You may have noticed that today's Google Doodle (the logo atop the Google homepage) is a picture of a 35mm film camera celebrating Zofia Nasierowska, a Polish photographer who would’ve been celebrating her 85th birthday. Known best for her portraits of influential Polish people, her passion for the art form was influenced by her father from an early age.
Considered one of the most significant Polish photographers of her years, Zofia picked up a camera aged just seven years old. Her father, Eugeniusz Nasierowski, was also a well-known photographer, and just four years after she started learning photography she landed her own exhibition.
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Although her love for photography started close to home, the young photographer continued to expand her love for the subject at the Leon Schiller National Film School in Lódź, Poland, where she photographed many of her peers.
Some of Nasierowska’s most famous portraits include a photo of Barbara Brylska, a Polish actress who appeared in Pharaoh and Irony of Fate, Polish actor and comedian Jan Kobuszewski, and the Polish singer / actress Kalina Jędrusik.
All her photos were shot in black-and-white and, in one particular self-portrait, she can be seen using a Praktisix medium format camera – which appears to be the camera on which the Google Doodle is modeled, with a portrait of Nasierowska in the viewfinder.
Although the photographer died in 2011 after a battle with brain cancer, her photography career spanned 35 years, only ending when she developed an eye disease. She continued to work with photographers and inspire a new generation – so much so that a Librabry in Elk, Poland, was named after her.
She may not be as well known as some of the other photographers of her era, such as Cindy Sherman, Annie Leibovitz or Robert Mapplethorpe, but she is still remembered as one of the greatest Polish photographers of all time thanks to her movie star-style portraits.
If you enjoyed this article, check out the 50 best photographers ever including Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Vivian Maier, along with the best film for your camera.
