All Images By Tomasz Cuncvir. Used with Permission.
“…our editors always wanted only two things from us: tits and bokeh.” says photographer Tomasz Cuncvir. “My photographs were always heavily photoshopped by retouchers to create this ‘dreamlike’ aura with half naked models and diffused background. And you couldn’t differentiate my photographs from many other ‘dreamlike bokeh boudoir fashion editorials.’ For Tomasz and his model Patrycja Szczepuła, it is still a very fashionable way of presenting things.
We have long been fans of the 365 day photo project as a way to grow, be creative, and discover yourself as a photographer. It’s about giving yourself a set of parameters, working to be creative and create amazing images within those confines. This is exactly what the idea behind TheSquarelips is; one camera, one lens, one model – a 365 day project, going on 730 day by Tomasz and Patrycja. But it’s also striving hard not to give into the trends that make photographers and models “Instafamous.”
“We are doing it a bit against the flow: those photographs are not very bokehlicious or ‘dream-like’ but are very painterly nevertheless.” Mr. Cuncvir says of the project, “The inspiration comes from painters like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Zdzisław Beksiński even!”
Part of the interesting thing about this project in particular is that, despite currently only being on Instagram, the entire project is shot on film. “As far as post processing is concerned I scan my film on a flatbed scanner and then do some color corrections and dust removal in Lightroom.” Mr. Cuncvir says regarding the process of getting the images onto the social network. Film stock like Portra 160,400,800, E100G slide, Provia 100F, Fuji Pro 160NS or instant FP100C, Delta 100,400 or magnificent Adox CMS20II are some of his favorites for TheSquarelips project.
“We are doing it a bit against the flow: those photographs are not very bokehlicious or ‘dream-like’ but are very painterly nevertheless.”
“Our end goal was always an exhibition.” Mr. Cuncvir notes, “Perfect colours, good geometry and a lot of subtleties that are going to capture the viewer for more than three seconds that are usually spent on a photo in an Internet browser or a mobile app. It all looks simple, and it should. But the more you stare, the more you see.” The plan is to exhibit the top 50 images ever couple of years or so, and the first one should be coming up later this year if all goes as planned.
You can follow along with the project and show your support over on TheSquarelips Instagram page, here. A selection of the work can be found featured below, enjoy!
