23-year-old journalism student Bartosz Jaworski’s work, mostly made in and around Cracow, Poland, is some of the best we’ve seen from someone so young. He shared his images with us and answered a few questions. See more of his work at: www.jaworskifoto.ovh.org

(All photographs on this page: Copyright Bartosz Jaworksi, All Rights Reserved, No Reproduction, Whatsoever, is Permitted)

Are you a professional photographer?

I would like to say that I’m a professional photographer because I work for photo agencies and newspapers here in Poland. I’m also a wedding photographer and am studying journalism. But right now it's only my dream to be serious professional photographer, I know that one day it will come true. I suppose I'm a serious amateur, but with some of the experience of pro.

How much of your work is in B&W?

More then half of my work is B&W. Why?

Because I'm kind of an old-school photographer. My heroes are photographers from 40, 50 and 60 years ago, like Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Smith, Robert Doisneau and Brassai, and that is the kind of photography I prefer. If a picture has no color then it shows exactly what I want to show. Then you can focus on the essence of the problem or beauty of the situation in the picture. Also B&W photography puts priority on the shape of picture. I don’t discriminate against color photography; I just think they are different kind of photography. Not worse, not better, but equally good (or equally bad).

I love to make pictures in cities, especially at night, because each street in the big city has its own life and nighttime shows it from different kind of view. My view.

You work mainly in digital, correct? 

Right now I'm using only digital equipment, but I started to shoot using SLR Zenit film camera. Later I used Canon system. Now I have Canon 40D with Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens. This is my primary set.

When I used SLR film cameras I had my own darkroom, but right now my PC is my darkroom.

Is B&W photography popular in Eastern Europe?

Not as popular as it deserves to be, because every newspaper and magazine uses only color photos - that's how photojournalism looks today. Only magazines with kind of art specialization have more B&W photos.