“Losing the momentum is not easy” by Oni Studio

Conversation with interior and architecture photographers Justyna and Maciek from Oni Studio about the division of work, slow mornings and differences.

In conversation: Bożena Kowalkowska
Photos: Oni Studio

So maybe I’ll begin with a classic question – what is the origin of Oni Studio?

Maciek: What we are currently doing is a result of our passion and free time spent together. For as long as I can remember, I have tried various fields of photography, but I found that the one related to interiors and architecture suits me best. Then I met Justyna, with whom we started traveling together to analyze and photograph a previously chosen architectural theme. First we made some photos for ourselves, then for various magazines, and then it all started to work.

Have you also always taken photos too?

Justyna: No, it was only when I came to know Maciek that I started to learn it. I am an art historian by education, so objects, spaces and forms have always been close to my heart. Our passions came together naturally.

You are a couple in private and professional life. How do you divide work? 

J: Everything depends on the amount of work, but generally Maciek is the main photographer. I am responsible for composing the scenes. After the session we select and process the photos together. Maciek deals with the coulours, I do retouching. If we have lots of material to be cleaned, we share the tasks equally. However it also happens that Maciek goes to the session alone. In such situations I catch up with office stuff.

“I relax the most when I take my camera, go to the city and take pictures on my own terms. And then I save or develop them and, subsequently, prepare them.”

So you are the one behind the e-mail correspondence?

J: Yes. I am our filter to the world, I reply to e-mails, while Maciek answers phone calls. This division is related to our personalities. I’m not assertive enough when I am on the phone and I don’t like this way of negotiating, while Maciek is too harsh in e-mails, and on the phone he appears friendlier. Thus we adapted the way of communication to our characters.

Do you use a calendar or do you have any other system that you share?

M: Since I can remember, I have been using a Google calendar, where I write down everything. I have poor memory. I also like to take notes. Until recently, I thought it was quite unusual to take as many notes as I do, but over time I learned that there are many people similar to me. Anyway, even if it were otherwise, this system just works for me.

J: On the contrary, I keep a paper calendar. I write down my daily schedule and tasks to be done, but I also have access to Maciek’s virtual calendar, so I can see every idea that comes to Maciek’s mind and is saved.

M: Which is sometimes a bit embarrassing, because my notes pop up without any context in which they come to my mind, so Justyna suddenly gets a message, for example, that we are looking for a stick. There is no information for what session, where, and why.

So both of you work in their own way?

M: Yes and no. You caught us at an unusual professional moment, which is building the company’s structure. We have been active for a few years, but only recently we are having our own studio. We have felt the necessity for this for some time, especially when we started to become professional and as a consequence, we had to place a lot of equipment in our 30-meter apartment. We are just setting up the workshop and we will certainly introduce a shared calendar, which will be analog.

Has your life and work become different since you have your studio?

J: Definitely. We needed to get outside, get some fresh air, and ease our heads. Thanks to this, coming home is a new breath for us; we feel different when doing it.

M: In recent years we have developed a lot. Because of the away sessions we are often travelling and we have a very irregular lifestyle, so time off work spent at home is precious for us. We used to prefer to spend our free time outdoors, now it’s the exact opposite.

However, even when you spend time at home, the subject of work still comes up, right?

M: It’s because this job is exciting for both of us, and we wouldn’t want such a kind of separation where we don’t talk about work at home.

J: We love talking about interiors, searching for them, looking at them. It’s our passion.

But then it is easier to get burnout.

M: That’s true. This state of excitement and thrill resembles a state of tension to a certain extent, so such constant fascination means living in a permanent tension that must be discharged in some moment. Losing this momentum, stopping, is not easy.
We try to talk on a regular basis and decide, how many sessions a month we plan to organize in order not to miss the moment when our work becomes more tiring than exciting. I must add here that whenever we complete any larger order, we take time off.

J: I’m only learning this separation and rhythm now. I recently quit my full-time job and this situation is new to me. It was definitely difficult for me to plan the remote sessions, which were often postponed. Reconciling these two worlds was stressful for me.

How do you perceive your free time then? With so many trips and commitments, do you have any space for it at all?

M: We do, although my recreation is intertwined with photography. I relax the most when I take my camera, go to the city and take pictures on my own terms. And then I save or develop them and, subsequently, prepare them. I do the same on holidays and this is the first thing I do when I come back from them.

J: That’s true. On holidays, we plan a lot of things from the point of view of photography. We used to impose a fast pace on ourselves, we had a list of things to see and, similarly to the study tours I had at the university, we implemented a rich plan. It’s different now, we have unlearned that permanent rush. We still write down places that interest us, but there are definitely fewer of them. We now prefer to act spontaneously.

Nevertheless, it seems that you enjoy having a lot going on in your life.

J: We do, although we have one place where we experience a complete reset.

M: My family has a parcel of land with a large house, where there is no Internet, only a landline phone. Yes, basically, just so that you can cut yourself off from everything. We usually go there with a group of friends, fire up the fireplace and relax.

So tell us something about the fixed points of your day. Maybe you have a favorite routine.

J: If we are at home, we always allow ourselves a long morning. We drink coffee together and calmly browse through various materials.

M: Yes! Sometimes we even do it in bed. We’re just starting the day slowly, which is completely new to both of us. Justyna always used to get up early in the morning and go straight to work. I, on the other hand, was an evening or even a night owl type, so I slept through the mornings. In the end, it turned out that the slower morning is the easiest for us. Justyna slowed down a bit in the morning, and I decided that the number of hours devoted to sleep must match.

J: But when it comes to running, for example, we have completely different routines. I run in the evening to relax, Maciek prefers mornings, because he treats it as a pleasant start before a few hours of sitting in front of the computer.

You are a perfect example of a couple/partners who have completely different character traits and habits, and build their comfort at work and in life on this diversity.

M: I think so too. We both can take a step back and look at the situation again. In general, it is better to appreciate differences than to suppress them.

J: But you know, it’s also the case with me that different tasks suit different times of the day. I prefer to write texts in the morning, but I can do retouching in the evening.

And what is the greatest pleasure for you, apart from photography?

J: Evening cooking together. And we care a lot about this time.

“Losing the momentum is not easy”
by Oni Studio

Conversation with interior and architecture photographers Justyna and Maciek from Oni Studio about the division of work, slow mornings and differences.

In conversation: Bożena Kowalkowska
Photos: Oni Studio

So maybe I’ll begin with a classic question – what is the origin of Oni Studio?

Maciek: What we are currently doing is a result of our passion and free time spent together. For as long as I can remember, I have tried various fields of photography, but I found that the one related to interiors and architecture suits me best. Then I met Justyna, with whom we started traveling together to analyze and photograph a previously chosen architectural theme. First we made some photos for ourselves, then for various magazines, and then it all started to work.

Have you also always taken photos too?

Justyna: No, it was only when I came to know Maciek that I started to learn it. I am an art historian by education, so objects, spaces and forms have always been close to my heart. Our passions came together naturally.

You are a couple in private and professional life. How do you divide work?

J: Everything depends on the amount of work, but generally Maciek is the main photographer. I am responsible for composing the scenes. After the session we select and process the photos together. Maciek deals with the coulours, I do retouching. If we have lots of material to be cleaned, we share the tasks equally. However it also happens that Maciek goes to the session alone. In such situations I catch up with office stuff.

“I relax the most when I take my camera, go to the city and take pictures on my own terms. And then I save or develop them and, subsequently, prepare them.”

So you are the one behind the e-mail correspondence?

J: Yes. I am our filter to the world, I reply to e-mails, while Maciek answers phone calls. This division is related to our personalities. I’m not assertive enough when I am on the phone and I don’t like this way of negotiating, while Maciek is too harsh in e-mails, and on the phone he appears friendlier. Thus we adapted the way of communication to our characters.

Do you use a calendar or do you have any other system that you share?

M: Since I can remember, I have been using a Google calendar, where I write down everything. I have poor memory. I also like to take notes. Until recently, I thought it was quite unusual to take so many notes as I do, but over time I learned that there are many people similar to me. Anyway, even if it were otherwise, this system just works for me.

J: On the contrary, I keep a paper calendar. I write down my daily schedule and tasks to be done, but I also have access to Maciek’s virtual calendar, so I can see every idea that comes to Maciek’s mind and is saved.

M: Which is sometimes a bit embarrassing, because my notes pop up without any context in which they come to my mind, so Justyna suddenly gets a message, for example, that we are looking for a stick. There is no information for what session, where and why.

So both of you work in their own way?

M: Yes and no. You caught us at an unusual professional moment, which is building the company’s structure. We have been active for a few years, but only recently we are having our own studio. We have felt the necessity for this for some time, especially when we started to become professional and as a consequence we had to place a lot of equipment in our 30-meter apartment. We are just setting up the workshop and we will certainly introduce a shared calendar, which will be analog.

Has your life and work become different since you have your studio?

J: Definitely. We really needed to get outside, get some fresh air, ease our heads a bit. Thanks to this, coming home is a new breath for us and we feel different, when we do it.

M: In recent years we have developed a lot. Because of the away sessions we are often travelling and we have a very irregular lifestyle, so time off work spent at home is precious for us. We used to prefer to spend our free time outdoors, now it’s the exact opposite.

However, even when you spend time at home, the subject of work still comes up, right?

M: It’s because this job is exciting for both of us, and we wouldn’t want such a kind of separation where we don’t talk about work at home.

J: We love talking about interiors, searching for them, looking at them. It’s our passion.

But then it is easier to get burnout.

M: That’s true. This state of excitement and thrill resembles a state of tension to a certain extent, so such constant fascination means living in a permanent tension that must be discharged in some moment. Losing this momentum, stopping, is not easy.
We try to talk on a regular basis and decide, how many sessions a month we plan to organize in order not to miss the moment when our work becomes more tiring than exciting. I must add here that whenever we complete any larger order, we take time off.

J: I’m only learning this separation and rhythm now. I recently quit my full-time job and this situation is new to me. It was definitely difficult for me to plan the remote sessions, which were often postponed. Reconciling these two worlds was stressful for me.

How do you perceive your free time then? With so many trips and commitments, do you have any space for it at all?

M: We do, although my recreation is intertwined with photography. I relax the most when I take my camera, go to the city and take pictures on my own terms. And then I save or develop them and, subsequently, prepare them. I do the same on holidays and this is the first thing I do when I come back from them.

J: That’s true. On holidays, we plan a lot of things from the point of view of photography. We used to impose a fast pace on ourselves, we had a list of things to see and, similarly to the study tours I had at the university, we implemented a rich plan. It’s different now, we have unlearned that permanent rush. We still write down places that interest us, but there are definitely fewer of them. We now prefer to act spontaneously.

Nevertheless, it seems that you enjoy having a lot going on in your life.

J: We do, although we have one place where we experience a complete reset.

M: My family has a parcel of land with a large house, where there is no Internet, only a landline phone. Yes, basically, just so that you can cut yourself off from everything. We usually go there with a group of friends, fire up the fireplace and relax.

So tell us something about the fixed points of your day. Maybe you have a favorite routine.

J: If we are at home, we always allow ourselves a long morning. We drink coffee together and calmly browse through various materials.

M: Yes! Sometimes we even do it in bed. We’re just starting the day slowly, which is completely new to both of us. Justyna always used to get up early in the morning and go straight to work. I, on the other hand, was an evening or even a night owl type, so I slept through the mornings. In the end, it turned out that the slower morning is the easiest for us. Justyna slowed down a bit in the morning, and I decided that the number of hours devoted to sleep must match.

J: But when it comes to running, for example, we have completely different routines. I run in the evening to relax, Maciek prefers mornings, because he treats it as a pleasant start before a few hours of sitting in front of the computer.

You are a perfect example of a couple/partners who have completely different character traits and habits, and build their comfort at work and in life on this diversity. 

M: I think so too. We both can take a step back and look at the situation again. In general, it is better to appreciate differences than to suppress them.

J: But you know, it’s also the case with me that different tasks suit different times of the day. I prefer to write texts in the morning, but I can do retouching in the evening.

And what is the greatest pleasure for you, apart from photography?

J: Evening cooking together. And we care a lot about this time.