ABOUT OPEN KAMERA CIC
OPEN KAMERA CIC is a socially engaged photography organisation Based in Plymouth and working across Devon and Cornwall, we use portraiture, analogue photography, experimental darkroom processes and elements of PhotoTherapy to explore identity, belonging, heritage and home.
Alongside community projects and workshops, we offer creative photography services for artists, makers, families and organisations, including narrative-led branding, authentic professional headshots and visual storytelling. Our approach is raw, thoughtful and highly personal, creating images that feel honest, distinctive and professionally crafted.
Our methodology is simple: slow down, look closer and create space for something honest to emerge.
Our approach is thoughtful, collaborative and creatively led. We do not simply photograph how something looks; we uncover the story, process and people behind it.
Any income we generate is reinvested into creative opportunities, accessible workshops and free or subsidised photography projects for local communities.
The name KAMERA reflects our Polish heritage and our belief that creativity does not belong to one language, background or place. We see the camera as an open space: a meeting point, a tool for curiosity and a way of finding common ground.
Meet the founders
We started Open Kamera to make creativity more accessible, and we don’t /just/ teach photography. We co-build temporary homes for creativity - where everyone’s voice has value, and every frame is a shared act of seeing.
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Co-founder of Open Kamera CIC / socially engaged photographer / educator / creative facilitator
“I believe photography is a way of listening - to the world, to the body, to the quiet stories inside us. Not everything needs to be said out loud. Some things can just be held in the frame.”
Kinga is the heart of Open Kamera - the one who asks the real questions and knows how to hold the silence that follows.
Her work lives in the in-between: between art and care, language and silence, documentation and dreaming. Holding a diploma in PhotoTherapy, she integrates therapeutic tools into analogue practices, making space for deep emotional reflection, collective storytelling, and creativity.
Born in Poland and based in the UK, her practice is deeply shaped by migration, memory, and a longing for belonging. She has worked internationally, across libraries, community hubs, refugee groups and schools, always drawn to the question: what kind of image could help you feel seen, just as you are?
Her sessions often feel like a mix of creative play, therapy, and quiet revolution, grounded in analogue processes and slow, mindful practice.
“Photography doesn’t heal you - but it can give you back to yourself.”
As an educator, she brings this same ethos into academic and institutional spaces - gently challenging conventional approaches to creativity, and reminding students that their lived experience is enough. Her work is less about mastery and more about meaning. Less product, more process. Less polish, more truth.
Her analogue RAW portrait sessions - often shot on medium format film, have become a space where people can return to themselves. They’re raw, intimate, and defiantly anti-perfectionist.
As co-director of Open Kamera CIC, Kinga co-designs creative experiences that centre belonging, identity, and collective authorship. She believes that art doesn’t need to be explained - it needs to be felt - and that everyone has a story worth slowing down for.
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Co-founder of Open Kamera CIC / artist / technician / the guy who makes it all possible
“For me, it’s not about taking the perfect photo. It’s about showing someone that they can build something with their own hands. That they can make something from light. That’s where the confidence begins.”
Maciej is the quiet engine behind Open Kamera - the one who makes things work, often quite literally. Whether it’s building a darkroom from scratch (he once converted a broom cupboard at his secondary school into a fully functioning one), or mapping out the logistics of a community project - Maciej is the one you call when the idea is big and the deadline is near.
With a background in fine art and design, he’s always been drawn to the behind-the-scenes: the tools, the textures, the problem-solving. His work is deeply rooted in process - analogue printing, camera mechanics, visual systems; and driven by a quiet but relentless curiosity about how things really work.
“I’m not that interested in the final image if I don’t know how it was made.”
But Maciej isn’t just the tech guy. He’s a natural collaborator and a generous listener - someone who sees potential in unlikely places and believes deeply in accessible, community-rooted creativity. As a co-director of Open Kamera, he works with young people, artists and educators to build experiences that are hands-on, human, and empowering.
And then there’s the bin selfie - a long-running photographic project that became a signature workshop at OPEN KAMERA, it all started during his art uni days and hasn’t stopped since. It’s exactly what it sounds like: Maciej, taking a selfie with a bin/or using bin to create a portrait of others. Poetic? Maybe. Conceptual? Definitely. A little ridiculous? Of course. But like most of his work, it’s consistent, quietly clever, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
“If you can’t laugh at your own practice, it’s probably not honest enough.”
Maciej believes in learning by doing, fixing what’s broken, and leaving room for imperfection.
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Non Executive Director
I've been mentoring Kinga & Maciej since 2023. Sharing my 30 years of experience in the creative industries is just one aspect of my position as a non-exec Director of the company. Supporting and awakening the artist's soul is the deeper purpose at the core of this role. Linking identity with inner values to combine creativity and spirituality, whilst connecting to genuine voice and vision. Beyond these foundations, the focus is on what actually works and produces meaningful projects and measurable outcomes with community-minded consciousness. It's part of my mission to assist Open Kamera CIC in embodying their true calling, not only as creators, but as educators and cultural contributors.
explore our portfolio
Alongside OPEN KAMERA CIC, we - Kinga and Maciej maintain an independent creative practice under KMKrzyminscy. This practice deeply informs and supports our community-focused initiatives, allowing us to further explore photographic research, experimentation, and personal artistic exploration. It’s a dedicated space where we continually develop our personal projects, pushing boundaries in narrative, visual storytelling, and analogue processes.
To discover more about our personal work portfolio, visit www.krzyminscy.com.
Portfolio of recent workshops
We facilitate analogue workshops that slow things down. We use traditional processes, film cameras, creative journaling, and collaborative methods to support confidence, connection, and self-expression.
2025 - 6 weeks analogue photography workshops with Your Future cohort (part of On Course South West)
2025 - Youth and Family workshop for Cornwall Neighbourhoods For Change (CN4C) in Redruth2024 - 3 weeks analogue
2024 - 3 weeks family analogue photography workshops - Launceston Library; “Launceston Dream” photography project in Launceston Library2024
2024 - Online workshop - “Foto-Grafika 101” - analogue online photography workshops (5-weeks online)
2024 - 6 weeks analogue wellbeing and mindfulness workshops with Ukrainian Youth - St. Austell - Arts Well CIC
2023 - Visiting lecturing workshop - Arts University Plymouth - PERSPECTIVES - All day analogue photography as a tool to reflect, observe and play.
2023 - Visiting lecturing workshop at PANS Głogów, Poland - /analogue photography as a tool/
2023 - Residency at /VACANCY ATLAS/ Plymouth, UK - Family Photography Festival
2022 - /PeArspectives/ analogue photography workshop in Kraków & Gdańsk, Poland
“Art has played a role in my life as long as I can remember. Through life, I have been keenly sensitive to the visual world. For me, it comes naturally to "see" the world on a level foreign to most. This visual sensitivity shapes how I interact with my surroundings and, ultimately, how I engage with community work.
In essence, my approach to community photography embodies the sentiment that community work is slow, and that’s the point. It’s not about output. It’s about offering presence, over and over again, until someone starts to believe they matter. This belief is the foundation of creating authentic connections through art.
When I wield my camera, I remind myself that the image of a community is not merely a collection of faces but rather a portrayal of shared experiences and stories. Each photograph I take reflects the intricate layers of emotions and relationships within a community. Through the lens, I strive to encapsulate not just moments but the very essence of what it means to belong.
In this way, art becomes a bridge, illustrating the diverse narratives that often go unnoticed. It highlights the importance of patience and presence, emphasising that the beauty of community lies in the small, seemingly insignificant details that over time create a tapestry of shared identity. That's the real image I strive to capture - a vibrant reflection of humanity that fosters belief, connection, and understanding.”
Kinga