Bio

Tomasz Dunajski is an independent photographer working at the intersection of documentary and metaphor. His practice is rooted in attentive observation and intuitive responses to light, form, and mood. Nature remains his primary point of reference — not merely as a subject, but as a space of personal experience, silence, and contemplation. He avoids visual excess and digital staging. Instead, he follows emotion, restraint, and subtle shifts of atmosphere. His photographs are not meant to explain or describe reality, but to open a space for interpretation — balancing between what is seen and what is sensed. In his work, he often explores uncertainty, perceptual thresholds, and the human tendency to project meaning onto seemingly neutral scenes. His images pose a recurring question: what do we truly see — and what do we want to see? On a daily basis, he works as an electrician in a shipyard, while photography remains his true passion and essential form of expression. He comes from Gdańsk, where his sensitivity to visual form began with drawing and painting in childhood. His journey into photography started in the late 2000s, shortly before a mountain trip, when he purchased his first DSLR camera. Since then, photography has become an integral part of his life. He perceives the world through frames, which allow him to capture fleeting moments, emotions, and light. Much of his inspiration comes from nature, approached with humility, patience, and respect. Even when no photograph is taken, the act of attentive presence remains meaningful. Hiking and cycling trips play an important role in his creative process, enabling deeper immersion in landscape and place. He is equally drawn to the urban environment, where everyday scenes reveal unexpected rhythm, geometry, and light. He favors the square format and black-and-white photography — restrained, raw, and expressive. After a long period focused primarily on monochrome work, he now consciously combines black-and-white and color, exploring how each medium reveals different emotional layers and narratives. Recently, he has also been engaging with street photography, embracing its spontaneity and unpredictability, as well as experimenting with panoramic formats to more fully capture space and atmosphere. His photographs have been published in magazines such as Together, Foto-Kurier, and the artistic-historical quarterly Neony Tożsamości, as well as in local press. One of his works was presented in the exhibition “GALERIA PRZEZ SZYBĘ – a completely different view of art.” In 2016, he received first prize in the ASF International Fine Art Photography contest, with two additional works awarded. Until 2018, his photographs were regularly recognized in competitions and presented at thematic and post-competition exhibitions, as well as in urban spaces. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Polish Society of Nature Photographers (ZPFP). In 2025, he was awarded First Place in the Photographer of the Year competition of ZPFP in the “Impressions” category. In 2026, he became a member of the Gdańsk Photographic Society (GTF). After returning to active participation in competitions in 2024, his work has once again begun to receive recognition both in Poland and internationally. For him, photography is not only a passion, but a way of experiencing and understanding the world. Sometimes the absence of a finished image is not a failure — the encounter itself becomes part of the story.