Natural storytelling and polished portraits
My name is Roland Mika. During the celebration I work discreetly and catch moments that cannot be repeated. During portraits I tell you what to do, so you do not need to know how to pose.
I bring my own equipment and lighting. I can add drone shots, and the film is recorded by a trusted crew with an editor. You order photos and film in one place.
I work out of Kraków, most often in Lesser Poland, Silesia, Subcarpathia and Warsaw. I also travel further, abroad included.
I have been a professional photographer since 2019. When you order a film, it is shot by two camera operators and the footage gets a full edit. I fly the drone myself: I hold the A1/A3 and A2 remote pilot certificate of competency and the STS certificate of theoretical knowledge, and I am registered as an operator with the Polish Civil Aviation Authority. Scans of the documents are on the Credentials page.
How it started
I got my first camera when I was four. Just an ordinary compact, yet my family still tells the story of how nobody believed a small kid had taken those photos. I was born in Skarżysko-Kamienna, because my parents happened to be visiting my grandparents there, but I grew up in Kraków. In primary school I lived in Częstochowa for six years, then came back and stayed for good.
At Jan III Sobieski High School No. 2 in Kraków you could put together your own set of advanced subjects instead of taking a fixed track. That suited me perfectly. I chose maths and computer science, and next to them art history and English. That is still how I work today: composition and light on one side, systems and numbers on the other. As part of our computer science classes we did an internship at Motorola’s Kraków office, hunting for bugs in software. I found more than 30, several times more than the rest of the class. It stuck with me: I like to know what can go wrong before it does.
Where I learned speed: horse shows
I started working professionally in 2019 at equestrian competitions and drove half of Poland with my camera. I shot at stables near Kraków and at international events broadcast on TV, including Cavaliada in Kraków and Poznań. In a single weekend I took up to 10,000 photos, and the riders wanted them the next day. I had to build a system that could handle that. It still works, which is why fast delivery is what my reviews mention most.
At those competitions I met people who run companies, and the first business jobs came from them. Since then I have photographed, among others, TAURON events for hundreds of guests and the Philip Morris team, for whom I also shot a film for an international competition.
What I studied
I learned photography mostly by doing it: thousands of photos and long hours of editing. I sharpened my flash and studio skills in Creative Photography at Krakowskie Szkoły Artystyczne. In March 2020 COVID moved the studio classes online, so I covered the rest in my own studio, live, with models in front of the lens.
At the same time I completed two degrees at the Cracow University of Economics: a bachelor’s in Marketing and Market Communication, then a master’s in Product Innovation. It comes in handy with business clients. Photos are half the job; the other half is knowing where and how to show them. During my studies I went to the Manage-In management training three times, and in 2025 I completed the Google and SGH program “Umiejętności Jutra: AI 2.0”.
How I work
In hundreds of jobs I have never had a sudden equipment failure or a crisis. I don’t think that is luck. I replace my gear before the warranty on the old kit runs out. I bring spare equipment, cards and batteries to every job, and before I leave I check that everything is packed.
With portraits I don’t stick to one method. With some people I joke, others I tell exactly what to do with their hands and eyes, others again I show the photos on the camera screen, and sometimes I simply ask them to walk and talk while I catch the movement. I can sense what works for each person.
Two things bother me in this industry: waiting months for photos, and forced poses that make every session look the same. That is why I deliver fast and look for moments nobody staged.
“Even though I didn’t know he was at the competition, I ended up with loads of great photos.”
“He waited patiently until my daughter (18 months) got used to a new person and let herself be photographed.”
Websites and apps
Since 2023 I have run a second business, Websly. I build websites and systems for companies and also handle their Google marketing. For Bud-An Kraków I made the website and the team photos.
I also built roland4foto.com myself, the site you are on right now. It has its own panel with contracts and client galleries, and it scores 100 out of 100 in PageSpeed on desktop and mobile.
After work
In winter, snowboarding, ever since I swapped skis for a board as a kid. In summer, kitesurfing, sailing and open-water swimming, plus my motorbike and tennis. After sport, the sauna. I travel a lot.
My app Bag Guard came out of swimming. I used to swim alone in open water and there was no one to watch my things on the shore. So I built an app that raises an alarm when someone moves your bag. Today it is on the App Store.
For myself, I photograph people. My favourite place in Kraków is Zakrzówek. In the evenings I like to go back to Tim Burton’s films or watch ones that show what the future might look like. A good comedy and films with Robert De Niro are a must too.
Have a specific date in mind and want to know if it is free? Click “Check availability” or call +48 577 990 317.