Marek Szkudlarek (it’s ok if you can’t pronounce my last name, nobody can).
I graduated from Sheridan College in 2006 and soon after started working full time for a fashion and advertising photographer in downtown Toronto. I learned a lot over the years I was there, from working with art directors and editors, to clothing stylists and models. It wasn’t all bright lights and glamour each day; some days I was the catering guy, some days I was the help-load-the-truck guy, other days I was the clean-up-after-lunch guy and a few times I was even the take-the-clients-dog-for-a-walk guy.
It just wasn’t enough. I left the studio two years later and began a career as a freelance photographer. I spent a long time building my portfolio and a name for myself in the industry. A few of my photo’s were published on the covers of Canada’s most popular fashion and lifestyle magazines, I got to work with the top makeup artists and models in Toronto and even sat in the front row at fashion week.
But that still wasn’t enough. I realized that I was missing out on the best part of the job. Creating the images was just a tiny part of the creative process. I wanted to learn about the design: typography, styles, layouts and how to produce the interactive platforms that seem to be growing exponentially in so many different design fields. Maybe I’m a perfectionist and I want to be able to do everything myself, or maybe I secretly love seeing behind the curtain of media production.
I chose this program to learn the tools, techniques and software to get one step closer to my dream job as a creative director and (most importantly) to grow as an artist.
Fun Fact: my picture of the Pan Am Opening Ceremony (2015) was recently published in the September issue of Readers Digest, Our Canada magazine. Also, I grow organic micro greens as a hobby and as part of a healthy plant-based lifestyle.
Marek Szkudlarek 