Free photo shoot with Milan Stryja

Milan Stryja is a talented young photographer who has been involved with photography for the last 9 years – already getting hooked during college when studying graphic design. He focuses on people photography, but also loves doing landscapes and macros.

Taking a purist approach to people photography, he prefers large aperture fixed focal range lenses, which allow for optimal picture quality and provide for a wide range of artistic approaches. His portraits are often characterized by vivid colours and a play of light across the setting of the scene. He has also demonstrated the ability to do both low-key portraiture, where the detail is brought alive by a ray of light in otherwise dark surroundings, and the high key where one is quickly drawn to the pertinent part of the picture, such as the model's eyes.

Milan has been using the Pentax cameras since becoming involved with photography, and has also amassed the usual array of equipment usable for location shots including the Bowens Esprit Gemini 500/500 flash lights plus the assorted reflectors, lightboxes and other odds and ends.

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

(c) Milan Stryja

Born in Czech Republic in 1979, he now lives near London. Although characterizing himself as an amateur photographer, who does photo shoots on the side of a regular job, his work cannot be called anything else except great.

Milan has developed his style of portraiture by regularly attending photography workshops and group photo shootings, but he really prefers to learn by doing. Every shooting is a new challenge for him – he always strives to try out something exciting and improve his skills. But most important for him is to have fun.

“The model has to have fun,” Milan says, “and I have to have fun during the shoot. We have to be on the same wavelength to be able to create the right image.”

Usually he gets his inspiration from various locations, always being on a lookout for the right surroundings for his next shoot. He also admits to getting inspiration for his work by browsing through his girlfriend’s fashion magazines.

For new models his advise is to try out posing as much as possible, learn from other models, from photo shoots in the magazines, and then get into as many shoots as possible – even if only on TFP basis. Self-confidence and the desire to flaunt and show off are an integral part of a model’s personality.

Milan is looking to do a casual / fashion / portrait location shoot with two WannabeStar members on TFP basis in London area. He is happy to work with new and experienced models both – the only condition being that the model is comfortable with a location shoot in a public place. Milan has been eyeing some of the characteristic landmarks of London for some time now, as the potential setting for his next shoot.

Samples of his work can be seen here at www.photomistr.com