I’m a Polish image maker. I walk the streets with a camera, hunting moments. I shape images with machines that dream. I know the language of pixels and print, and I speak it well.
Art and technology. I was drawn to both, even as a boy. I taught myself how to build things on the early Internet, when it was smaller but full of people who had a purpose for being there. No maps, just instinct. At the High School of Arts, I sharpened the eye — learned how to see, how to frame. I left with a diploma in design and photography in ’03, but more than that, I left with a sense of form and rhythm. Back then, I made drawings, comics — stories that got printed in odd corners of magazines. I helped put together exhibitions online, showcasing young Polish artists before anyone knew their names.
Later, I went to the Academy of Fine Arts to study design. Sat in those old rooms, listened, learned, and then I left. London was calling. The work was waiting. I answered. Big clients. Adidas, MTV, Sony and others. Not long after, the magazines took notice. “net,” the British one, ran a few pieces. Others followed. I won some awards. I worked in the thick of the digital world — Flash still alive, UX and UI were only just starting to get their names. For years I built things that moved, things that spoke. After a while, I started SYROP, something of my own — a studio, small and sharp. There, I built visual identities. I also helped ad directors shape the look of what they imagined. I gave form to ideas, gave bones to visions. And through it all, the work remained the same — see the thing before it exists, and bring it into the world.
Lately, I’ve come back to making pictures by other means — machines that think, or maybe dream. The rise of generative AI brought new endless possibilities to it. The past and the future meet in strange ways there. The images have a certain mood — mysterious, strange, with meaning just beneath the surface. I guide each one, form it, tell it where to go. The machine gives me something raw. I shape it until it feels right. What I want is simple: to feel something. To make others feel it too. Maybe that’s all any of us can do.
And then there is street photography. I always had a thing for it. The Fujifilm camera came with me — dependable, made to last, a joy to use. In time, it became my favorite tool. I walked the alleys, the corners, the places people pass without looking. I caught the light when it was tired, the faces when they forgot themselves. The city gave what it could. I took it. I started this journal in ’22. Two decades since the first digital photo. Since the first digital frame. A long road behind me, and still more ahead.
No one asked — but here’s a list of what I’ve done, year by year:
- 2024 / I take time to reflect on everything while 日本語を学ぶ
- 2023 / Generative AI revolution reignites my passion in digital art and illustration
- 2022 / I get myself a cult classic Fujifilm X100S
camera and get married
- 2021 / I revive my chess interest and watch countless hours of Twitch streams
- 2020 / In pandemic I play The Last of Us 2
which becomes my favorite video game - 2019 / I attempt to go iPad only and embrace digital minimalism for the first time
- 2018 / I get an ultra compact 1″ sensor Canon G9X
camera after months of research - 2017 / I establish Syrop
, my own independent design studio - 2016 / I start supporting Golden State Warriors
which becomes my favorite NBA team - 2015 / I meet my future wife and ride my fixed gear bike
around the city streets - 2014 / I discover the reality show Survivor
which soon becomes my most watched series - 2013 / I relocate to Warsaw
on a whim and get into iPhonography scene as a hobby - 2012 / The remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
becomes my favorite movie - 2011 / I rent my own place and drive my classic VW Golf Mk3
around the city streets - 2010 / I produce, co-host and record Filmofobia
podcast with my new Canon 550D
- 2009 / I return to Poland and help expand my friend’s design agency Freakstudio
- 2008 / I produce and co-host Nerdofonia
, a shortly lived audio podcast - 2007 / I wait in line in the rain for the original iPhone
at Apple Regent Street store - 2006 / I move to London
and start working for an acclaimed design agency de-construct - 2005 / I study Graphic Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan and get a Mac
- 2004 / I co-create Design Made in Poland that features works by many Polish artists
- 2003 / My diploma, portfolio Simonlab.com
is recognised on the international webdesign scene - 2002 / I start using Zenit analog camera and Canon Ixus v2
digital camera for the first time - 2001 / I start being published in the local comics magazine AQQ
and also create its website - 2000 / I teach myself the basics of website design using ancient tools like Microsoft Frontpage
- 1999 / I get connected to The Internet in the good old web 1.0, IRC and The Matrix
days - 1998 / I get into High School of Arts, get my first Pentium II
PC and a copy of Photoshop 4.0 - 1997 / The video game I play the most on my original PlayStation
console is Tekken 2
- 1996 / I watch MTV and WCW
on Astra satellite TV every day and every night - 1995 / The Crow
soundtrack opens my head to heavy music, especially a band called NIИ
- 1994 / I am a regular at the local video store renting and rewinding VHS tapes daily
- 1993 / Polish reprint of Judgment on Gotham
comes out and blows my comic book mind - 1983 / I am born in Poznan with Sun in Aquarius, Moon in Leo and Ascendant in Leo
If you’ve come this far, thank you. I hope it was worth it. Here are more links. I don’t post on social media anymore, but there’s plenty there from when I did.