DECADE
…this word describing the passing time is the title of my exhibition that sums up the last 10 years of my fascination with photography. The photos selected from that period are the recordings of my journeys, notes from my wanderings, as well as unexpected shots takes suddenly, at the spot. Pieces of life, or nothing special common people, typical situations and places, but for me, joy and celebration. Discovering all this, watching and fishing for small fragments of reality from the world around me this is my „pleasure.” Catching the moment, a short while, and recording it with the camera, gives me this incredible joy. The joy of noticing a small episode in a broad plan and giving it a new existence. And just this short flash creates images that I want to present here, share the feelings that I experience when watching, observing and recording. Photography is my language, my speech, my way of expressing emotions and a means of expression. I don’t write words, I don’t make up sentences, I just register moments, show them and freeze them in my photographs. I capture the places I visited, the people I met, I record all the things that bewitched and intrigued me. Both with the form and the situation. Also, I cannot define my need to „frame” the reality in any reasonable, precise way. Just like I can’t define and describe my photographs in an unambiguous way. There’s no calculation in me, no need to adjust to a specific style or trend. Intuition and honesty are the only things that drive me. Those characteristics allow me to keep the simplicity and clarity of the frame I compose, get rid of details. The rest is just fun and joy of communing with the remembered moment. I don’t need to embellish and embroider anything, I just cut off the unnecessary pieces, to leave the essence that got me interested and enchanted. The works presented at the exhibition are fragments of my records from the last 10 years of my work. There are photographs „nicer” in their form, very warm and „friendly”, as well as intimate, simple and austere in their expression. Black and white squares, with life barely marked on them. This is a part of my life.

Romuald Fajtanowski graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk Faculty of Interior Architecture and Industrial Design. Since graduating in 1987, he works as a designer in his own Design Studio. Up to now, he has developed more than 200 design projects and some 300 comprehensive graphic studies. Since 2007, he’s been also working in the Department of Design of the University of Technology and Life Sciences in Bydgoszcz, teaching in his study of specialised and general design.

The products he designed were often awarded with the TERAZ POLSKA logo, got the „Good Design” mark awarded
by the Institute of Industrial Design, and also received medals of the Poznań International Fair.

He’s been a photographer for many years, combining his passion with professional activities. He’s participated in various photography competitions and reviews, where he won many awards and distinctions. His works were also presented at numerous exhibitions in Poland and abroad.

Important photo competitions and awards:
Portfolio 2005 2nd edition FOTO Publishing House Warsaw 2005 MAIN PRIZE
Open Photo Championship Olsztyn 2005 and 2006 2nd place
International photo competition and exhibition „In the Lens” Kalisz 2006 GRAND PRIX
Exhibition and competition „Wielkopolska 2007” Poznań 2007 MAIN PRIZE
Exhibition and competition „Faces of Wielkopolska” Poznań 2007 1st place
International competition and exhibition organised by Seagate Warsaw 2008 3rd place
Exhibition and competition My Pomerania „Land” Gdańsk 2008 1st place
23rd National Salon of Art Photography Żary 2013 1st place

He was also awarded and honoured in competitions organised by such companies as: Hewlett-Packard, Photoshop, Seagate, Rockwool, Monsoon.

Email: romuald.f@op.pl