In such a difficult and challenging year it seemed impossible to have any highlights, but turns out I had a few, a couple of them before the pandemic started! There is more about each on in the NEWS on here, but I’ve collated them using my Instagram stories. 

Super excited to be part of a collection of women street photographers curated by Gulnara Samoilova and published by Prestel (part of Random House). The book went into production to be published by March 1st, 2021! The front cover is by B Jane Levine and a back cover is by Regula Tschumi. The foreword is by Ami Vitale and the essay is by Melissa Breyer. My photo is on page 24! There is a flip through for some sample pages HERE

Delighted to have this photo featured as part of this virtual exhibition of Women Street Photographers at the Indian Photo Festival, showing at the State Art Gallery in Hyderabad 12 November - 13 December, and also showcased also over on IGTV. 

I was invited to share some of my travel photography work from Papua New Guinea, along with some tips, for a double page spread in Digital Camera magazine this month. The photographs were made way back in 2014… and making them was a defining moment in that I shifted from photography being a hobby to it becoming an obsession! The rest, as they say, is history. [Digital Camera, Issue 235]

I posted about this before but wanted to share pictures of my photograph on the walls of the State Historical Museum, in Chelyabinsk, Russia.  It’s quite exciting see my name written in Cyrillic too!!!

So nice to be invited for an interview on MPB.com - an online used camera retailer. It was quite an in depth Q&A and I kinda liked their intro: “Polly Rusyn @pollyrusyn is an award-winning street photographer based in London, UK. Her work is imbued with colour, and the vibrancy of places and people. Using the world as an ever-changing canvas, she uses humour, light and a juxtaposition of objects and elements to reflect everyday life.”

As you probably already know I am an Official Fujifilm X-Photographer, and as such I get commissioned to do different things such as give talks, or workshops and also to provide content - like this blog entitled “Street Photography, Socially Distanced”… Check it out HERE

It was truly an honour to be on a shortlist of 10 women for the Women Street Photographers Artist Residency in New York. I did not win - but the winner was a very worthy one: Debrani Das. To entry we had to submit a series of eight images along with an artist statement. Below are my eight! 

My photo received an honourable mention in this the most recent exhibition opportunity from Women Street Photographers, for a virtual exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Street Photographer Festival. My princesses were photographed in Stamford Hill, London.

Photographer Ryan Hardman invited me to be interviewed along with a number of other street photographers on his blog. Check it out and take a look through some of the other photographs being talked about too!

Thrilled to bits to have won another place on an exhibition curated by Gulnara Samoilova for Women Street Photographers. This is my fourth time and I’m super happy to have this picture of the dancing legs on show during the FIAP Biennale (International Federation of Photographic Art) at the State Historical Museum in Chelyabinsk, Russia in August 2020)! Here are all four of the pictures that have been exhibited by Women Street Photographers so far: Unsynchronised (Russia 2020), Seville (NYC 2019), Horseback (Brussels 2019) and Yellow Flowers (Kuala Lumpur 2019).

Really honoured and surprised to have made the finals in the street photography category of the prestigious and respected Siena international Photography Awards (SIPA) 2020.

A couple of weeks into the UK Coronavirus Lockdown I was invited to be interviewed on Outerfocus podcast and had the pleasure of chatting with Ian Weldon (“I am not a Wedding Photographer”). We talked about The Photo Weekender, my journey into photography and lots of other stuff. Grab a cuppa and take a listen here: https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com/podcast/2020/4/3/outerfocus-55-polly-rusyn

Eyeshot Magazine is one of the leading promoters of contemporary street photography today - complete with website, Instagram and printed publications. One of my shots recently appeared in the Street Fashion printed issue, and now I have been honoured with having a portfolio included on with the website and Instagram feed. 

2020 was the second year of the National Geographic Traveller Masterclasses held in London. I was actually a participant in the first year. This year I was truly honoured to be asked to speak (twice) and to be part of a panel discussion. It was a great day with in excess of 200 attendees, and speakers all across the travel photography spectrum. I spoke about the place of street photography within travel photography and shared some of my best tips for Ninja style shooting (!) as well as composition.

After having collaborated with Fujifilm on a few projects in the last few months, I was over the moon to be asked to become a Brand Ambassador. Of course I accepted, pretty much shouting, “A thousand times yes!” - so I am now an Official Fujifilm X-Photographer. And very proud too! My kit currently includes a Fujifilm X100V and Fujifilm X-T2. My lenses are Fujinon XF23mmF2 R WR and Fujinon XF35mmF2 R WR 

You can see my portfolio on the Fujifilm website here: https://fujifilm-x.com/en-gb/photographers/polly-rusyn/

Round up of a wonderful year in photography! Yes 2019 rocked. Here are all the wonderful things that happened as seen in my Instagram stories. Stalk me!  https://www.instagram.com/pollyrusyn/

My photo was selected for publication in the beautifully curated and printed Eyeshot Magazine, showcasing contemporary street photographers. 

Super surpised and chuffed to be named as The Phoblographer’s favourite street photographer of 2019! Check it out. And check out the other photographers too.

Speaker at the Cambrian Winter Show sponsored by Fujifilm UK. I presented a talk entitled “The Science of Street Photography”.

Selected as one of 90 women street photographers to be exhibited in NYC in December 2019. Exhibition curated by Gulnara Samoilova founder of Women Street Photographers.

Delighted to be interviewed about my weekend workshops, The Photo Weekender, in a 6-page spread in Digital Photographer magazine.

One of the winners of a place in a group exhibition at the Women Street Photographers exhibition at Brussel’s Street Photography Festival. Exhibition curated by Gulnara Samoilova.

Lovely to be invited but Fujifilm-X UK to be their Featured Photographer of the Week, featured on all social media channels - w/c 26 August 2019.

In collaboration with Fujifilm-X UK I will be part of the annual “Women in the Industry” event hosted by Wex Photo Video, running a workshop in Norwich.