Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Tomasz Gudzowaty.
The Polish photographer and filmmaker Tomasz Gudzowaty (born 1971) is known for the strong sense of perfection in his work—clear compositions, precisely chosen image frames, carefully considered down to the last detail. In Sumo, a photographic tribute to the Japanese national sport, Gudzowaty confronts his subject with the rebellious aesthetic of are-bure-bokeh, which means “rough, blurred, out of focus.” This visual style developed in Japan in the 1960s as a countercurrent to the prevailing aesthetic norm of photojournalism. In this latest series, Gudzowaty photographs not only the wrestlers in the throes of combat, but also life within the training stables where these young men live, eat and sleep together. The result is an extension of Gudzowaty’s previous documentary work, and a stunning black-and-white portrait of a remarkable sport within a society strongly shaped by both tradition and modernity.
This book by Tomasz Gudzowaty (born 1970), a photographer otherwise known for impeccably crafted black-and-white images, is a bold and unexpected attempt to embrace the aesthetics of chance, hidden in what he once considered a byproduct of his artistic process--the positive prints from Polaroid Type 55 film.
Here, Nan Goldin draws on Tomasz Gudzowaty's archive to create her own narrative from his work. The people in the photographs--flying, floating, upside down--strive to liberate themselves from their corporeal limitations. As Goldin puts it, "they are breaking the rules of how we are bound to the earth."
This is the first monograph by Tomasz Gudzowaty, presenting a selection of his iconic pictures which have won him numerous awards and international recognition, alongside previously unpublished material. Photography as a New Kind of Love Poem contains two decades of work by Gudzowaty, who dexterously explores a wide range of genres and formats—from social documentary to portraiture, from wildlife to sport, from austere black-and-white pictures in the tradition of photojournalism to sophisticated color compositions. In editing the book, Gudzowaty eschews chronological or thematic order for a sequence shaped by moods and relationships, all unified by his consistent and engaging investigation of the world and human condition. Afficiandos of fine photo books will be particularly impressed by publisher and printer Gerhard Steidl's astounding printing of magnificent blacks throughout the book's pages.
Tomasz Gudzowaty was born in 1971 and studied law at the University of Warsaw. He began his photographic career with nature photography, later turning to social documentary. His photos have been published in Max magazine, The Guardian, Newsweek, Time and Photo. Gudzowaty has won many of the profession's premier contests, including eight previous World Press Photo awards as well as Pictures of the Year and NPPA Best of Photojournalism awards.
Published by Steidl. Introduction by Franca Sozzani.
Tomasz Gudzowaty has traveled extensively throughout sub-Saharan Africa, amassing thousands of images of elephants, lions, cheetahs, wildebeest, zebras and other species. In 2008 he documented a remote emperor penguin colony in the Weddell Sea. This book captures his nature photography.
Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Tomasz Gudzowaty, et al.
Polish photographer Tomasz Gudzowaty (born 1971) documents the lives of ship scrappers in Chittagong, the second-largest city in Bangladesh, where nearly 40 percent of the 700 ocean-going ships taken out of service every year are scrapped. Gudzowaty’s photographs, executed on black-and-white film stock, record their arduous labors.
Tomasz Gudzowaty: Proof
Tomasz Gudzowaty: Beyond the Body
Tomasz Gudzowaty: Photography as a new kind of love poem
Tomasz Gudzowaty: Closer
Tomasz Gudzowaty: Keiko