podejrzewałam, że ilośc moich subskrybentów będzie liczona w tysiącach, a niezliczona ilość kobiet będzie się ze mną dzielić swoimi problemami.

Czy masz w planach dalszy rozwój kanału/co planujesz?

Mam niesamowicie dużo pomysłów, biorąc jednak pod uwagę iż pracuję, co w UK wygląda trochę inaczej niż w PL pod względem czasowym (w pracy, a także na dotarciu do niej spędza się wiele więcej czasu niż w Polsce), mam mało czasu na realizację swoich planów. Staram się jednak, w miare możliwości, urozmaicać treści na moim kanale. W przyszłości chciałabym stworzyć konkretne serie filmików skupione na określonych tematach. Jednym z nich byłoby tzw. DIY (Do It Yourself – Zrób to sam), gdzie chciałabym podzielić się z widzami wiedzą na temat mody, która jest moją drugą miłością i pasją po makijażu. Skupiłabym się na poradach typu: jak przerobić ubranie, które jest nudne, jak w prosty sposób dodać życia szarym tkaninom. Na razie jednak nie chcę za dużo mówić, aby nie zapeszyć.

Photo by ciasteczko25

Za co lubisz YouTube?

YT kocham przede wszystkim za otwartość i łatwośc dzielenia się informacjami. Codziennie dostaję ogromne ilości wiadomości. Kiedy zaczynałam cieszyłam się z każdego komentarza, nigdy nie wyobrażając sobie do jakiej skali to wszystko urośnie. Dziś oprócz setek komentarzy dostaję też maile, ludzie dzielą się ze mną swoim życiem, to wspaniałe. Uwielbiam więc społeczny aspekt działania tego serwisu. Dzięki niemu poznałam naprawdę niesamowitych ludzi, którzy są kreatywni, mają cudowne pasje. To niesamowite jak mimo odległości świat pozwala nam się dziś komunikować.

Czy widzisz jakieś negatywne aspekty działalności na YT?

Zdecydowanie nieprzyjemną częścią sę pełne nienawiści komentarze pisane przez ludzi, którzy nie mają swojego życia i muszą zajmować się czyimś, by zrekompensować sobie braki hobby czy podbić poziom swojego ego. Najlepiej jednak takie osoby po prostu ignorowac. Choć powiem szczerze, że czasami jest to przykre, a momentami wręcz absurdalne. Drażni mnie także, kiedy ludziom wydaje się, że znają mnie na wylot, a przeciez znają mnie na tyle, na ile pozwolę im się poznać. Mimo tego wszystkiego staram się być otwarta i cenię sobie ludzi, którzy mają cel w życiu.

Photo by ciasteczko25

Wiem, że masz w zanadarzu pewiem projekt. Zdradzisz nam kilka szczegołów?

Tak, właśnie rozpoczęłam pracę nad swoja pierwszą stroną internetową. Chciałabym by było to miejsce, gdzie dotychczasowi widzowie, a także nowi potencjalni fani (Fan Page Make Up by ciasteczko25) mogliby z łatwością znaleźć informacje, jakich szukają. YouTube jest naprawdę super, ale z doświadczenia wiem, iż czasami w natłoku filmików (nawet jednej osoby) ciężko jest znaleźć coś konkretnego. Strona ta ma za zadanie ułatwić nawigację po treści, jaką już stworzyłam, i jaką potencjalnie będę tworzyć. Ma być pierwszym przystankiem, z którego będzie można z łatwością wybrać się dalej.

Nie zapomnijcie dodać Kasi do:

- swoich subskrybcji na YouTube: ciasteczko25

- swoich ulubionych stron na Facebooku: Make Up by ciasteczko25
______________________________________________________________________________

If you are English speaking reader of this blog, please be patient.
This blog post will be translated and will appear later on.

Personal development for a better life

2011-01-08T16:50:00.006Z

Inspiration for this post

Let me just start with what made me write a blog post on this subject. It started couple of months ago, when I really wanted to help two of my friends I know for ages and I really wish well for. Soon I realised that some things are just missions impossibles. I started analysing (my worst nightmare - thinking and analysing life too much...) and I came up to some conclusions, which you will find further in this text.

Feeling happier - possible

Couple of days ago I have decided to bring this blog back to life. I was sitting there feeling miserable and thinking of what I can blog about, what topics I can touch and every single one I thought of seemed too obvious and some looked even stupid, but I said to myself that a key to feeling happy is being able to keep your own promises to yourself and work hard. I didn’t want to give up so quickly, so I sat on my very uncomfortable chair in the kitchen (where my workstation is) – it gives me back and neck pains - and though of goals I need to set up this year. I don’t like to call it New Year’s resolutions, as most of these seem to be wishes rather than realistic decisions, so I just call it goals. For this year my main would be to live my life the way, that no matter what, I would feel happy in general, despite all the worse days that every single person in the world has from time to time. I also thought of how I can change all the little additional aspects that can stand on my way and you know what? I realised that for most of my life I was attracting people with problems that I can’t solve, with emotional issues that no one except themselves can work on. It made me feel sad, because as much as I love company, talking, listening and trying to help everyone I respect, I just can’t help them if they don’t want to do it for themselves. I also realised that I am recently feeling exhausted, because I spent a lot of my time giving people ideas on what they could try to do in their lives to feel happier – not that I feel like I am the best to do so, but you know the feeling when your friend is feeling down and you just can’t stand it and the empathy prevails over anything else.

Someone very wise once said that we should choose people we spend time with very cautiously. There was also a mention of energetic vampires. This term makes me smile, but there is a lot truth in it and I will be trying to avoid them from now on. This year I have decided that I won’t spend my time on listening to people that can only complain, but don’t want to take their lives in their own hands and do something to make a change. Unfortunately nothing comes for free and we have work on self-development, which – yes – takes time and motivation, but believe me – is worth it. To feel happier, you need to know the way where you are going, you need to know there is something rewarding in the end. If you want to get your life on track, try to find your own path.

Ohhh, you ... dear motivation

There are several ways you can help yourself: reading motivational blogs (read “The top 50 blogs that will unleash your motivation” by Brad Issac) , books, writing your own blog, meeting people, finding a course that will benefit your future and a lot more. The most important part is a start point, making decision that you want something different to what you have co far and that you will do your best to achieve it. I have been there, so I know how difficult it can be. It is easy deciding that something can be done tomorrow, that you won't do this and that, because… There are always excuses; it is not so problematic because you use them for yourself, because no one will judge you. You have to judge yourself though. I think I will stop here, as you need to ask what you want from life, where do you want to be in a week, month, year... in order to get started with your goal plan. Remember: no person in the world will be able to help you, no best therapist, no best friends, if you will block mentally. You need to open your mind and let it breathe, otherwise you will be stuck with your own limitations. So don't hesitate and start adding colours to your gray days now.

Take small steps, but have a big vision !

Changes...

2010-10-03T13:55:00.004+01:00

There are days when I feel I need a chane. Sometimes it's just buying new candle or a flower bouquet, puting it in the living room. Other days I want a culinary experiment or some new drink in my diet. Yesterday it was the hair. For some reason I feel ligther than ever, I went to visit hairdresser - ohh dear longer hair, I really didn't feel good with you. When I look at myself in the mirror, I smile - my look reminds me of a little boy, but it actually doesn't bother me at all. I really love it short, it makes me appear a bit taller than my 5'4" and a half. Yes - the "half" needs to be there, it helps me not to think that my younger sister is "only" 5'7". Just a small 11cm difference. And where is the justice in the world? :)

Anyway I think I am going to stick to this haircut for a while.

Live your life.

2010-10-01T16:22:00.003+01:00

Live your life, every moment of it. Embrace who you are. Enjoy little things, they matter the most.

I had a long journey to be where I am now personallyand profesionally. Some time ago I would complain on lots of things, trying to find a way out of problems with no results. Today I do even more. Realising how much we can achieve with determination, motivation is amazing. Not that it was all easy and I always felt this way. It was hard, it took years to fully understand it. I knew it deep down, but it wasn't easy to start being proactive. It was painful mentally, sometimes it meant feeling disrecpected, being on lost position, but in the end it was all worth it.

Whole my life I had to fight for something. We all do. We always "have to" do somehting that we don't want to. I don't believe people that say they don't have to do anything. You have to drink and eat to live, you have to breathe in order to let the oxygen reach your body cells. But there are times you don't have to, you feel it in your bones. There was one day I felt I don't have to and if I would do, what may seemed to be the right thing I would feel like I would betray myself. After deciding - for the first time in my life - that I don't have to, I felt somehow cured, I felt my thoughts are in order and it was a great feeling.

So no matter if you do have to do something or you feel you don't have to, live your life to the fullest. Enjoy every second of it. Learn how to fail and draw a conclusion from every situation, whether good or bad. Don't be affraid to risk, if everyone would bet the "safe", there would be no progress in anything.

Something about friendship

2010-09-29T16:45:00.006+01:00

I didn't really know how to start, so I went easy and googled the word "friendship". I was hoping to find something really intelligent and catchy. First two pages were just a definitions, so I left this window of my browser and opened new one. I started thinking about what makes a good friendship that lasts ages, what makes it work at all. Whole life flashed in my head, all the weird moments and honestly - I don't know why. Possibly because… I analyze life and almost all situations way too often. I think about stuff long before it happens, I sometimes produce my own scenario, just in case. But life isn't a movie - it chooses its own ways.

When I think of people that I could easily call my friends, not many come to my mind. I always believed in quality over quantity though.

My lovely mum and me (couple of years ago - we seriously need some new photos together - maybe I will ask Malcom... What will he say...)

First person I think of is my mum that sacrificed such a huge part of her life, doing everything to make me feel happy, which wasn't easy, as I had health problems as a child. She's done lot more that I can imagine myself doing; she kept me positive, even life didn't treat her the best way. She was amazing every day, the ones when she was all on her own, left by partner with two young kids with no money, the ones when my sister and I cried all the time for some stupid reason. I can't thank her enough for being my mum and my friend.

Izabela (picture not taken by me)

Then there is Izabela. I met her when I was about 10-12 years old. I approached her, as she seemed to be the outsider, which was very interesting. She is that kind of person you would think is really crazy, I love that about her. She would stand in the middle of the road and start screaming, but I love her freedom. I know - lol, what a psycho - some would say. That's how it started. We were in love with horses, we dreamt of having our own. Every week we would go to the stable, work hard to get an hour of horse riding as a payment (20 hours of working for 1 hour of riding - that was our rate). As we were getting older she kept being around animals for all her education, I went into more typical schools. We spent so many great weekends on exploring, cooking, drinking wine and simply talking. I really liked her mum, which was as crazy as her daughter. Now Izabela is a mummy herself and has a beautiful baby girl - Julia.

Agata (picture not taken by me)

Next would be Agata. We met at the vocation school, when we have done our University degree in Marketing and Management in Tourism (Economic profile), which was the most boring part of my education that didn't bring anything good into my life, except lots of frustration, but this part is about Her. From the first days she caught my attention (Sounds like I was writing about that young boy, so handsome that I couldn't get my eyes off him...). Agata was one of not many that cared enough to succeed. Always prepared, always ambitious, great listener and very calm, no matter what problem, what situation. She never showed her emotions fully, she kept her thoughts hidden from 99% of people. What I loved about her was ability to appreciate life, every little thing that was thrown at her. She never got drunk, she didn't go to discos or pubs with the whole bunch of very commercialized people from our studying group. But she was never boring; she was and is hungry for experiences, for adventures, for new...

Paulina

Finally there is Paulina. I have known her for ages. We met when we were 15, when starting new school. It was prestigious high school (or college level for UK), from the Top 3 in the city. They only accepted the best students with the highest marks. We both had something in common, we loved some dose of freedom and hated to be closed in the cage of "social norms". Paulina had the courage to demonstrate it fully. I tried to be prepared all the time; I was always up to date with the projects, ready to get more and more. She, in the other hand, was not so into being the best one. Paulina loved to read, to write. She always knew everything that was going on in the world. Wars, new politics, theaters, cinemas - that kind of knowledge you get, when you explore the world your own way that you won't get from the textbook. I always called it a form of independence as well.

All the people I mentioned in this post remained the most important ones in my life. We talked, we argued, we were all opinionated, but we are still friends. In most cases I could count on them, no matter what and I feel really happy I have just a handful of friends, but how valuable they are.

Once again: Quality over quantity

Saturday Breakfast

2010-09-04T13:55:00.002+01:00

Sometimes my amazing boyfriend likes to prepare a breakfast, especially on the days, when we don't have to rush and don't really have any specific plans. I love it ! Food prepaed by the loved ones tastes milion times better than the one we do for ourselves. Even if it's something simple.

I like variety, colours. I like when food screams at me "eat me, I am so healthy and good". I love fresh ingredients, vegetables added to almost any meal. So here is the sandwich Malcolm made for me today. Isn't it amazing? Ciabatta roll, ham, Italian style salad with beetroot and cucumber. Beautiful.

Malcolm promised to cook a dinner as well. Today's menu includes chicken with oranges, baby potatos with herbs and a carrot-pineapple salad. Yumi !

Brighton II

2010-07-11T09:59:00.001+01:00

As we walked along the beach we passed couple interesting places and tings, like this location for wedding ceremonies below. Extremely beautiful view. Bright blue sky, embellished placed, ready to take a wedding oath.

People were stoping to ask to take a picture of them. They mostly choose me or Malcolm, like the fact we are holding a big cameras would help to make a great photo from their camera, that doesn't have any settings at all, just one button responsible for the result. So the only thing we can do is actually frame it well. Sometimes it's really difficult, I automatically look for additional buttons, options. There is nothing. I remember my first photos taken. I used the same type of "gear". It was funny at some points, but well.. that's how it started and then Iza - my best friend. We were meeting in the stables for horse riding, she was bringing her parent's SLR cameras and we were going to the forest, on the fields. It was touch of real freedom.

The last thing that caugcht my eye was this Peace Statue that depicts an 'angel of peace' holding an orb and an olive branch, it is a memorial to Edward VII 'The Peacemaker'. Quite interesting how the light hugs its shape from different angles.

Brighton

2010-06-30T22:44:00.001+01:00

Gosh ! I finally digged myself out of work :)

I will add some more description soon, now I am going to treat my body with a nice cool shower and some nicely fragranced lotions or oils. Enjoy a bit of pictures from my last trip to Brighton. This is more social part of this town, which surprised me with lots of crowds and bad smell of frying oil used at least 10x in a row. Really hard to stand on a hot and sunny day. In my next post I will show you the part that I liked the most, due to it's dreamy, historical accent.

Up for something a little different? - Book a photoshoot

2010-05-01T20:34:00.003+01:00

Up for something a little different?

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as possible. So be prepared for dose of fun and unforgettable moments.

Hair and Make-over?

We can arrange for a professional hair and make-up stylist to come
along to our session and make you feel even more special and pampered.
If you are interested in this extra service,
please mention it when you contact us.

www.aksela.com

Marlow - hidden beauty...

2010-04-25T15:45:00.001+01:00

From time to time I like to call my friend Agata and go somewhere where I can rest, give my mind some freedom. This time Agata called me first. The original plan for Saturday was to visit the golf course, but in the end I realised I do not have gloves that are comfortable enough to play. By the way: if you know some nice online shops with golf equipment - let me know. So finally I decided to meet my friend.

One of our usual meeting spots is Marlow. Some would say - there is nothing special about this town, but for me it's somehow amazing.

Its atmosphere makes me feel relaxed. Peple find it quite posh, but I would say except the fact, you can see lots of nicely dressed people and expensive cars, it is quite normal. Normal in the way that you can't see people showing of their richness that often. What I love about this places are small coffee houses, restaurants, bars, riverside and little shops with clothes, sweets, home decorations, etc. Every time I go there, I feel like I am on holiday, somewhere in an exotic resort, because everything is so different and so peacefull in a way...

Except the town itself surprisingly I love the bus journey. The passengers are mostly 3 times older than me, but they represent the nicer generation, with proper manners, "thank you" and "good bye" as the forms used on a daily basis, which gives some nice boost, after rude, vulgar people living in Reading.

When being on the bus I often listen to my favourite music or sometimes even take my headpshones off. I love to look through the window and enjoy a different wolrd I enter: beautiful, always green meadows, where horses indolently chew the grass, heaths and trees. It is so beautiful, as I was in some magical wonderland.

Yesterday I took my camera with me, but as usual, I was so relaxed and happy that by the time I remembered I have it it was late and we were rather thinking to catch a bus and go home, so I quickly got couple of pictures, which obviously don't show full beauty of this place, but maybe next time I''ll have some more.

Visit my private Wonderland

Man`s accessories

2009-09-19T17:34:00.007+01:00

Yes, some man wear accessories too.
And there is nothing wrong about that as long everything is it looks good with the whole outfit.

Model: Przemek Janus
Make-up: Joanna Baczkiewicz
Styling and photo: Aksela Kolodziejczyk

Deviled Angel

2009-09-03T19:20:00.008+01:00

People choose so many wrong ways nowdays...

Model: Przemek Janus

Makijaż: Joanna Bączkiewicz

Stylizacja i zdjęcie: Aksela Kołodziejczyk

VISIT MY GALLERY

Wampire`s intentions - sneak peak

2009-08-21T23:24:00.007+01:00

Model: Przemek Janus

Make-up: Joanna Baczkiewicz

Styling/Photography: Aksela Kolodziejczyk

The books I dreamt of ...

2009-08-01T12:57:00.005+01:00

July 24th 2009 - my 26th birthday. Feeling a bit old, but in some way satisfied, I`ve come a long way during those 26 years and fnally everything looks like with even more work and effort there is a chance for success. I got some pretty nice cards, great and the tastiest birthday cake with my belowed strawberries and fresh wipped cream, flowers - gorgeous lilies, huge HDD 500GB from my thoughtfull boyfriend and I bought myself 2 books I alays dreamt of:

Annie Leibovitz at work

Here is some photo taken very quickly in my dark studio flat, on my boring floor, I wish I had a wooden one and more light at home. They both came in carton boxes, but one of them surpised me the most. It was huge as for a book, huge box with Cover box inside. I am really happy about this carton cover with design indentical as the book cover. In my case (small flat, no storage place, no proper stacks) it helps to maintain this book in great condition. It is an album, so it deserves to be treated more than well.

Tim Walker - Pictures

The redhead

2009-07-22T10:53:00.003+01:00

I am really busy with work (unfortunately the unpaid one) that I can`t remember what I wanted in a first place. Anyways to keep it going - please enjoy this cute little guy today, while I am preparing some photos for test prints to my portfolio book.

For more photos - people/fashion/portraiture/tech toys go to my DeviantART page

Can you count? Count on yourself.

2009-07-12T22:20:00.004+01:00

It`s brutal, but the one thing I would suggest to everyone in this world is to care about yourself enough. Do not think that someone is helping you without expecting anything from you. This is in business meaning, f someone is offering you help, something for free - think ten times before you accept it, no - think hundred times before you do anything.
Why I am so negative - you would ask. I am actually not, this is positive attitude, you must motivate yourself, work harder than ever - if you want to achieve your goals. No matter what they are - only you can do it. No help from other people, no technically unselfish things will help you, after all even people that helped you will turn tjey back on you, if you will be too nice, too naive. Think of yourself first, do not forget about others, others that matter to you....

Can you count? Count on yourself.

Today only one picture for you with the one person that is exactly as she should be, doesn`t care about others, selfish sometimes, but classy when she has to.

You can see more from this series on my:
DeviantART

The ancient fashion style

2009-07-09T19:43:00.005+01:00

A long time ago I went to photograph 2 girls: Magdalena and Karolina in an ancient/roman/greek style. There was a lot of fun and effort to make them focus as we weren`t alone in the place at that day. Another photographer was taking some shots of half naked model, not wearing any shirt, so girls were really excited by looking at him ;) But in the end everything went pretty well.
First here you have couple of headshots from that day.

2009-05-26T17:17:00.003+01:00

This photoshoot supposted to be in China style, but since caroline has sucha huge eyes I decided to make it more "warrior`s girl". I think it went pretty well. We had to stop couple times, as some cute little kitty came to us and tried his tricks to catch our attention. I regret I clouln`t touch him due to my stron allergy, but he was extremely adorable. I think I will dedicate whole post for his pictures. As for now enjoy Caroline`s :)

So, here is a story of a girl that was waiting for her man...

Every day she was fanning helself with this gorgeous fan she got from him, fighting in China

She was sad, very sad and missed him a lot...

She was warried.....

This photoshoot supposted to be in China style, but since caroline has sucha huge eyes I decided to make it more "warrior`s girl". I think it went pretty well. We had to stop couple times, as some cute little kitty came to us and tried his tricks to catch our attention. I regret I clouln`t touch him due to my stron allergy, but he was extremely adorable. I think I will dedicate whole post for his pictures. As for now enjoy Caroline`s :)

On the top #2

2009-05-17T12:44:00.003+01:00

Model: Caroline O.
Styling: me and Kala
Photo: me

The weather that day was weird. Very windy, but sunny at the same time - nothing unusual in UK I would say. But even though it was freezing, I cannot believe it`s May already and I still wear scarves from time to time. I hope this will change soon.

Visit My DeviantArt for new portion of pictures and some older ones.

On the top #1

2009-05-10T12:18:00.003+01:00

Model: Caroline O.
Styling: us two
Photo: me

I thought it would be fun to get on the top of some building and start takig pictures, so I suggested this one, althoug people were staring (the ones parking their cars), in general it was fun and the view, let me tell you - breath taking.

Do not forget to visit my DeviantArt for more photos.

The simple one

2009-05-02T22:14:00.002+01:00

Sometimes simple connections are better than the others...

Spring Session - Kala

2009-04-04T18:38:00.003+01:00

At the end of that day we took some fight pictures, but there was mostly lots of spontaneous ones and none posed. This one is the only I got as posed, I quite like it, as her eyes are full of passion.

K&M #4

2009-04-01T21:06:00.003+01:00

Spring Session - K & M #3

2009-03-28T21:53:00.001Z

Spring Session - K & M #2

2009-03-25T12:36:00.003Z

Today second part of the shoot from last weekend.
Models: Kala & Michael
Make-up and styling: Kala, me
Location: Basingstoke, Matrix House

Let`s dance ;)

Let`s dance together

Spring Session - K & M #1

2009-03-23T21:54:00.002Z

This couple is full of joy, happiness and fun. Spending time with them is a real pleasure. We actualy had something else planned, totally different subject, but opportunity we met was hard to reject. The building pictures were takne in is Matrix House in Basingstoke. We came there on Saturday, everything was closed, there were just cleaners inside. But the amount of light inside was really amazing, so we decided to go for it ;) Little chat with security and we had full hour to shoot.

Spring Session - K & M - Sneak Peak

2009-03-21T21:00:00.003Z

Session was short, but I am pretty happy with the result.
It took place half in the biggest building in Basingstoke.
We had to convince security guy to let us in as everything was closed and after success with that we had a company for a while. People are very interested when a photoshoot is going on around them.
____________________________________________________________________

If you do not remember my models from today, see them here:

- Love is in the air
- Love is in the air 2

Spring is on it`s way :)

2009-03-15T18:26:00.006Z

I am so happy the weather is getting better, it means more photoshoots, better mood and more light that boosts energy. Just to express my happiness I want to show you this photo. It`s one of the first I have ever taken, with my first camera - Canon PowerShot A630. I didn`t know almost anything about taking pictures back then...

Anna #2

2009-03-13T15:01:00.002Z

Meet Anna

2009-03-09T09:23:00.002Z

Living in a different country than you come from can be hard sometimes due to loneliness, lack of best friends and family. It is easier with nice, valuable people around. Anna is one of them.

In the park

2009-02-28T16:06:00.001Z

10 minutes in the park can do magic for the whole day :)

Los Tigres

2009-02-20T16:20:00.004Z

Happy couple - over 6 years togehter... He`s the one that makes me happy.

... little is beautiful ...

2009-02-19T18:58:00.002Z

Sometimes it bothwer me that I am pretty short person, but people say "little is beautiful" and today I have a proof for this theory. These pictures were taken last year in Holland Park in London. I was sitting on the bench with my friend having a chat about random stuff and sudenly this little guy came and sat about 2 meters away. Kind of hard thing to reach him with my lens, so it isn`t very crisp, but oh well - I love this bird.

RECYCLE PEOPLE, RECYCLE

2009-02-14T17:44:00.002Z

I know I should be posting some romantic sets in here, but to be honest, even my Valentines day is very happy and nice I don`t feel like showing you our amore mio pictures ;) I will do some for the environment than ;) Enjoy this short story about recycling fun ;)

So before you will throw something away, think twice. He forgot he might use one thing for multiple purposes and look at him now. Do not forget - if yo don`t see a new use for an old thing, just place it in recycle bin!!!

Distress

2009-01-23T17:08:00.004Z

Because man without emotions is not a human...
That`s not the best time of my life...

I still have a hope...

Sweden #4

2009-01-12T19:51:00.002Z

Stockholm is full of pretty buildings. Some of them were lightened in such a oretty way.
Posh, posh ;)

Sweden - part 3

2009-01-09T20:27:00.002Z

Third part of pictures from Sweden:

Stockholm`s City Hall courtyard

Vasteros waters

Stockholm @ night

2009-01-07T13:10:00.003Z

Second part of photos from Sweden. This ones show Stockholm.

Want to see a better quality ? Click here:
STOCKHOLM @ NIGHT

2009-01-01T20:04:00.002Z

Happy New Year to YOU

... and here is few photos from my holiday in Sweden

My Likes and Dislikes :)

2008-11-27T13:16:00.003Z

To let you know a little bit about me - there is some tiny list with regards to randomly chosen likes and dislikes:

LIKES:
- sun, warmth, snow, light
- Italian, Chinese, partialy Spanish food
- ice cream, dark chocolate, christmas cake
- vegetables, fruits - fresh !!!
- comfy clothes over fashion
- music while being on my own
- being busy with stuff that I like and with people I love
- trips, travelling, but not for long
- working, when I know it does make sense and do not break my health

DISLIKES:
- coldness, heavy rain with wind
- Indian food (to smelly and to spicy), raw meat
- cakes, cookies, to sweet chocolate, turkish delight, too sweet food
- uncomfy clothes from the last fashion sessions, that are to expensive to buy and get bad easily
- doing nothing, working in the sector that means nothing for me and does not give any satisfaction
- staying home in front of laptop, when there is so much going on

... and these below are my babies ;)

Cuties

2008-11-25T13:51:00.003Z

Sometimes when I walk through the city or some town I see more and more...These little animals that got used to people`s presence are so cute and funny sometimes, they look at me as they wanted to say something, I cannot believe how brave they are, you can come really close to them and they are not affraid at all.
Tpday some of the pictures I have taken a while ago, but I find them quite funny and nice, so I thought I would share.

Peacock`s sunbath;)

This one was so tiny and so energetic, that it was pretty hard to catch him.

And this one looked pretty pissed off, and definitely cold ;)

The squirrels were very curious what people have in their hands and bags, especially when someone stopped to watch them, they were coming closer and closer. And when you would be just right about to move down, they were jumping funny as they would reliase: oo wow, these are people and they might be pretty dangerous...

My second passion

2008-11-24T12:44:00.006Z

Well, my second passion is motorization, cars and power. Here is some collection of the photographs I have taken during several meetings, such as BritCar 24-hour Race on Silverstone Track - 2008 and British Motor Show 2008 - London, Excel, these are not all the pictures I liked but I will post more some other day.

See more on my FLICKR ACCOUNT

Natural and beautiful

2008-11-23T09:48:00.005Z

There is not a lot of people I know that are naturally beautiful, but Ana difinitely is.
This girl comes from Tenerife, so she is always full of energy, she is like a volcano !!!
She always smiles, is extremely positive, always offers help when she can. Even though some people cannot stand her, as she is very direct and says what she thinks, I love this, some peope don`t.

Pictures aren`t super extra great, it was 5 p.m. already and freezing, so these shots are kind of spontaneous, but I think you can see how sweet she is.

Appreciation

2008-11-19T13:35:00.007Z

Feeling appreciated is one of the things that keep us alive. Good words from family, boyfriend, husband, kids, friends can work like a magic.
When we are missin this part there is inbalance in our lifes.
We all experience this sometimes, not all of us can actually say this loud, as we are affraid that people would think we are week, but there is nothing to be ashamed, we all are people, we need positive emotions, we need warm feelings, that`s how world is built.

Today some pictures with emotions. The model for this session is Paula, one of my friends.This is my and her first session in our lifes, so... I know it`s not perfect, but hey... ;)

When sometimes anger gest everything

You just want to dream

An then it gest more delicate

Sometimes you keep your dreams hidden

Sometimes you think where are they, people you love...

... and when they come you think - ok now? where were you when I needed you. but...

They think of you more than you could imagine...

Creativity

2008-11-15T14:10:00.005Z

Photography is about creativity, ideas and implementing them into the action.
Here are some of my ideas of using simple every day used things as cosmetic cotton buds or nail wanish. Enjoy :)

I am also preparing some project with one of my friends - project about creativity, originality and about being ourseves, which is extremely important for well being.

Check out my

DEVIANT ART PAGE

for more pictures

Male on portraits

2008-11-14T14:00:00.009Z

It just seems like people do not appreciate that men are also really good models for pictures. Every time I go on some Photography Forum or Portal there is plenty of pictures with woman, but just little with men. Why? I ask, why people do not like watch men?
The most commmon men portraots are the one when we think of band`s covers and that`s mostly all. I think this has gone definitely to far...

Some more pictures at:

DEVIANT ART

Nature on the first shot

2008-11-11T13:15:00.011Z

Generally the first day I really got to know how tu use my PowerShot, I went to the riverside in the town, where I used to work and took few pictures, than modified their size in PS and there you go... These were my first steps ;)

And... That`s how it`s started. As for now I wish I could practice some portraits and people`s pictures, but as I am soooooo far from home and friends I need to find a solution how to solve my problems with lack of models ;) I hope one day you will see some huge progress.

You can see all of these pictures in HQ and true colors on my

DeviantArt Page

Lady_Rhinoa - get to know me

2008-11-10T15:20:00.002Z

Lady_Rhinoa - Selfportrait

I have been working since I was 15. I gained a lot of good and bad experience... Last 7 years was the hardest, as I had to work and everything I earned I had to spent on school. My worries about life didn`t let me to enjoy hobbies, even the ones that I loved in the past. Year by year I was loosing myself, until I bought Canon PowerShot A630. First is supposed to be tool to help me sell all the stuff that I didn`t need on eBay, it helped, but than I realised that for the firts time in last 7 years I was happy doing something, somehting that was o of the ways to relax - photography. Since this day I wanted to know more and more about it. I started shooting nature. I simply loved it.
Now I wish I could progress with some people/portrait pictures, but there is no one that I would feel comfortable enough to tets myself. So I keep looking for that kind of people...

I think this would be it for today...