Joanna is one of the first friends I met in twitter almost four years ago. When I started this project I always thought with her as a great contributor because of her life's journey in the States and Poland. I am excited to publish her childhood story on this section.
"Wiele zawdzięczam
tym, których nie kocham."
(Podziękowanie, Wisława Szymborska)
"Looking back at my childhood"
By Joanna Kapica.
I have not thought I will be put in the situation, when someone will ask me to write a story about my childhood. And until now I haven't really spent time thinking about it. And about how much my childhood influenced my current me.
At first when I go back in my thoughts to time when I was growing up it seems that this period was uneventful and very steady. Controlled by seasons and changing level of my education I have reached. Back than it seemed like such a quite and slow paced life. Very often I felt lonely and with not many friends I could hang out with.
I grew up in small town in eastern part of Poland. Town with many farms and a lot of open spaces. This is one of those places, where you could say everyone lives by their own pace and everything happens by its own slow measure. The changes that are affecting the rest of the world sometimes were only heard as unreal news stories broadcasted in the radio, that never come true in our little world. Even the fact, that my childhood fell during the last decade of communism in Poland- I never felt someone considered that part of Polish history as something what would affect freedom and be inconvenient to the citizens in any way. Perhaps these were subjects of political meaning, too serious and not intended for my young ears and hence my perception of the time was a bit different from reality. And even though it seemed to me, that the town I grew up in was so separated from all the problems in the big world shown on TV- when communism fell and first independent government was chosen- I was somehow aware that big changes are coming. Even to the small town far away from the big world where everything seemed so idyllic until now.
And they did. I just never was too interested in the big political announcements, promises. The changes have affected many people during that period and for the first time we all started hearing very often about current problems, national debt, unemployment, low wages.
When the new system was unveiling the unpleasant consequences of the past and was at the same time trying to bring the freedom to people of Poland, I was trying to understand it all. But I have not been pulled towards the tv with new flashy programs or wave or extremely colorful and attractive products that started to reach shelves of local store. During that period I was spending a lot of time with just my thoughts and organizing my time around search of some inspiration, something that would let me understand my life and everything around. It was time when I started noticing little details of plants and flowers while growing up intellectually towards adulthood. And it was time when getting closer to the nature allowed me to become more sensitive.
I liked to gather pieces of foliage and arrange into some new creations. I would hang them in my room and sometimes I would try to use my parents simple point and click film camera to capture some on pictures. I have been spending lots of free time (when I wasn't helping at the farm my parents owned) by just going into nearby forest or finding wildflowers on the side of local roads. I have been discovering the changes seasons are bringing to these natural shapes through out the year. When season was not friendly for outdoor discoveries I have enjoyed planting various indoors flowers that would decorate all rooms in my parents house, as my room was not offering enough space for them all anymore.
Even after I moved from my parents house when attending high school (yes, I had stayed in dormitory for HS students) or college- I always liked to go back to their town and enjoy the close meetings with nature and its beautiful treasures.
Today looking back at my search and appreciation of nature I understand where my sensitivity came from. And where the roots of my interest are reaching back when it comes to nature photography. The never ending longing for preservation of the small details and beauty has been impacting my photography and became the never ending part for all the photos taken so far and those that will be taken by me in the future.
© Text and Images by Joanna Kapica
About the Author
Who I am
My name is Joanna Kapica. I am self-taught photographer. Currently living and working in Krakow, Poland.
What I do
Photography is my passion and I am using every possible moment to enjoy it!
Big part of my portfolio presents artistic nature photographs with concentration on beautiful details of plants and various landscapes. They are available as prints in many custom sizes via my portfolio website.
I find beauty in people by photographing their portraits or special moments in their life (weddings are among them- but are not the only special moments!) as well as photographing them during their daily activities- like work (corporate photo sessions are just example of this).
Who I have been working for and/or with
I have been working for magazines from art, travel and architecture field, companies and private customers looking for high quality photo services and products, as well as offering photo editing services for businesses and individuals. I have been participating in, enjoying and supporting local art events.