Hello stranger,

You’re at my internet photo gallery – Jan Bielak.
Since it’s my page I suppose I should write something about myself.

I’m just an amateur, a hobbyist, but let’s start from the beginning - the reason, the person who brought me into the world of photography – my father. My first memory about photography caused my interest in it. The memory of my First Communion, when my dad took out his old camera (I think it was a Zenit) and took photos at the ceremony. I remember how he every few minutes he measured light with an old Sverdlovsk 4 and how he walked silently around the church to get the best shots. A few days later I sat together with my family and browsed the photos, fresh from the photo lab.

My journey into photography began with a competition at my high school with a local contest – the theme was ‘Częstochowa and it’s surroundings’, my home town. I participated because my father convinced me to do so. My dad walked through the whole neighbourhood with me and advised me about technical aspects of photography. Sometimes we walked very late at night and sometimes before sun rise. I didn’t have my own camera so my brother borrowed me his “idiot-camera” (that’s what I call basic point and shoot cameras). After a few days I picked the best ones, corrected them a bit on my PC ( I don’t do it much; I can say that 95% of my photos are natural), sent them to the printers and submitted them. About a month later we found out the results – I’d won. I was extremely surprised and my parents we’re very proud, especially my dad.

One summer during high school, I bought (with a little help from my parents) a proper camera – a Panasonic DMC-Fz30 (which I sold recently). I took a lot of great photos with it – I became the official school photographer for the rest of high school. A year later, I persuaded the principle to buy a proper camera for school – I chose which one, arranged everything and there it was – a Canon 400D with 2 lenses (28-135mm and 50mm f1.8). Using this DSLR made me realise that I want and need a DSLR of my own. I read hundreds of sites, booklets and magazines about which camera to chose. Because of my interest in macro photography and love of unusual shots, I chose a model with a tilting monitor and LiveView – the Nikon D5000 with a 18-105mm kit lens.

At present I photograph mostly flowers and recently started trying macro shots.

My current equipment:
Nikon D5000
Nikkor 18-105mm VR
Sigma apo macro 70-300mm
Nikkor 35mm f/1.8
Tamron SP 500mm mirror
Old Helios 50mm
Metz Mecablitz 36 C-2
Benbo tripod
and my dad’s old Sverdlovsk 4