Musings from Self-isolation: Kasia Kozińska

Everyone has a way of dealing with the extra time that self-isolation brings. In this series, we try to see how creatives from all over the world are using all that time to work on their photo portfolio. In this episode, we take a look at the work of photographer Kasia Kozińska that brings out the beauty in the everyday moments.

Hello and welcome to the Lomography Magazine! What do you do and what got you started with photography?

Hello! At first, I’d like to thank you for having me as a guest of this amazing series about artists during quarantine!

When it comes to me and a short story behind, photography became one of my favorite ways of spending my free time when I was 13, so I have been shooting for more than 10 years now. I started with both digital and analogue as well (my parents’ old soviet Zenit camera - I guess we all know these cameras and were blessed by them at the beginning), but as time went by, I’ve stuck with analogue only. Actually, I’ve never thought about doing it like a pro, I've always wanted to catch moments in an amateur way, and turning them into nice, colorful pictures was my major goal. Just as experiencing the sound of a shutter and the awareness of capturing a given moment forever, it's something that no one can take away from you.

How are you holding up during the quarantine?

Thank you for asking. As for health, I and my family have gotten along pretty well. Despite the unquestioned bad situation related to the pandemic, I’m glad I finally able to spend so much time at home, slow down drastically, rest and finally get a proper amount of sleep in a few years.

The photographic part had also some positive effect - my disc is filled with scanned films from a few months back, mostly containing shots from European trips and portraits that are just waiting to be done with colors and put into a folder with my other finished works! However, since it gives me so much fun to create such tones and choose the best one fitting to my style, I find it kinda time-consuming and quarantine finally gave me an opportunity to finish this process.

Another interesting fact that I assume is that during this quarantine, many artists have experienced finding inspiration from objects that surrounded us every day but somehow we’ve ignored them.

Any photo series in the works? What's the story behind it?

Currently, I’m not working on any project with a specific story behind it, somehow because I let myself slow down for a while and just to shoot when I find that one suitable moment. However, I’ve lately bought a lot of expired films to get them a second life and also to not throw down a precious photographic material. Right now, they are used for some experimental shooting like double exposures (Which I still find hard to do properly! Not that easy as I’ve expected.) or self-portraits at home with body parts as the main subject. The second one is so rewarding to me due to unpredictable effects and unpredictable focusing as well. Such a feeling was missing in the past when I was shooting digital and assisted by the camera's many features.

In addition, I plan on doing some film soups in the near future. It's something that charmed me, especially with its vivid colors! Once I tried to do a film soup with expired film and green tea for two days but the final effect was quite washed up so any tips from more advanced film photographers will be greatly appreciated. Maybe red wine would be a great choice? Or lemon juice?

What subject do you miss photographing?

Here’s the answer and it is pretty simple - spring flowers! That’s the subject I miss the whole year and when finally spring comes, I can shoot a whole film roll one day. However, this year it wasn’t that easy, especially that I wouldn't like to expose myself and others to the health hazards outside.

Another thing close to my heart that I find myself missing more is mountain trips. Those are the shots that allow me to rest, forget about all of the problematic situations, and remind myself how grateful I should be for such moments. Also, there’s no mountain trip without my little Smena 8m camera! I’m not sure why I like this one so much, especially that there are more advanced point-and-shoots (well, Smena 8m is not even point-and-shoot! More like shoot-and-not-be-sure-about-focusing) in my collection. However, I assume that’s all about the sentimental stuff that all film photographers can relate to. Isn’t the whole film photography about being quite sentimental?

What is the first thing you would like to do once things get back to normal?

Fortunately, in Poland, things are slowly returning to normal, even though I’m aware of how carefully we have to act right now. But first, the absolute first one thing I’m gonna do when it’s normal is to visit my grandparents. The current situation obviously turned our contact into a digital one only and we just can’t just to finally sit together just as we used to do in the past.

We would like to thank Kasia for letting us feature her images in the Magazine. Follow her on Instagram to see more of her work.

written by cheeo on 2020-06-12 #news #people #artist #quarantine #lockdown #musings-from-self-isolation #kasia-kozinska