Piotr Skoczylas is a London-based surreal portrait photographer, blogger, and Photoshop and Lightroom enthusiast, whose creative fine art images have consistently impressed us. In this post, he shares the meaningful story behind his images which were recently exhibited in in London. Scroll down, and find hope and inspiration in his work and words.
My goal is to tell a story through my images, and create a connection between the viewer and the work. I think of photography not just as a great media to express myself, but also as a tool to bring people together. Traveling around Europe made me realize that the people we meet, emotions we carry, and unforgettable memories we store can be an inspiration for a fantastic piece of art. Life doesn’t end where it started, and you can only succeed if you immerse yourself in your passion. I hope my photographs portray not just my skills, but also freedom, love, mystery, intensity, drama, all the feelings, and emotions which make us who we are.
In the beginning, there is a spark. It’s this moment when you do something which makes you feel inspired. It’s this feeling in your stomach which pushes you further in life. It gets you up in the morning and encourages you to do more. All this together is what I call passion. For me, it’s photography and graphic design. It always starts with the basics, but with some patience and hard work, sooner or later, you will reach your goal. Moments like these are hard to forget. Sometime ago, I realized that photography can, in some cases, portray a stronger message than words, music, film, or any other type of art. It’s incredible how this can bring people together, and how photos can have a positive influence on the world.
A few months ago, I was asked to create a series of images for a charity exhibition in Central London. When I heard that the charity was for the victims of domestic violence, it didn’t take me long to say “yes” because I wanted to help create awareness about this issue. Abuse comes in many forms, but we don’t talk about it. This is why most of the abusers go unpunished. So I created seven fine art images for this project. I worked with my models’ faces and textures, which I overlaid later in Photoshop.
There is a real story behind every image, and the textures I use are symbols of a particular emotion or situation that these victims go through.
I had to make it look different to attract attention, yet I also had to make it disturbing and connected to the issue of abuse. Dramatic, intensive, creative, surreal, mysterious—I wanted it to be unconventional so that viewers will be motivated to explore this issue further.
“Art—The Scream Of Freedom” exhibition took place at 8th of March in The Gallery On The Corner in London. It was a small, underground, edgy experience organized by a few passionate people. All the money from sales and tickets were donated to support the Refuge.org.uk charity organization.
Photography truly brings people together and, in this case, it created a brick to help build a wall between abusers and their victims. For me, to take a photo is more than just the click of a shutter button—it’s an art form, made more meaningful when I can help others by doing something I truly love.
If you’d like to see more of Piotr’s work, you can follow him on 500px, or visit his website.
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