Darek Markiewicz

When he's not working in his day job as Director of Engineering, Chicago based Darek is a keen landscape photographer. His vibrant, atmospheric photos capture perfect moments in time – not an easy thing to do by any means! Darek has some great images for sale with RooM and his Instagram feed is really worth checking out. 

“Photography being a visual medium doesn’t require people to speak the same language to be understood”

You joined Instagram in May 2011 and your style has definitely evolved during that period as has the way that you use Instagram. Your style now seems more natural, you don’t post as many images each day and you often share the ideas behind your images. How has that process evolved?

Thank you for making this observation. I continue to evolve my photography and I am amazed that the process never stops. Everytime I think I am doing good work, all I need to do is pull up images from few yeas ago when I also thought I was also doing good work and re-evaluate those shots. Whenever I do this process, I re-discover two things. First that I’ve grown and second that most likely I still have plenty of room to grow further.

In the past I had a problem allocating time to post production and editing. Mobile apps changed that because the entire process of shoot, edit, share was shortened to a single moment on a single device. I got hooked by the immediacy of the experience and as a result practiced more. Before Instagram was popular I used  an app called “Best Camera” on iPhone 3G and I think Best Camera missed out by not creating a community around the filters. It was the first popular app, but Instagram came next and nailed the entire workflow by closing the loop on shoot, edit, share. I liked the social aspect of IG, but quickly the very thing that made it attractive (one click filter) became limiting. I wanted more control over-post processing. So I started using Camera+ which was a good stepping stone but still limiting, I switched to Snapseed and Filterstorm which allow more flexibility.

Eventually editing on mobile phone was not powerful enough for me, so I went back to desktop to find Lightroom very refreshing for my SLR camera shots. More recently I started pushing the limits of Lightroom and doing more in photoshop. Funny how I came full circle, but now my post production process is long again. I resolve that by editing mobile photos on iphone and using lightroom exclusively for my SLR shots. The best thing is that I doubt anyone can tell which shot originated in which camera. 


About my posts. I always look at a lot of photographs and try to understand the force behind the most powerful images. I found myself asking a lot of questions about the photography of others.  I figured that maybe others have similar interest in my photos. I posted some of my thoughts and to my surprise there was more engagement from my audience than I expected.  That engagement motivated me to write ever more detailed thoughts. Recently people started asking me if I have a blog, which tells me I need to start one. I think eventually I’d like to collect a some of the best posts and thoughts into an eBook, but I’ll be starting the blog and website first.

On the topic of frequency of posts. I’d love to post more often, but I don’t want to post mediocre shots and producing quality work takes time and effort. I also learned to sit on finished images to see them next day when I am removed from the post processing. There are many over processed photos in my feed and waiting one day should help me avoid it in future.

What is it about photography and Instagram in particular that you think appeals to people so much and do you think these media transcend cultures and bring people together?

Photography being a visual medium doesn’t require people to speak the same language to be understood. Visual language is universal and everyone intuitively understands it. Still photographs especially leave a lot of room for interpretation, and I think that’s what we enjoy about photos. We bring a piece of our own experiences and emotions to someone elses still image. That is, once in a while we’ll come across a photo that resonates with us, we connect to it, and we have a platform in which we can reach out and share that experience with the person that took it. Very often they’ll respond. The byproduct of such exchanges is that we develop familiarity with someone across the world, and isn't that what transcending culture and bringing people together means? We know someone we wouldn’t otherwise. It’s quite amazing. I speak two languages, but I love getting comments in my feed in language I don’t speak.

You’ve previously said that you took up photography when your kids were born in the early 90s so you could take great photos of them. You don’t generally share those images online – is that because you feel that those memories are private and do you feel that there are certain images that people shouldn’t be sharing so readily?

I think people should share what they feel comfortable. I love when people post photos of kids on IG that are creative and fun. I often comment on these and encourage the parents to take more. I do not harbor the view that family images are too private for social networks. I think we live in a world where many of us live our lives publically and it’s ok. 


To answer the question why I don’t post photos of my kids on IG. It’s a matter of fit for audience. On IG I’ve developed audience that comes to expect me to post and talk about a creative images. The portraits of my kids have a different purpose. They’re portraits that end up being distributed to family and friends, often via Facebook.

Recently I started doing some creative portraits with Anna, one of my daughters who also enjoys creating art, @annam1920. We are in very early stages of creative portraits and for now the work is very amateure, but we’re having a lot of fun with it. Eventually if the work is good enough, I might post some of that on my IG feed, if I feel it’s right for my audience. Head and shoulder photos are not appropriate for my audience.

Mobile photography has inspired people take more interest in their photography. Do you think the next generation will be communicating in an even more visual way and is that something that will impact your professional career?

Yes on both counts! 


I think most people will agree that taking and sharing a photo of an experience has more impact on the audience than the written word. This holds true for most of us, apart from really good writers and poets. Also, why do something many consider a chore, when one can easily pull out a mobile phone, snap, edit, share. The mobile photography experience is so fun it’s akin to playing a game.

I think people quickly discover that their photos don’t communicate with as much impact as some other photos. That recognition inspires many to try to do better and seek better understanding of the visual language.

In my professional career I direct software product design. I spend a lot of time obsessing about visual hierarchy, usability, and things of that sort. I do look to introduce visual communication into our product, but that must be first and foremost appropriate with the business goals. 


To conclude,  I think we’ve always been visual species ever since the original cave paintings. I think the tools and means to produce visual communication are more accessible lowering the barrier to entry. Also, the cost structure changed for photography, we no longer have to pay to develop each photo we take. This results in massive amount of photos being produced and consumed, which inevitably raises the level of visual literacy for this generation and next. 


I also think there will be even more visual communication with future generations in ways we can’t anticipate. The entire snapchat phenomenon is fascinating to watch. Snapchat is used mostly by teenagers to send silly faces around and I think it’s a visual communication between two friends who simply found a way to make each other laugh. It’s great!

“The mobile photography experience is so fun it’s akin to playing a game”

You’re a big fan of Ansel Adams and you reference one of his quotes in your Instagram profile - “there are no shortcuts to excellence”. What is it about his photography that inspires you and why do these words particularly resonate with you.

I study the masters to understand their secret sauce and to understand what makes a photo timeless and a classic. I understand Ansel Adams secret sauce to be his scene selection and pristine composition, he also spend a lot of time in darkroom, a step we now call post processing. Ansel obsessed about every detail and I aspire to that. I also love the work of many other masters, but I think you’ve already read my other interview so I wont repeat myself.

The shortcuts to excellence quote is very apt for photography because many people think that a photo happens when someone pushes a button. Also, as the tools get simpler as with mobile photography, it’s easy to think we’ll be better photographers faster.  Simply push a button, pick a filter, and viola . While the technical side is a lot simpler now, great photography happens in the mind of the photographer.  That’s the focus of many of my posts.

This quote also resonates with me because it serves as a reminder that I also need to push my photography into areas previously unexplored. It reminds me not to get content with my current skill set and to explore new areas. As mentioned before I recently ventured into experimental portraits and photoshop compositing. The road the excellence doesn’t have shortcuts and it never ends.

What are your personal goals and aspirations with regard to your photography?

Photography has been my hobby for a very long time and there are advantages to that. I can be bold and experiment and push into risky areas because there is no single paycheck on the line. I intend to continue to push into new areas, experiment and learn. Stock photography is a new thing for me and I am eager to learn more about it.

I also enjoy what I do in my day job, so overall I am pretty happy camper.  As a product guy I am very intrigued with what you guys are trying to accomplish with RooM and I am excited and honored to be part of it.