Dublin-based photographer Agata Stoinska talks to ANNA PALUCH about abandoning her architecture career for life through a lens
D-Light Studios, based in a former car repair factory near Dublin’s North Strand Road, lives up to its name – it’s bathed in bright light.
“I love working in the sunlight,” says my guide, photographer Agata Stoinska. “In this sense, the place perfectly meets my expectations.”
With a background in architecture, Stoinska picked up an interest in photography while on a university scholarship in the United States, getting involved in a photography club. She subsequently en-rolled at Warsaw’s European Academy of Photography.
“Unfortunately I did not learn a lot, we had too much theory and not enough practice,” she recalls, “but on the other hand I got some boost to work on my own. Moreover, I met new people.”
The latter proved to be pivotal for her career. “One of my friends asked me to take her place as a photographer for a student étude [study] under Andrzej Wajda’s direction,” she says, referencing the legendary Polish film director. Indeed, her next contract was in the movie business, doing photos for the 2004 film PrÄ™gi.
Her decision to come to Dublin, however, had more to do with architecture – her original area of study – and not photography. “I still treated the latter as sort of an adventure,” she admits.
When word spread regarding the need for architects abroad, she decided to leave Poland and try her luck in Ireland. For over two years, Stoinska was travelling between the two countries, working as an architect in Dublin and a photographer for different movies in Poland.
“It was quite tiresome,” recalls Stoinska, “as I started to receive[photography commissions here in Ireland as well.”
At one point she was forced to make a decision: pursue photography full-time, or continue as an architect only. As luck would have it, close to her office was Morgan Studios, the largest photo agency in Dublin, and her talent impressed them.
“I really have to admit that I have quite nice experiences with looking for this job and then working with those people,” she comments.
Opening her own studio has made her career even more enjoyable. “It is extremely large,” says Stoinska, “and one can do many things over here. I would rather look at it as a space for different people who have something to show, as it is simply too large for myself.”
Seen as Scene, her first exhibition at the premises, celebrated the opening of her studio. For this she arranged a private screening of the documentary Fashion of Modelling (to be shown on RTÉ this spring). Organising a photo shoot for the documentary, she drew from her film experience.
“I asked Liadán Hynes and Tanya Grimson for assistance as stylists and collected the crew. We did 14 sessions, each of them referring to a different movie. The other idea was to show the models in the situations which would be new for them. For example Lorraine Keane, the TV presenter, with smeared make-up... It was really fun to work on this project.”
For more information visit www.stoinska.com or d-lightstudios.com.
