Maciej Dakowicz

Maciej Dakowicz (born 20 November 1976) is a Polish street photographer, photojournalist and gallerist. He is from Białystok in North East Poland.[1] Dakowicz is best known for his series of photographs of Cardiff night-life titled Cardiff after Dark.[2][3][4] He and others set up and ran Third Floor Gallery[5] in Cardiff and he is a member of the In-Public street photography collective.[6]

Life and work

Dakowicz studied computer science in Poland (2000). He lived in Cardiff, Wales,[7] between 2004 and 2012, where he worked and studied for his PhD at the University of Glamorgan (2010) where he also worked.[1] He left work at the university in 2009 and completed his PhD in 2010.[8] In 2010 he set up and ran Third Floor Gallery along with Joni Karanka and Bartosz Nowicki.[5] He left Cardiff for London, and since 2013 has been based in Mumbai, photographing in Tunisia, Yemen, India and Bangladesh.[8]

Dakowicz is best known for his series of photographs of Cardiff night-life titled Cardiff after Dark,[2][3][4] also the name of his later book. Photographed over a four-year period,[9] photographs from the series have featured in magazines and been exhibited in galleries. Individual images from the series have also been used out of context and with misleading captions by the British tabloid media to support a single narrative about alcoholic excess. This tabloid practice has been criticised; for example, Jonathan Jones wrote in The Guardian that "Humour is the most obvious thing about his pictures, and their attraction lies in the way they balance grotesque abandon with poised, coolly beautiful lighting."[9][10] Sean O'Hagan in the Guardian said "However, it is not all outrageousness and vulgarity: Dakowicz also catches the sense of camaraderie and celebration in Cardiff on a Saturday night. He has an outsider's eye for telling detail, a way of showing us, in often brilliantly dramatic fashion and with a degree of gleeful humour, what is right under our noses."[1]

In March 2013 Dakowicz became a member of the In-Public street photography collective.[6]

Publications by Dakowicz

Publications with contributions by Dakowicz

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ The book is shown here at blurb.com where it states "There are many differences between this and the original edition. Around half of photos were changed, almost all portraits and landscapes/cityscapes are gone. Now the book contains mostly street, documentary and travel photos. All photos were toned again to ensure that all are well printed. The cover is different and the layout inside has been modified slightly. You could say it is a completely new book."
  2. ↑ The publisher's page for the book is here.
  3. ↑ The book is described here at tumblr.com.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 O'Hagan, Sean (30 September 2012). "Cardiff After Dark by Maciej Dakowicz". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 January 2014. Dakowicz was born in 1976 in Bialystok, Poland. He came to Cardiff from Hong Kong in 2004, to work and study at the University of Glamorgan for a PhD in computer science, which he obtained in 2010. That same year, he opened the Third Floor Gallery in Cardiff with his friend and fellow photographer, Joni Karanka. ... One thing I admire about Dakowicz is his obsessive dedication. For this book, he photographed the same few streets in Cardiff on a Saturday night for five years.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jeff, Meyer (2010-06-12). "After Dark, Amateur Photographer, June 12, 2010". Amateur Photographer.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Salkeld, Luke (2009-05-16). "Welcome to binge Britain: Polish photographer documents four years of drunken revelry in Cardiff". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Martin, Charlotte (2009-05-15). "Highs and (very) lows of booze Britain". The Sun (London). Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Waldram, Hannah (2010-02-15). "New gallery opens in Cardiff". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Stuart, Matt (10 March 2013). "Maciej Dakowicz joins In-Public". In-Public. Retrieved 15 May 2013. Everyone at In-public is delighted to announce that Polish photographer Maciej Dakowicz has joined our ever increasing ranks.
  7. ↑ "5 Questions for Maciej Dakowicz". Retrieved 2010-10-04.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jones, Corinne (20 October 2013). "Maciej Dakowicz's street photography – in pictures". The Observer. Retrieved 20 October 2013. 'In Asia, I'm not discreet, I don't blend into the crowd,' says Maciej Dakowicz, a Polish photographer currently based in Mumbai. 'In many non-western countries, people don't mind being photographed, they even ask to be photographed,' he explains, 'although getting natural pictures can be difficult when everyone smiles into the tourist's camera.' After completing his PhD in computer science, Dakowicz quit his university job in favour of photography and travel, and from the streets of Tunisia, Yemen, India and Bangladesh, he searches for 'pictures raising questions, not answering them'.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jones, Jonathan (2011-09-23). "The excess is not in alcohol but in Britain's self-loathing". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-12-28. these pictures that Dakowicz took over a four-year period in Cardiff ... Though the Daily Mail captioned this picture as a drunken girl lying helpless, she was, in fact, posing. ... He has stated to the Guardian that it is misdescribed in the apocalyptic report on the black comedy that is urban Britain: 'I explained it to the Daily Mail, but still they put a wrong and misleading caption.'
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 MacDonald, Kerri; Furst, David (2011-09-23). "Saturday Nights on St. Mary Street". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-12-24. His Cardiff portfolio proved popular at the Visa pour l’Image photojournalism festival this year in Perpignan, France. ... In his photo essay, 'Cardiff after Dark,' many of the scenes are frantic, bawdy and bursting with energy. They convey a witty sort of heightened reality, representing five years of work rather than an average evening.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Cardiff nightlife pictures to be exhibited in Poland". BBC News South East Wales. 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2011-12-27.
  12. ↑ "Cardiff After Dark nightlife photos to go on show". BBC News South East Wales. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
  13. ↑ O'Hagan, Sean (2011-07-31). "Mass Photography: Blackpool through the Camera – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-12-27. The most dramatic picture of Blackpool life on display is also the most contemporary, the least nostalgic. Maciej Dakowicz is a Polish photographer best known for his garish, colour photographs of Cardiff at closing time, wherein all human life in extremis is on display. Here, he turns his outsider's eye on contemporary Blackpool in a single startling image entitled simply A Saturday Night Out in Blackpool, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Maciej Dakowicz". White Cloth Gallery. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Viva! Photo Award 2010 [sic]". Viva! Photo Awards. Retrieved 2011-12-28. Grand Prix - Maciej Dakowicz - z Bialeggostoku - Rodzina pod mostem
  16. ↑ "Flash Forward - Emerging Photographers 2009". Magenta. Retrieved 2011-12-28.
  17. ↑ "BZ WBK Press Foto 2010". BZ WBK Press Foto. Retrieved 2011-12-28. 3 nagroda - Maciej Dakowicz, freelancer. Weekendowa noc w klubie Great Western w centrum Cardiff, stolicy Walii.
  18. ↑ "Wyniki 6. Wielkiego Konkursu Fotograficznego National Geographic Polska". National Geographic Polska. Retrieved 2011-12-28. Wyróżnienie Maciej Dakowicz, „Cardiff nocą” - „Cardiff to stolica Walii. W młodym i dynamicznym 300-tysięcznym mieście skupia się życie nocne całego regionu. Ludzie spotykają się tu w sobotni wieczór w centrum miasta w jednym tylko celu – żeby imprezować. Ulica staje się miejscem zdarzeń w ich życiu ważnych i błahych, tłem rozmaitych perypetii życiowych. Zdjęcia powstały między listopadem 2008 a marcem 2010 r.”
  19. ↑ "BZ WBK Press Foto 2011". BZ WBK Press Foto. Retrieved 2011-12-28. Fotoreportaż. Społeczeństwo. Miejsce 2. Maciej Dakowicz. The Widengle Photo Agency
  20. ↑ "BZ WBK Press Foto 2011". BZ WBK Press Foto. Retrieved 2011-12-28. Fotoreportaż - Przyroda i środowisko naturalne - Miejsce 3 - Maciej Dakowicz - The Widengle Photo Agency

External links