Monika Kulon is a highly motivated individual who loves life and the beauty of it. She is able to adapt to varying work conditions and personality types. She enjoys new challenges and works quickly and efficiently to overcome them, it is something she likes and cannot live without.

Her past experiences include supervising weddings, private parties, and exhibitions. It was through being involved in such beautiful moments in people’s lives that first sparked my interest in photography. She started noticing the simple beauty in moments that had previously appeared inconsequential…and then the love starts and here we are…

Can you tell us what has been keeping you occupied recently throughout 2021 and what your plans for 2022 and beyond?

I arrived in Tasmania on the 18.03.2020 only few hours before Tasmanian borders were closing for non-residence. I was based in Hong Kong for the past 7 years where we used to live on Hong Kong Junk Boat – a teak wooden boat and I loved it.

I come to ‘Tassy’ to visit my husband who has been based here for over a year. 

It never crossed my mind that I will be not able travel back home to HK for almost 2 years. The adjustment was very hard for me as Tasmania, especially Launceston would never be a place of my choice to live.

I really appreciate its beauty, national parks, and stunning nature in general, but I miss the business craziness and randomness of Hong Kong - not many know this but 60% of Hong Kong is covered by nationals park and stunning beaches. 

Another thing that I always found fascinating about Hong Kong is the huge contrast, Prada store might be located next to fresh meat and fish market for example. 

 2021 was all about trying to settle into the Tasmanian lifestyle and trying to stay occupied. One interest I focused on particularly was training to become a kundalini yoga teacher.  This training was a huge help as it consist of lots of different meditation and exercise practice which helps adjust to new things and accept the changes. Basically, it helps focus the mind on letting go off the past and accepting the present moment. 

It sounds like quite the upheaval for you with new adventures on the horizon. I try and do the odd meditation to try and curb my stress and work/life balance which I’m sure a lot of us struggle with, especially in this profession.

Could you tell us a bit more about your pasts, your education, ethos and how you both approach your work currently?

I left my birth country of Poland at the age of 26 after I had done my masters degree in PR, Advertisement, Marketing & Management followed by Postgraduate degree in pre-school teaching as was planning on opening a kindergarten. As life takes lots of unexpected turns,  I instead decided that for my life to be more fulfilled I needed learn to speak English – I thought Sydney would be the best place to study it. 

The transition was pretty rough- new country, very far away from home, no language skills, no friends and no money. After leaving behind around 100 resumes I got my first job in Sydney as a barista. At the beginning I thought I might be the most educated barista in Sydney but discovered very quickly that most baristas and restaurant staff in Sydney are very educated as they left their country where they completed full educations often a couple master degrees to start new life in Sydney.

In order to live in Sydney I had to keep enrolling in new courses to keep a student visa status as that was the only visa available for Polish people at the time. The last course I enrolled in was Photography. By this stage I was already dating my now husband who was based in Hong Kong where I moved after completing the course and where I got my first photography client.

My first photography job was a food photoshoot for an owner of around 50 restaurants between Hong Kong and Vietnam. That was how my career slowly took off. 

My ethos - hmm I have spontaneous way of working and emotional eye.

How do you go about getting work and what do you find is the best solution you've found?

The Hong Kong market is very different than the one in Tasmania. In HK my style is unique and different from local artist - many times that would be the reason for choosing me. Hong Kong is a very vibrant and social place with lots of work based on recommendations - friends of friends. I worked from a co-working space which also brought me lots of clients through interacting with other members during coffee or gym breaks.

Another way of getting clients was simple going out to gallery openings networking drinks etc. Finally, some clients would simply approach me while I was photographing a restaurant or on a job. They could see my work on the screen to which I was tethering while shooting.  

In Tasmania, the market is much harder. It feels a bit cliquey and harder to get into given I haven’t grown up here nor do I have extensive connections. Unfortunately, I’m finding it harder to meet people and network, especially giving Covid and there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of events to attend. Networking events in HK were almost daily.

I have started to slowly build my client list through recommendations. One of my first jobs was photographing a boutique hotel down here as the owners were expats themselves and it was easy to build a nice connection. From that I got a few recommendations the ball rolling.

I think I am still looking for best way of approaching clients in Tasmania. I found out that using Instagram works much better here than emails - which no one seems to reply to. I have attended a couple networking events here there but it seems many businesses here use only same the photographers that they had relations with for years

So still trying to figure that one out :) 

It can be very hard and challenging when moving to a new city or country for the matter, especially when trying to pick up work or new clients. It does comes with its challenges - meeting new people and clients who have worked together for years and have good working relationships can be difficult to persuade, but I dod believe with hard work and a passion for what you do you’ll rise to the top!

Where do you see the future of photography heading, not only in our genre but as a whole?

It is very tough question -

There is many amateurs photographers who often are very good but they don’t value their work yet and work for free. There are also many photographers, especially in Australia, that will be happy to photograph a place, a hotel or airbnb in exchange for stay, which I think kills the industry a bit. I also feel photographers are being used - I had this situation twice this year -an Australian magazine and one in Hong Kong published my images without my name being credited even though the name was passed onto the editor by interior designer who provided images. I feel it is not fair that magazines use our photos for free. 

On the other hand, I feel like many business owners are starting to understand the power of the image and now budget for professional photographer in their marketing. 

I’m looking forward to not needing to spend an age looking through all my latest images as the AI editing will select the best ones for me - positive approach to looking into the future :)  

Say something positive to end…

That is very interesting, and yes a good positive to end. I completely hear your frustrations in regards to magazines not crediting you, like its not hard enough already to get notice. I’ve had the same situation with some very large publications taking images from my Instagram and then place them online without even a credit or a request to use. They really should know better. Just offering up a credit doesn’t really justify the copyright theft - I’d like to get paid please….

What is the interior and architectural scene like where you live and is this where do you do most of your work?

I feel like Tasmanian interiors designers trying to embrace vintage pieces. It's all about treasured investments that tell a story and make a home unique, rather than fast furniture.

I see big movement towards Biophilic Design, connecting people and nature within the build environment. Use of natural timber  stone and concrete.

There is a growing awareness of the impact synthetic fibres are having on not just our planet, but on our health to. Colours of the earth are also very popular. 

I noticed people here being obsessed with Sarah Andrews who is incredible stylist as well as an interior designer called Belle Hemming Bright and stylist Lynda Gardener. They have all styled and designed many beautiful Airbnbs across Australia.

I completely agree in regards to the Biophilic Design. I was only reading an article last week on Dezeen about the Top 10 futuristic cities being planned. I find the whole subject fascinating and have started to seek out more clients who are working in this way.

As a photography community we love a bit of gear talk, could you tell us what equipment you have in your bag and enlighten those who aren't familiar a little bit more about your process and editing.

From the beginning I have been shooting with Canon. At the moment in my portable Profoto gear backpack I have a Canon 5 D Mark Iv & Mark III. Lenses include - 85mm1.2, 50mm1.2, 100mm macro,  24-70 and TSE 17 mm

Lighting wise - Profoto A1 flash,   Profoto B1X 500 AirTTL 2-Light Location Kit , Manfroto tripod and light stands.

For editing I use Lightroom and I’m trying to convince myself that the picture looks good enough and there is no need of opening it in Photoshop - I usually fail at convincing myself and end up spending extra 20 min in PS.

For portraits I use Imagenomic. This is an independent software specialising in digital imagery enhancement and solutions working as plugin with Photoshop. 

It is very important to get as much as you can in camera and later only add a final touch in app. Don’t say, ‘’yeah I will fix it in the post”, that used to be my motto :)

Good motto.

Do you have any advice for aspiring photographers to keep motivated and pushing yourself forward?

Practice, practice, practice 

I would recommend a creative life platform to learn from - Don’t let photos posted by others on Instagram make you feel like you are not good enough.

Invest in workshops more than in brand new advanced gear.

The most important advice is to play, have fun and be brutal at cutting down on your images.

Great advice. I think I’m getting better at cutting down and editing my image choices, but I also send out contact sheets to clients for them to choose from. This saves me hours editing images and compositions that they dislike or are never going to use.

I think we should talk a bit about copyright.....How do you go about educating your clients about licensing and is there anything we can be doing better to inform our clients better?

It is a very tough one for me as my weakness is invoicing & licensing. All I want is to shoot, not spend hours to talk about it - I know it is bad!

Not at all, it is a very pure way of working. I think all of us can agree we want to be out there more with the camera in hand than being bogged down with everything else that comes with being self employed.

Where do you draw your inspiration from and how do you go about creating your stylised look?

Long walks in nature

Fashion design

Instagram

Traveling

Deep & meaningful conversation

Exhibitions

Art galleries

Nice. Very similar to me, apart from the fashion design If you met me you’d know what I mean about my fashion sense! I wish I was cooler but every time I try buying some fashionable it ends in disaster…

Do you have a favourite thing you like to shoot and why?

Interiors and architecture. In general my clients often give me a free hand and allow me to stay in the place for few days, this allows me the time to get the best light and time to photograph each room.

I often style the houses that I photograph which I love as well - love the freedom I get to be creative. 

What would say the highlight of your career would be to this point?

I loved the diversity of project living in Hong Kong gave me - product shoots / wedding / interiors / family photoshoots / lifestyle / events - everyday was different 

Traveling for work is always is the highlight - while living In Hong Kong I had clients in Bali, Singapore and Japan - I really enjoyed photographing The Ritz Carlton in Okinawa.

I assisted  Sean Lee Davis photographer on a photoshoot for Cappella Hotel in Singapore and that was very fun experience.. He is an activist, tech entrepreneur and a very interesting human being in general. I have also assisted the great fashion and food photographer Jasper MCLiroy - what a great learning experience.

But to be honest I am just lighting up with excitement about any interior photoshoots, my work so far has been published in -

Home Journal, The Plantium Magazine for Mandarin Oriental, South China Morning Post as well as Country Style Magazine in Australia.

Great work, I know that much more success will come your way.

Do you have any favourite photographers that inspire you and anyone you think we should be keeping an eye out for?

Many of them were already mentioned here so I might introduce someone new -

I admire the work of  two Polish photographers, Kasia Kuligowska & Przemyslaw Nieciecki from Pion Studio. Also the work of Edmon Leong from Hong Kong has been a huge inspiartion to me.

A huge thanks to Monika for giving up her time for her takeover and intervirw, espeically as her due date was in the week of her takeover. A huge congratulations on her new arrival.

To see more of Monika’s portfolio please click on the following links - Website - Instagram