Imago Mortis - portrait photo shoot in Wroclaw, Poland
Wrocław. I was walking in Grabiszynski Park and I saw Anna.
Imago Mortis - I thought.
Paweł Masnyk - thought Imago Mortis.
And in fact it was quite different.
With Anna we have known each other for a long time. I'm not even sure how exactly anymore. However, I think it won't be a lie if I say that we have been a mutual inspiration to each other for years. The photo shoot was a matter of course, a matter of time rather than a question of "if".
There was, however, some kind of peculiar curse over her beautiful, extremely photogenic image. I remember that we were twice defeated by the heat. Wroclaw, despite being so far from the equator, can surprise you with really southern temperatures. It was only the third time that we learned our lesson and opted for a warm summer evening.
We were limited by time. However, Wrocław's Grabiszynski Park provided the perfect conditions - shade where we found shelter, soft light and a space conducive to concentration. Anna guided me through the alleys and told me about the place. It was a strange and beautiful feeling, because a few years earlier I had lived right next door, and never had the opportunity to really walk through this park. It was only after I left Wroclaw, already as a visitor, that I was able to get to know it and... fall in love with it all over again.
This session was for me the essence of what portrait photography in Wroclaw is - not just a picture of a face, but an encounter, a conversation and a moment frozen in time. The photos were taken with a Nikon D750 camera using a Petzval lens, which added softness, imperfection and a certain painterly nervousness to the frames, perfectly matching the mood of the story.
Imago Mortis was thus not a title. Rather, it was a mood, a shadow that floated somewhere between the light, the leaves and the silence of the park. And Anna - as always - was able to put a face to it.
She asked me not to tell anyone about it. So, of course, I will not tell you that she is afraid of spiders.
