The reason for this workshop is to provide you with understanding how to achieve that elusive feel of enduring images, which last beyond the time when they were taken.

It feels right that after working for so many years as a Portrait Photographer time has come to share more broadly my individual understanding of taking portraits of people (mostly on location) – some were great creatives, scientists and most certainly all were perfectly aware of their individuality and originality. At times sessions were complex and challenging which I described in my books (one of them “Silent Conversations) is provided as part of a workshop Timeless Portrait Photography. I have not been involved in branding photography nor glamour; my portraits are within a realm of editorial photography.

Over the past 40 years I have photographed many of the greatest figures in the arts in Europe, spanning the worlds of music, literature, dance and theatre. Arriving in London from my native Poland in 1980, I was immediately absorbed into the capital’s fast-moving cultural scene, taking portraits of the likes of Glenda Jackson, Tom Stoppard, Bill Brandt, Philip King,(Ernst Gombrich, John Cage, Barry Flanagan OBE , Alfred Schnittke, JonathanLloyd, Sir Michael Palin, Peter Hall, Andrzej Wajda, Tambimuttu, George Martin, Marina Warner, Claes Oldenburg, Lucy Burge, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Paloma Picasso, Helaine Blumenfeld, Richard Rogers, John Peel, David Hurn, Anthony Caro, Simon Callow, James Bonas, Jerry Goldsmith on assignments for Vogue, The Independent, Newsweek, The Illustrated London News, BBC and Harper’s & Queen among others. My work, however, is not constrained by time or place. And it has absolutely nothing to do with fashion. Instead, it results from a moment of special affinity, a kind of spiritual kinship, between two different personalities – the photographer and sitter.

Shira Shavi

Artist | Creator

Whenever I look at your extraordinary portraits and your rare, distinctive visual language, I find myself thinking that you are one of the most compelling and accomplished photographers I have ever encountered.

I can recognize your work before I even see your name. It carries such a distinct visual fingerprint—an unmistakable signature that is uniquely yours. And to me, that is the ultimate compliment an artist can receive.

Richard Avedon photographer:

‘beautiful and strange photographs … full of deep feeling’.