Photography is like a woman.
You love her to the limit.
You suffer through it to the limit.
You are constantly changing through it.
You really never know who you are.
But all the time you’re just doing your thing.
You experience life.
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Daniel Cichy.
Artist photographer, born in 1973 in Piła, voivodeship Greater Poland in Poland.
At the age of 10 he became interested in photography.
At first, he was taught by Stanisław Pręgowski, a member of the Union of Polish Art Photographers, in Piła, Poland. Three years later, in parallel, Mirosław Bocian, a graduate of PWSFTiTV in Łódź, died in 2017. He was also taught his uncle Andrzej Pieklak, a graduate of the painting department in Krakow. After that, Daniel started studying photography at the Polish National Film, Television and Theater School in Łódź.
He made several individual exhibitions and took part in numerous competitions. For the PHOTOGRAPHY exhibition in 1991, which he did for his 18th birthday, he collected all the most interesting material. They were black and white photos, made using traditional negative technique – positive in the darkroom. He walked in the woods and traveled to various Polish cities. He photographed people. He was exploring the world.
In the same year in autumn, he presented another author’s exhibition, CRACOW. The material was made from his trip to his uncle in Cracow. Here, Daniel used black and white negative and colored paper for copying. He let the photos in brown tones, which perfectly reflected the atmosphere of this beautiful city and allowed to bring out many details from the negative at that time, since most of the photos were taken at night for long exposure times.
Daniel continued to work. He focused more on human photography. Both in the studio and in various places, he collected human faces for the collection. This resulted in the exhibition AUTOPORTRAIT IN YOUR SELF in 1994. The exhibition went around the entire Piła region, enjoying great popularity.
In his professional life, Daniel worked as a photojournalist for local media. He also ran a professional photography studio for the needs of local companies. He also founded the AGFA STAR PRINT photo laboratory.
In 2003, he presented FORGOTTEN PHOTOS, which he collected for years in a drawer. They were colorful landscapes from different places. At the same time, he photographed actors of the FAMILY THEATER FESTIVAL in Piła, after which he presented the exhibition.
The same year also resulted in another, groundbreaking presentation of Daniel. It was the result of the first digitization of photography and an attempt to find something new. Based on scanned photos and using one of the first versions of the computer program Photoshop, Daniel created completely new spaces. For some perceived as kitsch and for others considered a work of art. Anyway, people liked to look at these paintings. Because the presentation itself was different from the previous ones and innovative in its form, Daniel decided to show it in pubs, on the street, atypical galleries. The first presentation of GRAPHICS AND HISTORY MIX took place in Republic of Imagination in Mirosławiec.
In 2004, Daniel, looking for new inspiration, decided to leave his hometown and went to London. Here he acquired mainly life knowledge. He was learning a new country, language, people’s mentality. He also took a lot of pictures. He had several presentations. Mainly these were works created in Poland.
He currently lives in London, providing photographic and film services for people and companies. The skills acquired over the years also in artistic photography allow him to give clients unique images. Daniel currently works at about thirty weddings a year. For this at many other events. His photographs and style are very much appreciated. For over fifteen years, he has been the main photographer of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London. Also for ten years, his company has been providing photo and film services in almost all Polish parishes in London and the surrounding area, where it leaves almost a thousand children a year with a beautifully made Communion souvenir.
In Luton, where he currently lives, he founded a photography club where he teaches current photography enthusiasts as he was once taught.
In recent years, he began to work a lot again artistically. Mainly in the topic WOMAN. He performs a lot of sessions looking for divine elements in this beautiful phenomenon. He can see a lot in them and skillfully shows it. Colleague is planning presentations on this topic.
He is also preparing archives of photos of Pila and the surrounding area, created in 1983 – 2003, for a larger presentation. One of the next exhibitions will certainly be on the subject of London, where Daniel has lived and photographed since 2003. Daniel also plans to return to analog photography and launch a darkroom. In 2019,
Daniel moved back to Piła. Now he combines his professional life in the UK and develops in Poland.
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1980 – Exposed the very first film in his life using dad’s camera ¨Druh¨
1983 – Joined The Photography Club lead by Stanislaw Pręgowski at Pilski Dom Kultury /Pila Cultural Centre/
1985 – Took part in The Club’s members exhibition at PDK
1986 – Took part in Trzcianka ’96 exhibition devoted to environmental protection at PDK
1988 – Got second prize in a photography competition organized by Pila Province
1988 – Took part in the forth International Biennial of Artistic Photography called ¨The Child¨
1990 – Took part in ¨Od nas odbite¨ competition in a town Świdnica
1990 – Got first prize in the annual exhibition organized by The Photography Club
1991 – Took part in the third Triennial of Polish Artistic Photography
1991 – First individual exhibition called ¨Photography¨
1991 – Second individual exhibition called ¨Cracow¨
1992 – Got second prize in ¨Who Am I?¨ competition at The Palace of Youth in Warsaw
1992 – Got a honorary GTF diploma for participating in ¨Photographic Confrontations¨ competition
1992 – Took part in the sixth International Biennial of Artistic Photography called ¨The Child¨
1993 – Started studying at Leon Shiller Academy of Film, TV and Theatre in Lodz
1995 – Third individual exhibition called ¨The Self-portrait Within You¨
2001 – The presentation of theatrical photos at Szamocin Train Station
2002 – Fourth individual exhibition called ¨The Forgotten Photos¨
2002 – Fifth individual exhibition called ¨The Family Passion – Theatre¨
2003 – Sixth individual exhibition called ¨GRAPHICS & history mix¨ at Mirosławiec gallery Republic of Imagination and The Grand Pub in Pila
2004 – Sixth individual exhibition called ¨GRAPHICS & history mix¨ at London POSK gallery
2011 – Seventh individual exhibition called „Dreams” at Grove Caffe, Ealing, London
2024 -An exhibition presenting events at POSK over the last 20 years, organised to celebrate the 60th anniversary of POSK., London
2024 – „The Golden Decade 1992 – 2002 of Polonia Piła” Participation in a collective exhibition, BWA Piła
2024 – „A Decade of Darkness and Hope” – Participation in a collective exhibition, BWA Piła
2025 – „Time Machine” – The eighth individual exhibition presenting archival photographs of Piła City taken in the 1980s. Muzeum Okręgowe w Pile.
2026 – „The woman in my soul” – Ninth individual exhibition, Kruszewo.
2026 – „Sound frames” – The tenth solo exhibition presenting archival photos of concerts from the 1980s in Piła – Muzeum Okręgowe w Pile.