The sky’s the limit for Witold

Witold Skrypczak has been a dedicated Lonely Planet photographer for ten years. He took some time out to tell us why he got into photography insights and to share some of his greatest images.

Young girl at zocalo band stand, Plaza Mijares, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Photos and memories

There is no way on earth I could call any single photo ‘my best’.  I’ve got lots of favorite
shots and I know I am not objective at all about them.  When you look at photos shot by someone
else all you see is the final result.  For me, each of my images brings the memories of the
place, the circumstances, the weather, etc…  This is one of the main reasons I’ve got involved
in photography.  If not for my photos, I could never remember so well the details of any
particular moment.

OK, here is an example: “The Cloud”.  On my recent trip, I spent three hours shooting the
biggest single cloud I’ve ever seen, at sunrise it was a couple of miles long, hanging in front
of Steens Mountain in Oregon, very remote area, where I spent the night, camping.  Then, I
started to drive around the dirt roads and the bottom of the dry Alvord Lake, shooting the
slowly transforming cloud from every angle. A very handy rainbow came at the right time, then a
bunch of cows appeared at a water hole.  In short, a memorable morning.

A lucky shot

Few years ago, I’ve been sitting, relaxing after a long day, at a zocalo band stand in San Jose del Cabo at Baja California in Mexico.  All of sudden, a little girl came and asked me to take a picture, just like that!  Fortunately, I had a right lens on my camera, I shot a few frames and she disappeared…  I’ve got some very sweet shots without any effort on my side, without even getting up! I wish it was always so easy.

Rainbow over Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert, part of Great Basin Desert, Oregon, USA.

The digital age

I spend about four months a year on the road, and an incredible amount of time at my computer
editing the results, still learning, a never ending process I guess.  When I look at the photos
I considered “ready to go” just a couple years ago… well, I really ought to go back to my raw
files and re-do everything.  I climbed the digital bandwagon awfully late and quickly realized
that digital photography is both a blessing and a curse, because of the time you have to spent
at your computer instead of running aroung the wilderness.  But the overall quality of my shots
went sky-high, when compared with the old, film times.  No way to go back.

Giant cumulus cloud over East Steen Road near Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert, part of Great Basin Desert, Oregon, USA.

The wide open road

The American Southwest is my favorite location, I am going back there again this coming April.
Mexico is the favorite country.  I’ve been there many times in my pre-digital times, hoping to
go again as soon as I can, revisiting many locations and, hopefully, shooting better photos.

Huge cumulus cloud over dry Alvord Lake and Steens Mountain, Alvord Desert, part of Great Basin Desert, Oregon, USA.

The forgotten Europe

After living continuously in the US for about 20 years, I spend now more and more time back in Poland, the country of my youth.  My next European destination shoud be the Balkans and beyond (Turkey and the Caucasus).  I find Balkans a very attractive, and still little known, part of Europe.

Cattle on high alert at water hole near dry Alvord Lake and Steens Mountain, Great Basin Desert region, Oregon, USA.

It pays to research

Right now, I shoot with Nikon D90, relegating my original digital camera, D200, to the back-up
status.  I use several zooms, from 10 to 200mm (15-300 in full frame equivalent).  I spend a lot
of time researching all destinations and pre-visualizing many of the photographs, often well in
advance.  On every trip, I carry in my car boxes full of maps and guidebooks, collected over a
long time. I revisit many locations searching for the perfect time of year, weather and light.

- Witold Skrypczak

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