In his photographs he immortalises architecture, which he presents in a unique form. Piotr Zemlak lives in Wrocław. The Centennial Hall or the iconic “Sedesowce” are just a few examples of the photographs he has taken. They all share a love of symmetry and original aesthetics.
Piotr Zemlak is an English teacher. He taught himself photography. Through trial and error, he has managed to develop his characteristic style. He started taking his first photographs 20 years ago, when a Sony Cybershot digital camera arrived in the family home. Its compact size made it easy to take the camera on trips both near and far. The photographer recalls that even in the first pictures he took, one can see a ‘fierce’ for minimalism and architecture.
The photographic experiments are still ongoing. He used to love photographing modern buildings with glass facades. Today, he does not focus exclusively on ‘glass houses’, but keeps a close eye on buildings from all eras. They must have ‘that something’ that makes him see the potential in them. This could be the massing, the window layout, the placement of balconies or the colours of the façade.
In many of her photographs, she shows the nooks and crannies of buildings. He eagerly looks inside tenement houses, of which there are many in Wrocław. He feels the greatest joy when he discovers a beautiful interior by accident. Sometimes the façade of a building does not necessarily look magnificent, but behind the main door there may be a real architectural gem. The photographer also likes to take pictures of monumental buildings, historic halls, such as the National Museum in Wrocław. To some, these are mere passageways or staircases, but to him they are colourful stories which gain a deeper value in the photographs. The vivid colours of some of them make it possible to see a reference to the style of Wes Anderson’s films in these frames.
He edits the photographs he takes in Lightroom or Photoshop. He is not afraid to make changes. Sometimes, when he decides that the original colour of a building does not match his vision, he decides to change the façade. And what does he use to take the photos? It turns out… with a smartphone! When asked, he replies that he uses a duo of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and GalaxyWatch.
It used to be that in order to catch the widest possible frame upwards, you had to lie on the ground with the camera. Now, all I have to do is lay my smartphone down with the lens facing upwards, turn on the preview on the watch and remotely take a picture. This allows me to get an even wider perspective than when I’m lying on the ground,” admits Piotr Zemlak.
Asked about his favourite photos that he has taken, after giving it some more thought he points to the photograph of the staircase in Okrąglak in Poznań, which he finds mesmerising. Another is the well of a building on Szewska Street, which has garnered more than 23,000 likes on his Instagram profile. The last favourite is a photo of the parliament in Budapest, the taking of which required a lot of patience on his part. This is because he wanted to make a perfectly symmetrical frame. He succeeded!
source: Piotr Zemlak(www.instagram.com/piotrzemlak)
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