PHOTOGRAPHY Innovation Hub

Hi! I'm Jakub, a 17 years old polish wildlife photographer.

I have been into visual arts and nature since as far as i remember, so for a pretty long time :)) My dad is a bird lover so it didn't last long until he brought me into his passion. He was also the one who gave me my first camera. But I wasn't always calling myself a wildlife photographer as I went through "movie director wannabe period" or "car spotter guy period", but i ended up as wildlife photographer, doing it more consciously for almost 4 years now. During my photographic journey I started to look more creatively at wildlife photography, trying to catch unique moments, light, behaviours and not just to simply "capture a portrait shot of a bird perched on a stick". Recently I started to share my passion with others - especially kids. I led a couple of lectures and small birding walks, sharing my knowledge about wildlife photography and birds with people.

I'm also a founder of the Young Polish Wildlife Photographers community. Community full of very talented, award winning people who love photographing nature.

Check out our community profile!

@mpfp_ig

Don't forget to check out mine account as well, if you want to stay connected with me and my work!

@plachetka_wildlife

For me one of the greatest factors that divide boring flat-like pictures from more engaging, deeper photos is using different objects in the foreground and blurring them to make the picture look more dimensional. In this photo I used ivy leaves in the foreground which helped me to achieve a frame made out of the leaves. It also created a 3-dimensional effect. The light was important too as there was only one main sun ray that shed light on the blackbird's head that made the photo look more dramatic and mysterious.

At the beginning, when I was starting wildlife photography I would rather go for a close up portrait shot (as many starting wildlife photographers do). Now when being out in the field I am trying to be more creative and look for different perspectives as on this kingfisher small in frame shot. The bird is only a small part of a photo, but still is clearly visible. Thanks to zooming out my lens I had a chance to show more of the bird's habitat and to capture the painterly effect of the background. This photo is one of the main things that make me to miss frosty mornings :))

There are moments when waking up early, going out with the camera again and again for years really pays off, and I think that the satisfaction and having the opportunity to encounter a huge red deer male roaring right into your face is why I love wildlife photography so much. We as people need to appreciate nature more than we do and we need to take some serious actions to conserve it.