Photographer Romualdas Rakauskas and his chronicles of happiness and kindness
Lithuanian photographer and journalist Romualdas Rakauskas is known all over the world. His kind, optimistic works make us understand that everything is not lost for this world and there are more good, bright and kind around us than sad and gloomy. The author puts a little bit of himself and a lot of love and kindness into each of his pictures. The names of the series of his works speak for themselves: "Flowering", "Happy", "Land of Inspiration".
Romualdas Rakauskas was born in the city of Akmane in the north of Lithuania in 1941. The craving for creativity began to manifest itself at school, so in high school Romualdas was the permanent editor of the school magazine. He looked for topics himself, wrote articles himself and took pictures for them himself. In 1959, Rakauskas entered Vilnius University, where he studied Lithuanian language and literature.
Romualdas first tried his hand at serious journalism in his third year, in 1961. The guy was accepted as a full-time photojournalist in the publication "Literature and Art". Most of all, he was attracted to photonovels – literary miniatures with thematic photo studies.
Rakauskas ' professionalism and talent were quickly noticed and in 1969 he was accepted into the Lithuanian Union of Journalists. There was a lot of work and it was incredibly interesting, but there was also time for creativity. The first personal photo exhibition of Romualdas Rakauskas was called "Tenderness" and the master of photography dedicated it to warm human communication.
After that, there were many series of photographs and exhibitions, but many consider the cycle of pictures "Flowering"to be the key moment in the work of Rakauskas. The work on it lasted for more than 10 years and the photographer had to travel all over Lithuania in search of inspiration. The title work of the cycle, according to the author himself, is a picture of a boy walking along a road strewn with petals, with a rabbit in his arms.
In 1976, the International Federation of Photo Artists officially recognized Rakauskas as a professional master of photography (AFIAP). In addition, the master was awarded the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gadiminas of the 5th degree and became a laureate of the prize in the field of art.
Over the many years of his work, Romualdas Rakauskas has never changed his choice – all his photos are exclusively black and white and all are one positive and life-affirming.
This is how the photographer described himself in an interview with the press, given on the day of the 70th anniversary.
Unfortunately, and maybe fortunately, not all talented photographers sing about happiness and flowering. There are also harsh realists among them, alien to romance, thanks to whom we know the unsightly side of life.
Keywords: Exhibition | Lithuania | Happiness | Black and white photography | Blooming | Masters of photography