Curriculum Vitae
po polsku
For the first half of my life I was growing up, studying, working on the Eastern, totalitarian side of The Iron Curtain.
In 1980 I emigrated to a Western, democratic country, to London and then Cambridge, where I have been living ever since.
And yet, throughout my life I have been able to remain true to myself in either country. In all those years I have met wonderfully exciting people from all walks of life - some of whom became close friends. This happened because I believe that wherever we live, whatever our cultural or national background, we share common, human values and are similarly passionate in our emotions.
This conviction is at the core of my life and is the source of my curiosity.
Education
In 1967 I gained a Baccalaureate diploma in:
Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Polish and Latin.
Film
From 1967-1971 I studied at the Institute of Film & TV in Lodz, Poland, which is renowned for film makers like Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski. While still 18 I actively participated in the students’ strikes of 1968 there and in Warsaw, where I took a minor part in setting up a clandestine opposition movement.
Soon after, on one of my first assignment as a cameraman for a news company, I filmed the aftermath of an airplane crash, an accident that took place one November afternoon, in dense fog, in mountains of Southern Poland. This news item was screened in over 60 countries the next day and these images will stay with me for ever.
Art History
Later, I gained a Masters (First Class) at the Jagiellonian University, Institute of Art History (1971-1976) in Krakow. Following this I wrote for the daily newspaper several times a week, where I had my own column, about art, artists and my trips through Europe.
Photography
”Beautiful and strange photographs … full of deep feeling” Richard Avedon
Since the early seventies I have lectured on photography at various universities and art colleges in Poland and throughout the UK.
My teaching was mirrored by my professional life as a free-lance photographer for theatres, operas, orchestras, ballet and contemporary dance companies. My photographs were published in The Independent, The Guardian, Polityka, Vogue, Newsweek, Harpers & Queen and The Illustrated London News and used for posters, in promotional catalogues and as an integral part of television programmes on the BBC & Channel 4.
In 1989 all strands of my professional life (film, art history, journalism and photography) came together when I was working for a joint venture of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The J. Paul Getty Trust, a production of a documentary on Sir Ernst Gombrich. Spending time with Sir Ernst Gombrich, a doyen of Art History, was both insightful in understanding of culture and remarkable because of his charismatic charm.
In the late 1970’s I set up a library of images as part of my responsibilities within an editorial team preparing an ”Encyclopedia of Music” in 15 volumes.
My portraits of authors were used on sleeves of many books including a very recent publication of ”Notes” by Witold Lutoslawski (a photograph taken 36 years earlier, in 1973)
I had eleven exhibitions of photographic portraits between 1969 – 1989. The last show (in Cambridge) opened on the 20th anniversary of my first exhibition, which was closed on the day of opening by the communist authorities.
In the early 1990’s I ran workshops on Photography at the University of East London. They were inspired by Alexey Brodovitch and his Design Laboratory courses, which were run at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts for many years since 1933.
At the same time I organized a couple of art exhibitions of paintings and helped to promote events in open spaces around the South Bank, London.
Books published since 1998 (all in Polish):
“Max i Roman w Ogrodzie Swiata” - for children
“Wigilia i Maly Ptaszek” - for children
"Czarny Labedz" ("The Perfect Gambler") (2009) – for teenagers
“Korzenie nie znaja granic” (“Roots don’t recognize boundaries”)
”It is exceptionally well written and I enjoyed reading it very much. It is that kind of text, which upon reading it, one wishes that the author would write more and more.” Ryszard Kapuscinski
“Tanczac nad przepascia – Moja walka z rakiem”("Dancing above the precipice – my struggle with cancer”)
“O Pochodzeniu Osobowosci” (“The Origins of Personality”)
Engineering / Design
For the past twenty years I have worked in the electronic industry, in Cambridge. I studied at that time too (Design and Technology at the Open University).
During my employment as a Project Engineer I wrote a few thousand CAD programmes for robots, set processes for multiple assemblies, checked and presented documentation for operators and inspection.
My daily workload consisted of cutting-edge prototypes from RF communication, medical devices & computer driven sensors to Internet hardware. Last year alone brought the Kinetic Energy Recovery System KERS for Formula 1 Grand Prix cars, equipment used to control oil wells which are drilled into the ocean floor and Lead Free jet printing technology.
The world of modern electronics is wonderfully vibrant with sophisticated technologies being introduced in an avalanche of global developments. However this outpour of ideas is restricted by evolving legislation like RoHS, by physical properties of available materials and miniaturisation which is edging towards limits of robotic capabilities, while metallurgy is becoming more like alchemy than science. And so my task was to deal with all these aspects of manufacturing for the benefit of fifty or so of our clients.
At the time I started my engineering career, industries were re-inventing themselves under the influence of Japanese models of production. Procurement, design and assembly lines across the world were transformed by concepts of World Class, Kanban or Just-in-Time. I became involved with setting up teams of workers, who would learn to co-operate with each other effectively. It was at this time that I taught them to think laterally, a skill I developed whilst working as a photographer and a journalist.
On a personal note:
My wife is a Polish radio journalist and a playwright, while my grown up sons are involved in music (DJ and a Jazz promoter) and Breakdancing. I found it most enlightening to participate as a spectator in their fascinating activities, which are so new & fresh to me.
The 5-day "Speak your mind" Publishing Workshop