Moody black-and-white portrait of a person in soft directional light against a dark backdrop, fine grain, contemplative atmosphere

Fine Art & Commercial Photography

Award-winning work spanning business portraits, fashion, events, and conceptual series — captured on film and medium format in Wrocław, Poland.

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Photographer Fine Art & Commercial
Dark, grainy black-and-white photograph of a figure in soft shadow, fine-art portrait mood with deep contrast
"Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed."
— Rafal Michalak

News

Film Stocks Behind Memorable Portraiture

When photographers ask which film stocks I favour for portraits, my answer depends on the person, the available light and the mood of the finished photograph.…

Same Subject, Changing Seasons

Photography often captures a person at a precise intersection of weather, light, and mood. A winter portrait can feel spare and inward, while a summer frame…

Finding Balance Through Symmetry And Asymmetry

Composition gives a photograph its internal order. Before a viewer studies texture, colour, expression or atmosphere, the eye begins searching for…

Preparing a large-scale photographic commission

A large-scale photographic commission can combine several teams, locations, subjects and delivery formats, often under a fixed date and a substantial…

Collaborating With Local Artisans for Distinctive Photo Sets

A memorable photographic set often begins with an object that already carries a human story. A hand-thrown bowl, a dyed length of linen, a carved timber chair…

A Single Frame That Holds a Whole Story

A photograph is rarely just a record of something that happened. Even when the shutter clicks in a fraction of a second, what lands on the negative — or the…

Why I Choose Film Over Digital for Personal Projects

My personal projects are the part of my practice where process matters as much as the final image. A commissioned portrait may need speed, flexibility and…

Photographing events with two cameras

Two cameras give an event photographer useful redundancy, but their greater value is creative division. Keep one body ready for decisive action and the second…

Reflections on identity and memory in photography

Photography, for me, has always served as a means of holding onto what slips away. Each frame is a deliberate pause, a moment rescued from the flow of time and…

Shaping Light Through Burning And Dodging

In a traditional darkroom, a photographic print is built through controlled exposure. The negative carries the captured information, yet the final image…

Selected Series

A cross-section of commissioned and personal projects spanning fine art, commercial, and conceptual work.

Motion-blurred black-and-white view down a curved tunnel with track lines and lights, dynamic and disorienting mood

The Wall

2015

Winner of the 1st prize & Golden Glass Award at the 11th Photographic Open Championship Olsztyn, and 1st place with the Special Prize of FORMAT magazine at the 3rd Biennial of Art in Piotrków Trybunalski.

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Black-and-white view through a car windshield of two vehicles driving on a snowy mountain road, overcast mood

An Engagement Ring

2011

A narrative series set in Wrocław in August 2011. Awarded 2nd prize & Silver Glass at the 10th Photographic Open Championship Olsztyn in 2014.

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Grainy black-and-white photograph with strong contrast, fine-art editorial style, moody and atmospheric

Heat Wave

2014

A documentary series recording spontaneous events across August and September 2014, capturing the raw energy of a city under the grip of summer.

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