A passion for photography

Polish native Barbara, now living in Newcastle, has set her sights high for 2018. Myles Buchanan reports

Barbara Gulik.

One of her fashion photos.

One of her fashion photos.

thumbnail: Barbara Gulik.
thumbnail: One of her fashion photos.
thumbnail: One of her fashion photos.
© Bray People

An amateur photographer originally from Poland who has settled in Newcastle, has set her sights on becoming a professional fashion photographer for 2018.

Barbara Gulik left her home town of Poznan aged only 22 to follow her dream of living in a different country. After spending ten years living in Cork, she decided to relocate to the Garden County in 2015, soon making Newcastle her home.

A member of Wicklow Photography Club for the past year, Barbara was crowned their joint-photographer of the year for 2017.

'I'm really into fashion and beauty photography. I just live it,' she said. 'I still will shoot events, weddings and food but fashion photography really is my number one. So far, I've been fortunate enough to get the opportunity to photograph multiple fashion shows in Cork, and also some of the models from Lockdown Model Agency.'

Barbara's love affair with photography began aged 12 when she received her first camera. At the time she just focused on taking photos of family holidays and while hanging out with friends. While others told Barbara her pictures were well taken, She didn't think they were anything special.

However, her passion for photography really took off when she was 14 and got her first Kodak film camera. She began posing her friends having been influenced by the images in fashion magazines, but soon found her photographs didn't look anything like the pictures printed in the magazines.

'I was using a 4MP digital camera at the time and it just kept eating batteries. Every few pictures I would have to change the batteries, which cost a lot,' she said.

For a number of years she gave up taking photographs, while still admiring the work of other photographers.

A few years after moving to Ireland, Barbara was gifted a DSLR Olympus E-410 as a birthday present. While she was delighted at the time, she ended up quite deflated after taking her first photos with the camera. The pictures were overexposed, underexposed or blurred.

'I didn't understand how it all worked. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO…..it was just frustrating.'

She booked into a basic course about how to use DSLR and suddenly everything started to become clear.

Barbara started spending her time travelling around Ireland and taking photos of landscapes, people and animals. She decided to upgrade her camera and purchased a semi-professional DSLR NikonD300s. The results were instant and soon Barbara began spending every spare-minute she had out taking photographs, often approaching strangers on the street.

'I remember I once saw a girl who I really wanted to photograph, so I went over to her, feeling a bit strange. I told her who I was and then just ran away. I gave her my phone number and then I was just waiting for her phone call. Soon enough she called and let me to photograph her. What's more, we became a very good friends.'

In 2014, Barbara was involved with the Breast Cancer Ireland calendar and was also an official photographer for many fitness events in Ireland and Spain.

'At the moment I shoot with professional full frame cameras Nikon D800 and D4. They are like my babies. It was a big investment but well worth it, especially since photography is my real passion and my true love.'

She joined Wicklow Photography Club around a year ago and has found it incredibly rewarding.

'I really enjoy it. Recently I became a photographer of the year for 2017 in the club. I'm really happy with that,' she said.

'Now I'm in a camera club community too. Everyone is very welcome and it doesn't matter what level you are at. Everyone gets better and improves. We all are learning from each other. Remember, everyone started somewhere. Being a photographer is really a big part of my life. I always try to create better and better images and I'm always looking for creative people to collaborate with so don't hesitate to get in touch.'