Fundacja Editions Spotkania

Założona przez Piotra Jeglińskiego działacza opozycji demokratycznej czasów PRL, wydawcy, publicysty. Po wyjeździe do Paryża zakłada w 1978 roku wydawnictwo „Editions Spotkania”, której siedzibą była Księgarnia Polska na Boulevard Saint-Germain w Paryżu będąc jej współwłaścicielem do powrotu do kraju w 1991 r. „Editions Spotkania” wydawały książki zakazane w PRL od poezji po książki historyczne i przemycały je poprzez rozbudowaną siatkę kurierów. Fundacja organizuje wydarzenia kulturalne, takie jak koncerty, wystawy, spektakle, których celem jest promocja Polskiej kultury, w kraju i za granicą. Jednym z celów Fundacji jest krzewienie postaw patriotycznych, zwłaszcza w młodym pokoleniu Polaków. Fundacja Editions Spotkania, tak jak i wydawnictwa Editions Spotkania, swoją działalnością przywraca Pamięć wybitnych Polaków, również tych zapomnianych przez historię, a mających swoje stałe miejsce w Panteonie Wielkich Polaków. Są to m.in. Karol Kurpiński, czy poeta Józef Łobodowski. Poza działalnością związaną z kulturą, Fundacja Editions Spotkania organizuje konferencje i debaty na tematy społeczno-gospodarczo-polityczne o sytuacji Polski w Europie i w Świecie.

I discovered that I’m a storyteller first and a photographer second. I felt the power of photography that didn’t have to be limited to the single approach. If you look at my work over the years you’ll see, it’s not always photojournalism, not always the studio. Photography can be either and everything in between. Sometimes I would find ways of mixing journalistic style with an illustration within an article. There is a picture that is very popular of a half shed sheep, and that’s an illustration, but it’s embedded in the story that is mostly journalistic.

I’m sure everyone who has ever landed at the old airport in Hong Kong would tell you the same story. It was right downtown, and it was amongst skyscrapers and the apartment buildings. The plane would drop down very quickly, you could look out the window and see people barbecuing on their balconies, or look in the apartments and see people reading. And it was like – oh my God, we’re crashing. So some people who would fly often to Hong Kong were still reading their magazines, whereas others – like us – were gripping the seats and waiting to die.

It must have been in the 1980s. Interesting thing about being an assignment photographer, especially working in a magazine like National Geographic, when the projects take months, or years of your life, is that the magazine becomes an index of your life. I don’t talk about years, I talk about during which story did this occur.

That was before the days of cellphones. I was having a dinner in Boston, and National Geographic editor tracked me down in the restaurant and called. I got one of these classic movie moments, when the waiter comes over and says: “There is a phone call for you sir”, and I say: “It cannot be for me, nobody knows that I’m here”. “Are you Mr. Wolinsky? Well it’s for you”. I went to the phone, and I hear the editor saying: “I need you to go to Beijing. There is this major demonstration going on, in Tiananmen square”. I had really good contacts in China, but suddenly I was being thrown in this political situation, which was getting worldwide attention, so I was hesitating to use them. I also knew that I could fly to Hong Kong, and try to get a tourist visa – with enough of cash. I did not call my contacts in China, I instead went to Hong Kong, bought a visa, and then the next day flew into Beijing.

You never know when political events will come to you. One came to me when I was working – believe it or not – on a textile story. I was in Saint Petersburg, which at the time was still Leningrad. I was trying to get the permission to photograph the oldest known carpet in the world, in the Hermitage museum. I had a contact with a young man, who was based in Moscow, well connected politically – I didn’t know how well connected he was, but he turned out to be the son of a KGB general. He was happy to help me, but one day he asked: “Why don’t you do something more interesting than these silly, old carpets?”. “Like what?”, I said. “Why don’t you do the story on the Kremlin?”.

Ut autestion nonseque parunt, ex eicta comniet aut vel ent hitamus enihillatur? Officia sequam ditae laborum, sin consedi gendeli quodia simusam qe ne nemporp orererupta que sequossunt, semil eratume omnis utat quiae poresequam queomnitae. Harcium faccabo reribus. Sint optasipiet adi tendendam voluptam ipit demoluptatur simpori onsecum velignit essinih iliquat am, ullant escientiam audipsum earume dolo corro elistrum
dolupta doluptam fugite con recto conet aruptamus eos sequi assum vellore pelectem qui doles restrun dendam, a alicips anihil il et aritias pelenducius etur suntore pe veri offic tem qui a velibea demsenditatur molenda dit antioritium fuga. Heniae. Illum eostiis seremqu aectemolum, omnis sam nis aria sae peliqui sum num eum et doluptae ditatas arum accusam estiate ndistib usciam, nonse consene molenis sequaerum suntistota dolenimet eos duciam volupta venimenimusa vitaspis ea doloreius. Ro
comnim fuga.

Ut autestion nonseque parunt, ex eicta comniet aut vel ent hitamus enihillatur? Officia sequam ditae laborum, sin consedi gendeli quodia simusam qe ne nemporp orererupta que sequossunt, semil eratume omnis utat quiae poresequam queomnitae. Harcium faccabo reribus. Sint optasipiet adi tendendam voluptam ipit demoluptatur simpori onsecum velignit essinih iliquat am, ullant escientiam audipsum earume dolo corro elistrum
dolupta doluptam fugite con recto conet aruptamus eos sequi assum vellore pelectem qui doles restrun dendam, a alicips anihil il et aritias pelenducius etur suntore pe veri offic tem qui a velibea demsenditatur molenda dit antioritium fuga. Heniae. Illum eostiis seremqu aectemolum, omnis sam nis aria sae peliqui sum num eum et doluptae ditatas arum accusam estiate ndistib usciam, nonse consene molenis sequaerum suntistota dolenimet eos duciam volupta venimenimusa vitaspis ea doloreius. Ro
comnim fuga.

This was the time when you wouldn’t expect to get into the Kremlin to do anything, so I said: “Sure, let’s do the story. Can you get me in there?”. “Yes, I can”, he said. At that moment the Soviet Union was unraveling. I happened to be on the floor of the Congress when Gorbachev was sitting in front and members were voting on Communist Party proposals. After each proposal was read, delegates unenthusiastically raised their hands to confirm their support. For 72 years no one dared to vote against the Communist Party. At one point some members of the Estonian delegation raised their hands and, suddenly, everyone in the room was whispering. I turned to find my interpreter to find out what was going on. She was on the other side of the room. Should I get to her to find out what was going on? I could see Grobachev smiling. Luckily I chose to grab the shot of the Estonian raised hands before knowing the facts. It turned out to be the first vote cast against the Communist Party under Soviet domination. My photo of the Estonians ran as a lead shot on the story about the Kremlin. So yes, I witnessed history without knowing I was witnessing history.

Fundacja Editions Spotkania
ul. Puławska 182
02-670 Warszawa

info@fundacjaes.pl
fundacjaes.pl

KRS: 0000582829
NIP: 5213710946
REGON: 362854954
Nr rachunku bankowego:
94 1140 2004 0000 3302 7592 2493

Paweł Bujalski
Członek Zarządu
+48 503 700 405
pawel.bujalski@fundacjaes.pl

Maciej Budzinski
Członek Zarządu
maciej.budzinski@fundacjaes.pl
+48 691 025 050

Marguerite le Hodey-Rey
Wojciech Butkiewicz
Juliusz Chrościcki