Tomasz Lechman is an IT architect on the weekdays, and a hobbyist photographer on the weekends. He has been living on the road since 2021 capturing his travels around Europe and Asia.
You can find his images on Instagram @tomasz.lechman
You might think I am playing favourites as today we have another personal friend and photographer-in-arms Tomasz. He is currently doing what I did back in 2017 and that is, living life on the road.
David - Out of all my interviewees, I think I am correct in saying photography plays a smaller part in the day-to-day of your life. So tell me what brought you to photography and what role does it play in your life?
Tomasz - My photography journey started pretty simply, I was planning a couple of month trip to Madeira islands and thought that it would be great to bring some photos to share with my family and friends. At that time I was living in Denmark and had a Canon EOS Rebel T3i camera. It was a gift from my uncle from 10 years prior, a gift I haven’t really used during all those years. So from one day to the other I dusted it off and went out on the streets of Copenhagen to learn, opening the beginner’s eye and getting thrilled with endless possibilities.
There are things in life that require very precise time and the right space to flourish. Little did I know at that point I was in the perfect spot to fall in love with photography.
The role of photography in my day-to-day life is still not fully defined, I am still searching for the answer to this question myself. I have traveled a lot in the last 2 years and plan to continue doing so for the upcoming couple of years. If it wasn’t for photography I think I would no longer be traveling. Taking photos makes me curious in a different way, it drives me to document the world we live in. A want, or even a need I never knew I had in me before picking up the camera.
David - These images show me a far more playful side to your photography whilst retaining the curiosity that I see in your other images. I know nothing you do is accidental so what made you choose this specific sequencing of images?
Tomasz - The overarching theme of this sequence is storytelling. For me personally, each of them brings up certain emotions, thoughts, or questions. The most intriguing part of photography, or art in general is that it is up to individual interpretation. And so I very rarely explain my photos, I want the viewer to look at them unbiasedly.
David - I am always impressed by your use of colour. What is your process to get to the final image? Does it begin in camera or does most of the magic happen in post?
Tomasz - Thank you. Color in photography is one of the aspects that pleases me a lot, my chase for perfect color starts before hitting the camera trigger. I always inspect the scene for good lighting and make sure to expose for highlights, even if it means losing some details in the shadows. Also, I don’t shoot in harsh light if possible, preferable shooting time is either in the mornings or in the evenings. This approach with Canon cameras results in bright, strong colors.
I am the type of person that enjoys taking photos much more than editing, so I always try to find some shortcuts. My post process usually starts with applying some older presets I have made and then playing around with the "Transform" and "Basic" tabs in Lightroom to make sure that geometry and exposure work. I feel like you can get a lot done with just the "Basic" tab as the exposure and color balance have a huge impact on the outcome. If I feel like spending some more time with a specific photo I may play around with "HSL", "Color Grading" and some local adjustments.
David - I always ask a variant of this question as It intrigues me the most. How do you approach your relationship with the viewer, do you bear this in mind when creating your images?
Tomasz - The viewer is in fact what nudged me into photography, as I said earlier I wanted to document places I visit to share with friends and family. You could say that I started with the so-called travel photography. So my main focus was on composing eye-pleasing pictures with bright colors while at the same time not distorting reality with too much editing.
Along the way, in my journey, I tried street photography and ultimately fell in love with it. It opened new possibilities for documenting the travels from a different perspective, a people's perspective. So my focus shifted to documenting daily life and hunting thought-provoking scenes. I have plenty to learn in this space, but it is a journey I am happy to partake in.
David - Your shooting style is somewhat unorthodox, at least to me, could you expand a little on your thought process behind it? I am of course talking about how you can shoot whole days worth of images without reviewing and as you say to allow for “happy surprises” when you go to edit at a later date.
Tomasz - As I have mentioned in a prior question I get much more enjoyment from taking photos than editing them. So if I have some spare time and have to choose between going out to shoot or staying to do editing, you can bet I will be out!
When going out to shoot I do it solo most of the time, it lets me immerse myself in the moment and connect better with my surroundings. I compare it a lot to meditation, you open yourself to the senses and the feeling of being present. The first thing I do when I get home from shooting is to import all the photos from the camera card to an external drive. I do take a look at them, just out of curiosity, but it’s a brief look without any culling or editing.
I usually get back to culling and editing the photos a couple of weeks later (or months). It is not as much my choice as the fact that I have a pile of photos waiting for me and I post photos chronologically. The interesting thing I have noticed in this process is that when I begin working on photos from a couple of months back I can see the places and situations anew. It gives you a different perspective on the photos you have taken, and you may notice things you haven’t seen right away.
David - As always I use a question to satisfy my own curiosity and although we recently had a chance to catch up in person there is one burning question in particular. Having forgotten what that was I will ask instead, where next(photographically)? You have hit many “Bucket List” destinations and I am excited to see what you create whilst in Japan, but how are you going to follow that up? In a photographic sense.
Tomasz - The saying "appetite comes with eating" couldn't be more true. My travel and photography journey was initially planned to last for 6 months, then got extended to 1 year, and now to 2 years, and I already have plans for year 3! This year I am focusing mainly on Asia, starting with Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Japan to potentially continue with South Korea, Taiwan, and more. Next year will be rather focused on Europe and potentially the Americas, but I have a burning feeling I won't stop until I visit all continents.
There is one specific project I am working on right now, a photo book for 2022 adventures. It will be a compilation of photos, stories, and thoughts I gathered during my travels last year.
Last but not least I feel like this is just the beginning of my journey. There is still plenty of things for me to learn in photography. I have settled on the gear and technical process, so going forward I can focus solely on the creative process and sharpening the eye.
Thank you for doing this Tomasz, I know I somewhat pushed you out of your comfort zone on this. I look forward to our paths crossing again and hearing of your adventures. You can bet I will have some good stories to share by then too.