
Tom Kondrat
'I
was
born
in
Warsaw,
Poland.
When
I
was
a
child,
my
parents
worked
as
freelance
photographers
in
their
spare
time.
I
traveled
with
them
every
weekend,
observing
how
they
photograph
local
tourist
attractions
for
travel
and
promotional
magazines.
At
that
time
I
found
it
very
boring.
Then
one
day
my
father
gave
me
one
of
his
cameras
-
Praktica
B200.
He
quickly
showed
me
how
to
focus
and
told
me
not
to
go
below
1/60s
for
shutter
speed.
I
remember
we
were
photographing
swamps
at
the
national
park
that
day.
I
took
a
picture
of
a
birch
almost
falling... Read More
into
the
water
with
a
beautifully
reflected
light
from
the
sun.
I
got
that
photograph
published
in
a
tourism
magazine
and
even
got
paid
for
it.
I
was
12
at
that
time.
More
than
10
years
later
I
picked
up
photography
again,
out
of
boredom.
I
was
studying
financial
computing
in
London
but
instead
of
attending
the
lectures
and
getting
ready
for
the
exams,
I
explored
the
area
on
my
bicycle
with
a
compact
camera
in
my
pocket.
I
soon
developed
an
unreasonable
passion
for
photography,
I
spent
all
my
savings
for
professional
equipment,
dropped
out
of
uni
and
started
my
first
photography
course.'
Tom
Kondrat
has
a
rich
wide
approach
to
static
shots
that
speaks
in
volumes.
Unlike
the
photos
which
play
the
supporting
role
to
their
subjects,
Tom’s
works
reveal
a
kind
of
temperature
and
delicacy
which
is
seen
only
in
classical
paintings.
Photographing
for
Tom
is
a
meditation.
Traveling
around
the
world
to
take
pictures
is
a
spiritual
journey
for
him
-
a
trip
inside
to
find
the
borders
of
his
own
fears
and
limits.
Tom's
work
has
been
published
internationally
and
shown
in
galleries
of
London,
Beijing
and
Taipei.
He
currently
lives
and
works
in
Taiwan.
For
his
latest
body
of
work,
Tom
is
working
with
a
Swiss
woodworking
master
to
build
one
of
the
largest
camera
of
its
kind.
He
is
using
it
together
with
19th
century
photography
processes
to
create
one
of
a
kind,
huge
negatives
of
the
Taiwanese
landscape
to
channel
the
aesthetics
of
traditional
Chinese
ink
painting.
He
also
works
on
three
other
projects
about
typhoons,
death
and
environmental
issues.
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