In my trip this year (2026) to the European Blues Challenge in Katowice, Poland, I met again Jorg Danielsen, the musician representing Austria at the European Blues Challenge 2023 in Chorzow. Seeing him again reminded me the story of this picture. Photography is made with a lot of observation, a few technical skills, some patience and a fair amount of luck!
Chapter 1 : During his show, Jorg decided to get down from the stage and play in the audience. I followed him, thinking this was an opportunity to make a different shot: I could see the audience, I could see the bottom of the “Prezydent” coal mine tower, which is very representative of the city of Chorzow. The lighting was not too bad, although a little dull due due to a cloudy day. Jorg was wearing a nice outfit with a yellow shirt and was showing his back, and all of a sudden turned around to make a sign to his musicians. This simple move – which probably lasted not much more that a second – changed this capture into something much more interesting.
Chapter 2 : The world famous polish blues magazine Twoj Blues (= Your Blues), who received a “Keeping the Blues Alive” award in 2011 by the Blues Foundation and in which I have published a few photos from time to time, published this photo in magazine TB94/45. Every year, Twoj Blues magazine opens an internal reader poll to choose the “Blues Top” of blues artists, performance or recordings in Poland and I had the great pleasure to receive the “Best Top Photography” award for 2023, which was given to me at the official gala during the “Bluestracje” festival in 2024.
Photo with Andrzej Matysik on the left, chief editor of Twoj Blues, taken by Krzysztof Szafraniec, a great polish photographer who had obtained this same award 5 times: I still have a progression curve :-).
