Ted Kozak’s Photographic Stories

Talking to Tadas Kazakevičius (in case you are having a hard time spelling that, he’s just as well known as Ted Kozak), a young Lithuanian portraitist, was precisely one of those times when you think you have a million questions to ask. But then you meet him at a restaurant for a glass of cold bread kvass and a pizza only to realize you’ve suddenly forgotten all of them. What do you ask a person who’s work you admire so much, you think he’s one of the future classics of his generation? Where do you start? “Don’t be nervous”, he told me. “Why should you be?” True. Why should I be? But then, whilst talking about his street portraits, he answered his own question: “Even after all the portraits that I took of strangers, each time I attempt to approach a person on the street, I need to bring myself to do it. It’s scary.”

“After swimming”, winner of the 2014 Lithuanian Press Photography “Golden Frame” award

But we are getting ahead of ourselves. There’s so much to talk about – film, digital, people and their stories… And now I answer my question. Where do we start? Well, none of us is born with a camera, and so it is always interesting to learn how it all began for the talented among us.