Who am I?

(asking for a friend)


I was born feet first under a full moon in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm. The trailers of the movie of my life would include surviving nature trying to kill me (darn rip tide), sky-diving over Las Vegas, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, and learning how to fly the trapeze. But I'm too old for all of that shizzle now. Since 2015 Photography has been my life; and I never even wanted to be a photographer! My plans growing up ranged from wanting movie stardom to winning a Nobel Prize for medicine. Somehow I became a graphic designer (strange how life turns out), then quit in order to hit the road. I ended up globetrotting for six years, eventually settling down into office life within the travel industry. Photography became a hobby that got seriously out of hand, so I switched my “out of office” on for good, and put everything I had into turning my obsession into my career. 

Fast forward to today, and I am mainly a candid street photographer, but people also book me to make their portraits; budding photographers let me teach them; and I'm an Official Fujifilm X-Photographer (I shoot with Fujifilm X-100V and Fujifilm X-T3). Life is good. 

I dream about photography, travel as much as possible, eat too much cheese, watch way too much Netflix, and laugh at my own jokes. You can find me running online and in-person street photography workshops at the Department of Street Photography in London and all over Europe! I am the creator of 'The Street Photography Playbook', one of 100 women featured in the first 'Women Street Photographers' book, curated by Gulnara Samoilova (Published by Prestel 2021), and also contributed to 'The Travel Photographer's Way', by Nori Jemil (Published by Bradt Travel Guides).

And after all that if you're thinking: "Now that's the kinda gal I'd love to work with" - then furiously type me a message. I happen to be open to new projects and collaborations if it's a freewheeling candid shooting colour loving photographer that you are after. 

[My face - keep scrolling - was shot by Saskia Nelson #1 and Nathan Wake #the other three]

Ask me anything!

Maybe you have a project you'd like to collaborate on? Get in touch using the form or email: hello@pollyrusyn.com

"If you're thinking about booking Polly, then you need to stop thinking and start booking. Dang! She is one of the best photographers and coolest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. If you're looking for a talented, passionate photographer who also happens to be rock solid in terms of reliability and cool in terms of how personable she is, then you, my friend, need to look no further."

Saskia Nelson (Founder of Hey Saturday)

Some horn tooting


Books: The Street Photography Playbook — DoSP Digital Resource (2021). Contributor to Women Street Photographers  by Gulnara Samoilova — Published by Prestel (2021). Contributor to The Travel Photographers Way by Nori Jemil — Published by Bradt Travel Guides (2021).

Brand Ambassador: Official Fujifilm X-Photographer (2020, 2021, 2022)

Awards: Finalist, Series Category - London Street Photography Festival (2021), Shortlisted - Women Street Photographers Artist Residency (2020), Finalist - Siena International Photography Awards SIPA (2020)Winner, Finalist - Photosynthesis PhoSofia (2019), Finalist - Miami Street Photography Festival (2018), Longlisted (Portfolio category) - National Geographic Traveller annual photography competition (2018), Honourable Mention - London Photography Festival (2016, 2018), (Monthly theme) - National Geographic Traveller (2017).

Group exhibitions: Women Street Photographers - Virtual (2021), Women Street Photographers - Chelyabinsk, Russia (2020), Women Street Photographers - New York City, USA (2019), Women Street Photographers - Brussels, Belgium (2019), StreetFoto - San Fransisco, USA (2019), Photosynthesis PhoSofia - Sofia, Bulgaria (2019), Miami Street Photography Festival MSPF - Miami, USA (2018), Street Sans Frontieres - Paris, France (2018), Street London - London, UK (2018)

Judge: London Street Photography Festival LSPF (2018)

Speaker: National Geographic Traveller Masterclasses (2020), Cambrian Winter Show (2019), SNAP Photography Festival (2019), Spotlight - Street London (2018)

Online Publications: Eyeshot Magazine (2019), Life Is Street (2018), , Photographic Mercadillo (2016), Creative Boom (2015), Fubiz (2015), Edge of Humanity (2015)

Print Publications: Digital Camera (2020), Digital Camera (2019), National Geographic Traveller UK (2019), Digital Photography (2019), Eyeshot Magazine (2019)

Interviews: UP Photographers (2021)Outerfocus Podcast (2020), MPB (2020)The Phoblographer (2019), Digital Photography (magazine) (2019)

Find out more on my NEWS page!

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