An Exclusive Interview with Agnieszka Bodes

I feel honoured, thankful and excited as of my photograph won the 2nd place in the Photo of the Month 114th month. It proves that you don’t need the most expensive gear to take beautiful photos. Start taking them with your eyes, use your imagination and don’t ever feel limited.

The photograph "Ombré Effect” was inspired by a visit at local farmer’s market. I couldn’t resist buying those raspberries and couldn’t resist capturing their natural beauty. The colours of fruit, plain yoghurt and peony petals created an ombré effect. The photo was taken in natural light and cropped (to draw attention to details and meet the Instagram requirements).

Ombre Effect by Agnieszka Bodes

Having people vote for my pictures fills my heart with warmth. This connection through photography is better than any other reward. The fact that 25 people took their time to write a review of my photograph is astonishing to me. I’m truly grateful.

It started as a hobby and then transformed into some form of escape from the reality. There was a time in my life when I felt physically and emotionally trapped and I realized that opening the doors to the word of photography (where only my own imagination is the limit) was almost therapeutic. Right now I’m in a different place in life and fully accepted the fact that I won’t be able to close these doors and leave photography behind because that is what I truly love.

I grew up in Poland and spent most of weekends and holidays in the countryside. Growing and harvesting our own food helped me develop appreciation of nature and it’s gifts, knowing where food comes from and respecting it. Thinking about my childhood brings memories of the garden at the back of the house, strawberries that were picked while still warm from the heat of summer sun, small crooked greenhouse filled with scent of tomatoes, our walnut tree and the honey - beehives underneath it, meadow covered with morning dew, freshly baked pies and the precious moments spent around the table with my family. I like to think that my parents gave me the roots but also wings to fly.

I’m passionate about food photography because to me food is so much more than a few ingredients mixed together. It’s a mixture of colors, textures, scents and flavours but also a script of childhood memories and moments shared with closest people. On the other hand I’m continually enchanted by Mother Nature, I love to work with natural light and capture the tiniest details as they appear in front of me. So I would say that nature and food photography are my major interests. There is an undoubtable connection between these two.

I’m very observant and I easily get inspired by the simplest things. I like to focus on details that often pass by unseen. Once I find the right object I try to build the rest of “story” around it. Vintage stores and farmers markets are my happy places from which I draw inspiration and were I buy most of my food styling props. Once I visualize something there’s no stopping me even if it means long hours of painting my own backdrops or dying fabrics. It’s about light and shades, colors, patterns, structures but most of all it’s about staying creative.

My first exhibiting experience started from the small talk! A few months ago I met someone at the vintage store. He was curious why I buy vintage serveware and from there we started talking about my passion and my instagram account (@dayliciousdilemmas). He was very kind and offered his help with exhibiting my work on his Picture Frame Shop display window. It was a great opportunity as the store is located on the main street of Ottawa.

Yes. L&C! To me websites like yours are great source of motivation to take lots of pictures, develop my skills and share my work with others. Recently I’ve decided to get an admission for the diploma in food photography program so that I can continuously improve my knowledge through the individual courses.

Share your vision, your story, your style, be committed and passionate about what you do.