About Me
Mishka Góra, B.A.(Hons), A.M.
It has been many years since I used my old manual Praktica L2 (on permanent loan from my father), but for me nothing has really changed with the digital revolution. I have always seen things with the eye of a photographer, and not a day passes without me creating some new image.My approach is fairly traditional in that just as the human eye sees objects by the light they reflect, so too my photographs are 'light drawings'. (The word photograph comes from the Greek words for light and drawing.) What we see can vary so much according to our vantage point - compare the view of a child crawling on the ground to that of a six-foot adult, for example - the light conditions - which might range from candlelight to near-blinding sunlight - and what we do to alter these for our visual comfort and pleasure - using a hat or sunglasses, standing under a skylight or near a window, crouching or standing on tiptoe for a better view. These are just some of the everyday techniques a good photographer uses to get the best photo in any given situation, techniques that are just as important as getting the settings right on the camera. So the end result all depends on how the person behind the camera sees the world, and what drives me as a photographer is a relentless impulse to capture the beauty I see and share it with others.
One of the advantages of being a photographer is that I can spend most of my time with my family, and they are a constant inspiration to me. Having two very young children of my own gives me a special interest in capturing the irrepressible vitality of babies and children. Although I am a highly visual person, I cannot see them or any other subject only in terms of what is technically visible – there is always an underlying mood or story and that’s what I try to communicate with my photos. I am fascinated by how traces of the past linger in the present and hope that, like a good book, my photos inspire the imagination.
My first foray into professional photography was an exhibition of the devastation of the beautiful Baroque city of Vukovar in Croatia following the war in the 1990s. Having worked there as an aid worker in 1993, it was a heartbreaking subject but a highly fulfilling beginning to my work as a photographer.
Since then, I have found that portraiture is a field so much wider than the name suggests. Babies gazing in wonder at the world, children playing uninhibitedly, rites of passage such as weddings and funerals, celebrations big and small, beloved pets, and cherished homes – I have portrayed all these worthy subjects at one time or another and continue to do so with verve and passion.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about my work. I like to think I can see the inner beauty in anyone and any situation, and I give all my subjects the respect and attention that they need to bring that out in front of the camera. Someone once said that something hasn’t really happened until you tell a story about it. Photos tell stories....