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I think I was 11 or 12 when I sent my first letter to a local TV station to ask them if I can come in one day and see the studios and how they make live shows. To my surprise, they replied and invited me the following Saturday. I was dying of excitement and curiosity – all those secrets were about to be revealed. The same happened when I wrote to a local radio station a few months later. Radio fired up my imagination even more and I wanted to know how all that magic happened. I loved it, even though some of things I had imagined as magical turned out to be mundane tasks. My curiosity landed me my first proper radio job a few years later when I was at uni. (And the journalist who invited me to see the radio station a few years earlier became one of my colleagues.) And now, looking back, I realise most of what I’ve achieved either professionally – from being a journalist to creating films for clients – or privately, was to some extent driven by curiosity, which in turn created opportunities for me. So when I met Ian Sanders a few months ago for a chat, we realised that we both were driven by curiosity and started wondering what drives others. Particularly people who’ve achieved, discovered or built something that has an impact on others. And that’s how the idea for our new series called Curiosity or Opportunity was born. This is a side project in which we talk to people who’ve built (or helped others build), created or invented great things – from art to huge businesses – and ask them what has guided them: curiosity or opportunity? Or maybe something else. We hope that each episode will also allow us to extract some key concepts that have shaped their careers and/or approach to life, concepts that may inspire others to start creating, building and inventing too. In the first episode American graphic designer, artist, teacher and entrepreneur, James Victore explains why you need to play with ideas, but not without a plan. #IanSanders #interview #Curiosityandopportunity #video #JamesVictore

I first met Rob several years ago and already back then he was a kind of a cult figure. Drawing funny characters, creating simple, but beautiful visual treats, using curved lines and lots of imagination. Since then he’s started his own studio and became a successful artist creating a wide range of pieces: from museum installations to awesome Nutella jar designs, to visual identification for brands and businesses. He’s had many exhibitions and his south London studio – packed with his creations – is a testament to his versatility as an artist. Rob, known to his fans as Supermundane,  loves his lines, both curvy and straight. He can create amazingly complex, almost three-dimensional drawings from them, but also very simple, geometrical abstract images. But as he says in his video, they all might have a ‘darker side’. Oh, and the name Supermundane? It has something to do with a kettle factory… Here’s Rob and after watching the video scroll down for previous Creative Types: Previous Creative Types: Dave Walker (video) Niall McDiarmid (video) Roger Ballen (video) Paul Clarke (video) James M. Barrett (video) Adde Adesokan (interview/pics) Przemek Wajerowicz aka From The Upper Deck (interview/pics – and here’s his new book) Pablo Delgado (photos) Oleg Gutsol of 500px.com (interview) #creativetypes #supermundane #video

I recently shot a music video for a British-Norwegian band, Casa Murilo. Not my first venture into the music video world, but definitely my first where I was in total control of the project. I loved the track (called ‘Drive’) and I’ve managed to convince them to ditch their original idea of shooting a lyric video. We’ve decided to produce something without the band, without even any specific actors, but with lots of movement. I tried to build a narrative by constantly switching the pace of the video from normal to super fast to super slow. Has it worked? You’ll be the judge. But apart from everything else, this was also my chance to create a tribute to two other things as well. ‘Drive’ is a tribute to the city that has been my home for almost two decades. Grand and overwhelming, but also scruffy and a bit rough around the edges. Super hectic and noisy, but also charming and surprisingly beautiful at its most mundane. Full of contrasts, and grey at the same time. Secondly, this video was a (kind of) tribute to my other passion, street photography. I’ve revisited some of my favourite spots, discovered some new ones in the process and ended up with tons of ideas for other projects. The slow motion bits were filmed using Sony FS700 at either 100 fps or 240 fps, the same camera was used for the timelapse and most of the normal speed shots. A couple of shots were done using Canon 5D Mark II and I also used my iPhone for a few sequences within the video. Two of which were shot using Instagram’s Hyperlapse app. I’ll let you guess which ones. Here’s the same video on the band’s official YouTube channel, hope the newly released record does well. #CasaMurilo #Musicvideo #video

Well, not just one…. You know what they say – when taking pictures in the street, look up to see more interesting things. (They do say that, don’t they? DON’T THEY?) In any case, never has it been more true than during my Greek holiday last month. We all know and love the quaint beauty of narrow Greek streets (I’m talking here about the Cycladic fishing villages, rather than Athens city centre), but have you ever looked up? I was endlessly fascinated by the omnipresent, tangled telegraph posts, telephone poles, whatever you want to call them. Mostly wooden structures, battered over the decades by the strong Meltemi winds, they stand tall, carrying electricity and Facebook updates via the cables on top, and serving as notice boards (mostly death notices and tourist accommodation) at street level. Sometimes it was all bout the beauty of the lines, like here: In most cases though, I was fascinated by the complexity of it all: The occassional dual-purpose use was just the icing on the cake: But largely, I was fascinated by how these structures have become an essential and inseparable part of the landscape. And rather than spoiling it, they actually add some ‘beauty’ to it. Or is it just me? #Greece #photography #streetphotography #urbex

I met Tammy a few years ago when she commissioned me to take some pictures for her site. That’s when I discovered the fascinating world of hapkido, a Korean martial art, which Tammy has been practising for over 30 years now. Since then we’ve worked together on a video for Women’s Sport Trust, which Tammy co-founded last year and which has gained an incredible momentum and backing from lots of prominent supporters. What I didn’t know until recently, was Tammy’s back story which undoubtedly had a huge influence on her sporting career, her achievements and desire to empower other women around her. And that’s the story I tried to capture in this very short, 90-second video I created for a global competition devoted to awe-inspiring women. In a way, it’s a shame I only had a minute and a half, as the story – as you can probably imagine – is far more complex and it would be great to be able to delve into it a bit more. But still, I’m glad Tammy said yes to my request to film her and I was hugely privileged to witness her classes and see how fantastic she is as a hapkido master, champion of women in sport and simply as a strong, funny, human and hugely inspirational leader. Here’s my 90-second portrait of Tammy Parlour. #martialarts #TammyParlour #WomensSPortTrust #hapkido #video

This is just a quick note to let everybody know I have a new Facebook page for my video and photography work – Michal Dzierza Visuals. I’ve decided (at last) to separate my private posts from my video and photography updates, which from now on can be found here (was that a ‘like’ I just got? Awwww, thanks). It looks a bit bare for now, but soon there will be more content, including a couple of videos I’m publishing this month. Stay tuned. #facebook #michaldzierzavideo

Titles and credits are usually the last thing I add to my videos when I’m ready to wrap up the post-production. And I guess I’m not the only one. I do try to find a good font to match the subject and the mood of the video, but normally end up with something minimalistic. The video below not only shows the evolution of typography in film, but also its importance. No Film School, where I first saw the video, notes that titles have the potential to be a tremendously powerful artistic asset to any film. Good title sequences — like those featured on the fantastic blog Art of the Title – are able to encapsulate the themes and subtext of a film through masterful manipulation of the art of typography. By the way, do have a look at Art of the Title after you’ve watched the video. It’s got some wonderful examples of great opening titles and film credits. #typography #videomaking

Thanks to a flying visit by my cousin – an art historian – last weekend I discovered William Morris’s Arts & Crafts-style Red House in Bexleyheath. Set in the middle of a sprawling, moderately attractive (that’s me being diplomatic) suburban jungle, the Red House was originally built when the area was mostly a sprawling orchard. William Morris co-created the house – in which he lived for about six years in the 1860 – together with Phillip Webb, a neo-Gothic architect. Its L-shaped design was revolutionary at the time. While Webb focused mostly on the exterior, Morris was busy designing he interiors. It is still considered one of the most influential buildings in domestic architecture history, it influenced many European and American architects and designers who created their own styles, loosely based on Arts & Crafts. Now owned by National Trust, the Red House is not, as one would expect, a busy house brimming with old furniture, objects and designs. It’s all a bit understated. Morriss’s designs are there, some of the furniture is there, but the house is surprisingly low on decorative and practical objects. If you exclude some of the imposing, but bare cupboards and tables, a set of glasses and a couple of other items, the main focal points of the house are Morris’s floral patterns (reconstructed by the house’s last owners in the 1950s), its stained glass windows and garden. There are some interesting stories behind some of the pieces – the large wooden ‘cupboard’ (or settle) by the main entrance is one of them. In Morris’s bedroom there’s a previously undiscovered pre-Raphaelite Genesis wall painting. Next door you can see the how intricate some of William Morris’s patterns were and how they were used to create the wallpapers inside the house. It’s a quirky little place and while the National Trust volunteers were wonderfully enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the house, it was also fantastic to be able to see it through my cousin’s eyes. #RedHouse #WilliamMorris

This is my latest video. It’s also my latest side project. It was never planned. I was driving to Beachy Head in East Sussex on a sunny Sunday morning and spotted a bunch of paragliders on the side of a hill. I stopped the car, asked a farmer whether it’s ok to use his field for a bit and filmed them for about 15-20 minutes. I only had one zoom lens on me and not much else. Then I spent a good few hours editing it. And that’s when it gets serious. This might be a side project, but I treated it like a regular paid assignment: – I made sure the quality is as good as possible even though the original footage was shot without any preparation or planning; – I edited it the way I would if I was commissioned by a client; – I went back and reedited it until I got what I thought worked. “You never know..” A side project can often be your business card. Your opportunity to attract a new client. Your chance to show the world the skills you often cannot show, because of the nature of the work you normally do for clients. For example, you may specialise in corporate videos, because that’s where the money is, but deep inside you want to shoot music videos. Or documentaries. Or cooking videos. Then spend your free time doing just that. Get a taste for what it’s like to shoot a music video, get some new skills, hone your craft and then show the world what you’ve done. As my friend says, “you never know who is watching”. And indeed, they might be your next client. It does happen. I was commissioned to shoot a video for a London charity based on one of my side projects, an old mini-documentary I did a few years ago. The client wanted a similar video for their campaign. At a personal level, side projects allow you to test new waters, get out of your comfort zone and test new approaches that you can later use in your work. (This video, which I shot on my old iPhone while shopping at London’s Borough Market, also got me a paid commission.) And yes, sometimes side projects can be time-consuming. But it’s time well-spent. Don’t waste it. Originally published on Medium as Side projects are crucial. #sideprojects

This post originally appeared on Meehow Media. In April Meehow Media started working with London-based charity, Women’s Sport Trust, on a new video to highlight WST’s grant recipients. The brief was to show why the three individuals/groups are passionate about what they do as sportspeople and explain how the grants helped them. The turnaround time was pretty fast as the 5-minute video was to be shown first at a conference in London in late May. So in early May we started filming across three locations: London, Birmingham and in rural Lincolnshire. It’s not easy to tell three separate stories in one pretty short video, particularly when all three subjects have plenty to talk about (and demonstrate). Each story was rich in great anecdotes, so as you can imagine the editing process was particularly tough, bearing in mind we wanted to preserve the often inspiring human stories, but also give everyone an opportunity to explain how WST helps them fulfil their dreams as sportspeople. We’ve decided not to go for a linear story, but rather interweave the three stories together. The video features Liz McTernan, World Paratriathlon Bronze Medallist 2012, London-based Lexi Lloyd-Smith, who plays football for Arsenal’s under-12’s and three skaters from a fantastic and super-energetic team called the Birmingham Blitz Dames. It was a fun project to work on and it was fantastic to get very positive feedback both from the Trust as well as Microsoft, who sponsored the video. As the video’s producer and editor, I couldn’t be more happy with it and I’m hoping that soon Liz, Lexi and the Dames will become household names. They do deserve it. #MeehowMedia #WomensSPortTrust

I love unexpected side projects. This one wasn’t even planned. I was driving to Beachy Head last Sunday when I spotted a bunch of paragliders on the side of a hill somewhere in rural East Sussex. I saw a farmer on a field nearby, asked him if it was ok to use his field to film for a bit and spent maybe 20 minutes trying to capture the beauty of paragliding. As this wasn’t pre-planned, I didn’t have a wide variety of equipment on me. Just my camera, one zoom lens and a tripod. But it was sufficient. I wasn’t sure the footage would be usable as it was a very bright morning and the light was very harsh, but I think I was lucky with the visuals – I love the opening sequence and the two planes at 1’13”. Sadly, the three cute sheep didn’t make the cut: Next time I’ll see if I can pluck up the courage to actually fly one of those things. With my camera, of course. Now that would be cool. Music: Ember by Podington Bear #fs700 #paragliding #video

There’s no big story behind these photos. I took them last week on the way to a meeting in town. It was a seriously cloudy afternoon and I just loved the gloomy atmosphere. And then there was that guy with the weird face…. #blackandwhite #fujix100s #streetphotography