Fascination with discovering the world was not easily accomplished when living in a communist country. I also hated vodka. So in 1971 I left Poland for London. I was contracted to drive for a rally team in the UK. Rally driving was my passion which I continued until my mid 40s. I then travelled the world extensively, photographed and wrote stories. In the late 80s I settled in Los Angeles and began photographing actors in my studio. I would have never predicted that a visit to my local hair dresser would impact my life in the way it did.

My hair dresser had just returned from a fascinating holiday in the Sierra Madre mountains of Northern Mexico, the home of the Tarahumara tribe. He witnessed a race between two teams of men, dressed in skirts, kicking a wooden ball in front of them. The race lasted two days and nights without stopping.

It was only a twenty hours drive from Los Angeles to Sierra Madres. Over the next two years I made twenty trips to the region and became more and more fascinated by this land and people. I lived with the Tarahumaras, photographed and filmed them while establishing a very close connection which enabled me to obtain intimate access to their way of life.

I made two documentaries which were shown extensively throughout the world.

You can watch them here on vimeo

In my view if there is an ideal society, it is the Tarahumaras.

After my return to London in 1998 I decided to spend the new year in Krakow. That was a real life changer. It was there that I met Ania. We spent some glorious twenty-five years together. Ania Bilon was a polish artist, painter, designer and filmmaker.

Together we made a documentary in Baha California. In the Lagoon St Ignacio whales make a very close physical contact with whales watchers.

You can also watch this documentary on Vimeo.

We spent 9 years living in the paradise that is the Costa Del Sol in Spain.

Ania painted. I photographed. We went for long walks with our baby Labrador who came into our life. Lilly is 11 years old now and lives with me.

Soon after our return back to London from Spain in 2021, Ania being an angel, was called upon her duties somewhere else and sadly passed away of a brain tumour in November 2022.

This Tarahumara Tribe photographic exhibition, I'm dedicating to the memory of my Ania.