We are experts in storytelling. Have been filmmakers and photo/journalists since the mid-1990s and founded Adventure Pictures in 2007. We make films, write books, and create photo essays while following – and sometimes being – explorers and scientists.
Our motto is
Filmmaker and author inspired by exploration, expeditions, and popular science topics. Former Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Poland and National Geographic Traveler magazines. Diver and climber. Studied chemistry in Warsaw, and directing, screenwriting and film production at Harvard and MIT. Explorer, vice-chairman and treasurer of The Explorers Club Polish Chapter. Speaker at the TED conference, Ministry of Culture grantee and author of six books. His reportage on the Steuben shipwreck was been published in National Geographic Magazine around the world in over 20 languages.
Cinematographer and photographer. Published her pictures in Newsweek, National Geographic, Polityka, Traveler, Financial Times, and Voyage magazines. A long-time photojournalist for Gazeta Wyborcza. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. She has won awards at the Euro Press Photo Awards (Stockholm), the Polish Press Photo Contest (Warsaw) and the Humanity Photo Awards (China). Participant of exploratory expeditions and author of the photo exhibitions ``Steuben, a bloody secret of the Baltic Sea``, ``River of Treasures``, ``Territories`` and a series of artistic photographs for print collectors that transgresses photography and fine art painting.
Marcin is filmmaker and writer. Passionate rock climber and scuba diver who studied chemistry in Warsaw, Poland, and after graduation did research with lasers and organic dyes at the color science laboratory. In his mid-20s, he changed his career path and became a science writer for the science section of the largest newspaper in Central Europe. He penned about a thousand articles and shot his first two doc videos before being hired as editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine in Poland. After five years in that desk job, he went freelance, wrote six books, and followed his passion by studying filmmaking at Harvard and MIT.
Marcin’s favorite subjects have always been expeditions, exploration, and popular science stories. He has participated in or organized more than a dozen expeditions to five continents with exploratory, archaeological, or scientific goals. He has been a TED speaker and a recipient of a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture. Marcin is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and is currently serving his second term as Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Polish Chapter of the Club.
Education
2009-10 – Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA.
2000 – EICOS Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen, Germany
1988-2003 – Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw
Work
2008-Today – Owner of Adventure Pictures
2004-2007 – editor-in-chief of National Geographic Poland
2002-2004 – Deputy Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic Poland
1995-2002 – journalist and editor in the science section and in the reportage section of Gazeta Wyborcza
1993-1995 – Assistant at the Department of Chemistry, University of Warsaw (interaction of laser light with matter).
Film
2024 – “Stronger Than Ever”, 71’ documentary film about the recovery of a rock climber and his quest to send the life-long dream climb.
2023 – “The Scientific Magnificent Seven”, 37’ documentary video about 19th century Polish explorers on the Pacific.
2022 – “Against the Sands of Time”, 40′ documentary video about archaeological excavations.
2019 – “River of Treasures”, 73 minutes long documentary film (with Konstanty Kulik) about the underwater search and exploration of the 350-year-old treasure of the Polish king that started debate on past looting and the ownership of the art works.
2010 – “No One Left Behind” – 25′ video about the last battle of the Vietnam War fought in Cambodia.
2001 – “Higher than Lemurs” – short video on big wall expedition to Madagascar
2000 – “Higher than Geckoes” – short documentary on big wall climbing expedition in Mali
Books
Author of three exploratory reportage books:
2009 – Ghosts from the Abyss of the Baltic Sea
2012 – The Old One, The Young Ones and the Sea
2018 – Rescued from the Deluge (aka “River of Treasures”)
and three popular science books for children:
2017 – Great Explorers
2017 – Great Inventors
2019 – Great Scientists
Public / motivational / corporate speaking
2023 – Canon Christmas meeting, Warsaw, Poland
2019 – AXA, Paris
2018 – UN Climate Change Conference in Katowice (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP24)
2016 – Agora SA corporate meeting, Dolina Charlotty.
2012 – Congress of Innovative Economy, Warsaw
2011 – Young Presidents’ Organization forum, Warsaw
2010 – TEDx Warsaw
2010 – today Canon company meetings
2000 – PZU, address to the Management Board, Warsaw
1995 – today dozens of speeches at various travel festivals, including: Kolosy, Terra, Trzy Żywioły, Gryfino Festival of Places and Travel Włóczykij, Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy in Samotnia, Festival of Wreck Diving, Festival Podwodna Przygoda, Baltitech and in cultural centers all over the country
Press
1995-2002 – published some 600 articles in Gazeta Wyborcza on scientific discoveries in archaeology, paleontology, chemistry and climate, as well as dozens of reports and photo essays on climbing, geography and diving expeditions
2002-2007 – At National Geographic Polska, he edited about 100 issues of the magazine with the famous yellow frame, as well as National Geographic Traveler and special issues devoted to photography. He has written several articles himself, generally together with photographs. In 2004, Marcin became the leader of a National Geographic international diving expedition to the Baltic shipwreck “Steuben”. His story on the expedition was published on the cover of
National Geographic magazine in the USA and in more than 20 other languages around the world.
Since 2008 – as a freelance photographer, writer and filmmaker Marcin has taken part in dozens of expeditions and worked for many magazines and newspapers from the world (National Geographic, Outside, ng.com, Newsweek, Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Courrier International, The Explorers Journal) and from Poland (Newsweek, National Geographic, Traveler, Twój Styl, Kontynenty, Polityka, Podróże).
Photography
1995-2002 – several photo essays for the weekly magazine Gazeta Wyborcza (currently DużyFormat)
2002-2007 – approx. 25 photo essays for National Geographic Polska and National Geographic Traveler – on travel, climbing, kayaking, underwater exploration and scuba diving.
since 2007 – dozns of photo essays for Polish and international magazines and newspapers. One of them, about the world record in cave diving in Hranicka Propasta in the Czech Republic, was the lead story on NationalGeographic.com
Since 2005, member of the jury, or chairman, at several photographic competitions, including the National Geographic Great Photographic Competition, the Journalists’ Jury at the Kolosy Festival, the Three Elements Festival, the Tatra National Park competition, the Polish Tourist Organization competition.
Photographic exhibitions
1995 – Climbing in Tenerife
2003 – The Last Wild Places on Earth (National Geographic group exhibition) 2004 – Exploration (National Geographic group exhibition)
2005 – The bloody secret of the Baltic Sea (National Geographic exhibition) 2008 – The flood will come tomorrow (from Sudan)
2006 – Adventure Pictures (best of)
2010 – The Deepest Secrets of the Planet (group exhibition The Explorers Club) 2012 – Rescued from the Deluge (finding the treasure of King Jan Kazimierz)
2013-15 – Territories (art, exhibition with Marzena Hmielewicz) exhibition shown in five galleries in Poland
2017 – The underground world of Easter Island (exploration of the Rapa Nui caves)
Awards
2003 – Award for the best magazine (run by Martin National Geographic) in the Grand Front competition
2004 – Honorary mention at the Explorers Festival in Lodz, Poland, for a story about the Baltic shipwrecks
2008 – Honourable mention for a photo essay from Sudan ‘The Return of Christ from the Abyss’ in the Association of Science Journalists competition
2009 – Award for the photo essay ‘The Underground World of Easter Island’ in the national BZ WBK Press Photo competition
2014 – Book of the Year award of the monthly magazine Żagle for “‘Old’, young and the sea” (written with Jacek Wacławski)
2015 – Performance Award at the Humanity Photo Awards in China (organised with UNESCO) for his photo essay on exorcism in Cairo
2018 – Audience Award and Jury Distinction for the film “Rescued from the Flood” at the Zamosc History Film Festival “Encounters with History”
2018 – Second Prize at the Festival of Civilisation and Media Art “Mediatravel” in Lodz for the film “Rescued from the Flood”
2018 – Distinction in the Documentary Film category for “Rescued from the Deluge” at the International Historical and Military Film Festival in Warsaw
“credo”
Marcin has photographed, among others, in Sudan, Oman, Rwanda, Cambodia, Morocco, Turkey, Chile, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Greenland and in several European Union countries as well as Russia, Norway and Switzerland.
Many of Marcin’s publications revolve around ‘extreme’ topics – climbing, diving and surviving in difficult conditions, while carrying out research and exploration: in high mountains and deserts – both sandy (Sahara) and icy (Greenland). With a high diving qualification (Full Trimix CMAS), Marcin was not only a chronicler, but also a fully-fledged participant in underwater expeditions to dozens of wrecks in the Baltic Sea and remote Sierra Leone, under the Greenland icebergs, to flooded caves in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Serbia, or to the sunken tunnels of a forgotten line of the Warsaw underground from the 1950s.
Thanks to his climbing skills (7c+ RP, 7b OS), Marcin took part in expeditions conquering virgin 600-metre vertical walls in Mali (southern Sahara) and Madagascar, as well as in the high Andes (sources of the Amazon). Survival skills, in turn, came in handy when excavating the tomb of a Nubian king in the Bayuda Desert in Sudan. Marcin’s photo essays from these expeditions were published in major Polish magazines.
Hobbies
Climbing (7c+ RP, 7b OS), Scuba diving (CMAS Full Trimix)
Born in Wrocław, Poland, at a time when black and white photography was the standard rather than an artistic choice. Photographer, artist, photo-journalist and cinematographer. Her motto is the words of painter Edward Dwurnik: “One must paint beautiful pictures, because beauty is the quintessence of life“.
“credo”
Exploration invariably brings great joy. Seeking the new, the unknown. Pushing the boundaries of cognition. Exploration. The physical one – discovering new lands, new places; the scientific one – arriving at new ideas and phenomena. New people. New paths. This is what I have been doing for years – exploring the world of photography. I look for new functions and new TERRITORIES for my photographs. I abandon the rush of press photography and immerse myself in the world refracted in a drop of water, reflected in a sheet of ice, rippled on the surface of a pond or noticed in the harmony of a forest.
My photographs come from expeditions to those far away as well as to the closest corners of the world. Many of them were taken in the place where I live, the Kampinos Forest. They are united by an infinite attention to detail, to light, to the moment. They elevate photography to the status of painting – from impressionism to the art of calligraphy.
I was born in Wroclaw in the era of black and white photography but not daguerreotype photography. I photograph professionally (mainly reportage) and out of passion.
I studied photography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan. For many years I was a photojournalist for Gazeta Wyborcza, Duży Format, Wysokie Obcasy. Currently, my photographs are published in the biggest Polish magazines National Geographic, Newsweek, Kontynenty, Polityka, Twój Styl. I have had individual and collective exhibitions (“To break away from the earth”, “Steuben, the bloody secret of the Baltic”, “Rescued from the Flood”, “Territories”, “Ta Puszcza mnie nie wypuszcza”) . I am a winner of Polish and international photo competitions ( Euro Press Photo Awards – Stockholm 1995, Polish Press Photography Competition – Warsaw 1995, Humanity Photo Awards – China 2015). Together with Marcin Jamkowski we create the photo collective Adventure Pictures www.adventurepictures.eu.
The photographs on this site, and others from my collection, are not subject to computer manipulation. They are processed and smeared, but are a reflection of reality.
Education
2009-2010 – Audiovisual techniques, MIT, Cambridge, USA
1996-2000 – Academy of Fine Arts, Poznań, Department of Photography
Work
since 2008 – freelance photographer at Adventure Pictures photo collective
since 2002 – cooperation with National Geographic Poland and NG in the USA
1993-2006 – photojournalist at Gazeta Wyborcza.
Cinematographer in two big documentary feature projects “Stronger than Ever” and “River of Treasures”
Photography
1993-2006 – several dozen large photo essays on everyday life and art as well as travel, discovery and adventure published in Gazeta Wyborcza, Duży Format and Wysokie Obcasy. Numerous portraits of personalities from the world of culture and politics, as well as thousands of single photographs on current events in Poland, European countries and even Afghanistan, Madagascar and Belize.
Since 2002 – while cooperating with National Geographic Marzena has photographed several commissioned subjects and photo essays according to her own idea. She has taken part in several National Geographic expeditions, including NG’s first expedition to Poland – to the Baltic wreck of the Steuben.
Since 2008 – in the photographic collective Adventure Pictures, created together with Marcin Jamkowski, Marzena has expanded the portfolio of magazines and newspapers for which she takes photos to include:
National Geographic Traveler
Newsweek
Financial Times
Twój Styl
Travel
Continents
Policy
Voyage
Agora’s publications
Bauer publications
World Book Publishing
MultiCo and others.
Photographic exhibitions
1994 – Such is the end of a great name – Cistercians in Silesia 1995 – Breaking away from the earth
1996 – A Song Will Remind You – about the Actors’ Song Festival,
1996 – Women of the Newspaper – in the Corridor Gallery of Vernissages 2005 – Steuben – the bloody secret of the Baltic Sea
2006 – Adventure Pictures (with Marcin Jamkowski) – about travel, expedition and exploration photography shown in the Town Hall in Wrocław and in the “Improwizacja” gallery in Łódź
2008 – Sakharov Prize winners – curator of the exhibition (together with Kataryna Biernacka) – at the University of Warsaw Library
2010 – The deepest mysteries of the planet (group exhibition The Explorers Club), opening Don Walsh
2012 – Rescued from the Deluge (finding the treasure of King Jan Kazimierz after 350 years)
2013-15 – Territories – an exhibition of fine art photography shown in four galleries in Warsaw (Art Pistols, Agora, Karma, Cytadela) and in the gallery at the Town Hall in Wrocław. New territories of photography hooks into painting, printmaking and calligraphy.
2017 – This wilderness won’t let me go – about Kampinos National Park
Awards
1995 – 2nd prize in the ‘Sport’ category of the Polish Press Photo Competition for his photo essay ‘To break away from the ground’ from the International Polish Hot Air Balloon Championships.
1995 – Special Prize of the Main Sponsor Fujifilm – Poland in the Polish Press Photo Contest for the photo essay “To break away from the earth”
1996 – Third Prize in the European Press Photography Competition in Stockholm.
1996 – Honorary mention in the Polish Press Photography Competition in the “Culture” category for the photo essay “Such is the end of a great name – Cistercians in Silesia”.
2011 – Award at the Kampinos National Park competition
2014 – First Prize at the international UNESCO World Humanitarian Award competition in China.
Books
Marzena’s photographs have also appeared in books:
“Ghosts from the Abyss of the Baltic Sea” by Marcin Jamkowski – cover and photos inside
“Rescued from the Deluge” by Marcin Jamkowski and Hubert Kowalski – cover and dozens of photos inside
“Life is not enough” by Iza Michalewicz – cover pic
“Tenth Anniversary of Independent Poland” – collective pr.
“Thick fish” – Michal Matys
“Four addresses, one banner” by Ludwika Włodek – cover and photos inside
Calendars
Photographs taken by Marzena illustrated more than a dozen calendars – from large, wall- mounted to pocket-sized:
The most beautiful castles of Europe
National parks
Adventure
Traveller’s calendar
Cities of Europe
Landscapes of the world
Natural wonders
Magic of light and others
Hobbies
Photography, Climbing, Travel
