In your photographs, there are distinct tastes of dynamism. Like they are all alive, as if coming out of the frame. And some of your customers like Sony, Nike, Levis and Casio have the same qualities too, just like you chose them. What is the source of this energy? How do you create this feeling?

A compliment, a very good question and one that is difficult to answer. I began my career shooting musicians and, whether they are experienced or not, most musicians are shy in front of the camera. One of the tricks I used to help them shake off their shyness was having them move. People lose their tension when they move and, if you are lucky, you can catch a moment where there is a loss of control. I have taken this trick and applied a combination of light, technique and purpose to achieve a distinct character in my photographs. My own character also reinforces it: I consider myself an energetic person.

Let's go back to the moment when you look through the viewfinder, just before pressing the shutter. What makes you think that it's the 'right' picture?

It happens after, not before. It is a brief second, a 1/1000 of a sec. I can press the button 60 times, and by frame 61, I know, this is it. Pure instinct.

Do you remember which photo shoot you enjoyed most?

I love working with real people. People who are about something instead of about their look. Whatever this ‘something’ may be, the more obsessed they are, the more interesting I find them. I love it when they let me become part of their obsession and I manage to capture this. The more they allow me to look inside, the better the picture becomes and the more I enjoy the experience.

I very much enjoyed the Casio Shooting because the boys, despite being very young, gave me a totally inside view of their sport. They helped me construct the idea and expand the possibilities, and they worked with me from early in the morning until 3am, because they had the same goal in mind: a perfect picture.

My other favourite was Eminem. He is one of the dearest people I ever shot. His personality has nothing to do with the one that is painted in magazines: he completely contradicted everything I knew about him. This creates a difficult situation when you’re making a portrait. At the end of the day, what should you portray? What people want to see or what you see? I had a 30-minute appointment with him that was extended to two hours.

What is your favourite work of your own?

It would have to be the portaits of my friends Mirek and Esmeralda. I photographed Mirek as the hunter he is, and I think I captured his full spirit. He is raw, purely natural. My son thinks he is the strongest man alive because he can lift him high in the air and throw him, together with this wild laughter. All this is in the picture and, for me, is magnificent.

My friend Esmeralda is a singer. She is Spanish and has a hidden personality that I'm fascinated with – so I decided to photograph it. A psychiatrist once told me that everyone has at least a few sides to their personality, which they try to cover up. I love to find and show these secrets in a picture, but in a kind of fairytale way, because these sides exist in an 'other world'.

Except your commercial works, do you have personal projects?

I love to portray my surroundings, my dear friends and people with whom I have close contact (such as my son’s swimming teacher, who I can study two days a week). I love sitting down, watching, and starting to dig. And whatever I find, I photograph.

My other passion is landscapes. Because they are quiet, not in a traditional way, but in my way. Light is an important part of this. Mystery. Landscapes are actually the most difficult subjects since a viewer can get bored quite quickly with beautifully photographed landscapes.

On your website, you said for photography, "As a medium for inspiration and a means to understand the world". Can you explain this a little bit?

I walk around questioning, questioning everything I see and trying to understand it. My mentor once said to me: You are the best practice for becoming a parent, because you ask so many questions. I try to answer my questions in photographs. I doubt that many people can see how much thought I have put into a picture, but it is there. (Does anyone notice the mushroom that I have planted on Mirek's foot? In autumn he loves walking in the woods, collecting them and cooking delicious suppers.)

Sometimes I hear a sentence and get stuck on it, think about it for days, and use my medium to transform it. Whether somebody understands the entire process and the references within a photograph is not essential for me, maybe it is not even possible. What is essential, however, is that a photo, whether it is commercial or personal, arouses the same sense of curiosity and fascination I have towards the world.

Are you interested in taking photographs of celebrities? If so, with whom would you like to work with and why?

I can answer that very quickly: my dream is to photograph David Bowie. I have studied his work and life and I am totally fascinated with his many transformations. It would be the ultimate challenge for me to find the true David, not the characters he has been inventing over the years. I actually made a promise to myself never to give up photography until I have fulfilled this goal.

My other ideal subject is Helmut Schmidt, to whom I am very attracted as a person. He combines internal attributes that I just simply find appealing. In my opinion, he is one of the most interesting German personalities.

You lived in Berlin, London and Munich. Do you like to travel? Which city you've travelled or lived in impressed you most?

When I was assisting, I spent six months a year traveling. I loved it, and I believe it has at least partially made me who I am today. Through traveling, you start to look at things differently, you broaden your view. I think it would be good for a lot of people to see more of the world, to be able to understand more realistically who they are.

There was one trip, to Tobago, when I just couldn't enjoy the island anymore. I had no interest. That was when I knew it was time to study things more closely, closer to home. I still love traveling, but I can find just as much in my immediate surroundings, and in a more detailed way – however, I believe you must first have experienced the distance to enjoy the closeness.

The city that most impressed me has to be London. I spent my twenties there and I developed my style there. I became an adult. All my traveling experience up to that point culminated in the decision to remain in one place and to explore it. The person who was formed in London is like a puzzle, and the puzzle is still growing.

Do you like music and does it change your mood while working?

I use music to establish my mood. Through shooting all those musicians and hearing all those interviews in person, I developed an enormous admiration for musicians. I have such incredible respect for their work: it carries me with it wherever it goes.

It’s also interesting how meeting a musician can change the way you hear their music. For example, after a mesmerizing experience photographing Cinematic Orchestra, I discovered in his music more meaning, more depth, reflecting the nuances of his character. His music is amongst the most inspirational I know, when I listen to it I cannot stop thinking what a genius he is.

What about cinema? Are you interested in movies?

Yes, let me just name my favourite directors: Kieslowsky, Claude Chabrol, Julio Medem... The excitement does not lie in the big, the obvious, but in what is hidden. The things you don't see in daily life. I believe that humans in themselves are so deep and interesting that a film doesn't need a car explosion to hold our attention.

A famous photographer Dorothea Lange says "One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind." Do you agree with her? What do you firstly suggest young people interested in photography?

In response, here is a quote from Gustav Vigeland, 1932: "My goal is to be better, better in myself and to become better in my work.

And the path, the means to this, I do not see or find outside myself: not among people but inside me. And therefore I keep to myself - not in quiet meditation, but in motion, at work. The more I work, the more clearly I see, the greater my imagination becomes. My hands are slow, they cannot keep up."

Theme of our third issue is "old". What does this word mean to you firstly? Which photograph do you remember and like most from your childhood?

I never have a problem with my age, because I feel that I have fully lived every moment of my life so far. Luckily, I’ve never had to look back in regret. Even bad experiences have made me grow. Sometimes I get sad when people, friends, suffer from their age, because I find it a sign that someone is walking beside themselves, not living in the moment.

I was always fascinated by cars and had many books with photographs of classic cars. My favourites were the classic Jaguar XJ6 models.