An Interview with Elkunia

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen!
It’s your host Arashrimus, ( @arashrimus / @jj_editor_arashrimus ) & it’s time to reboot the new season of the JJ Editor Interviews with a BANG!
Yes, you heard it right! We’re going to begin the new season of Interviews with a very special one! The person that I’m going to introduce happens to be an undeniable force within the JJ Community, yet it was my utter honor to “personally” meet this JJ Editor upon making this Exclusive interview!

Now before we begin this week’s interview, let’s take a moment and let me tell you the sum-up of my conversation with @kevinkuster upon meeting him recently in Chicago.
Kevin and I talked a lot about the JJ Community and how it literally changed many lives for good, but perhaps JJ’s “Create to Connect” motto was the conversation’s Icing on the Cake! Thus we concluded despite the fact in recent times “Social Media” is often showcased as a negative tool responsible to weaken human relationships but in-fact this very same tool, if used correctly, can turn into an undeniable source to create unexpected real friendships like no other! ( @ohemg87 & @egoldhammer's union springs to mind as a perfect example!)

Nevertheless that conversation automatically brings me back to the concept of this week’s interview, I’ve had the pleasure to personally meet our beloved “Elzbieta” (also known as @elkunia / @jj_editor_elkunia ) during a JJ-themed dinner event in West Hollywood, CA.

Elzbieta brought her brilliant daughter (@domo_osso) along with a super talented Paul (@paul_paul_) and all four us started talking about the personal experiences during our stay in the JJ Community & just like that we found ourselves so close to each other as dear friends as if we have known each other for a very long time! Subsequently that same evening I personally asked Elzbieta for an one-on-one interview, thus the following lines you are about the read is the summary of my visit to Elzbieta’s place for an interview which @kevinkuster recently put an emphasize to be published with a great deal of priority!

I’ve interviewed Elzbieta in her lovely and well organized place, despite the place was rather not so big to begin with, she had decorated the place in way you’d instantly feel at home! Subsequently she rested on favorite chair and turned into all-ears to thoughtfully answer back the questions that I’ve prepared for this interview!

She started to introduce herself by saying she’s originally from Poland but she resides in Los Angeles for a few decades now, then she strongly insisted if it wasn’t for her daughter she would have never been introduced to Instagram and JJ Community at all! It gets interesting to know when Elzbieta has practically done photography since her early teenage days, but being introduced to JJ Community suddenly seemed filling up the missing piece that she was looking forward in order to share her work of art and more importantly to find new friends sharing the same common interests!

Elzbieta said back in her teen years “Photography” was mainly seen as a Man’s job in Poland, anyhow she found herself to be thoroughly mesmerized about the concept of photography, films and even processing pictures in the dark room! All in all she learnt every inch of doing photography from capturing it through a camera, up to the point on having the finalized picture on a photo paper! She added Black and White photography was the magic key for her, having a crop of a colorful scene captured on a black and white paper seemed purely magical, yet from those early days she found photography as a definite tool to freeze her favorite moments with it.

Elzbieta added she had already opted to become a JJ Editor since a few years ago but it was finally on January 2016 that she decided it’s the right time for her to Join the community as an Editor, I asked what were her initial incentives becoming an Editor and she firmly replied she always liked to do various forms of “Community Service” duties throughout her life and when opportunity came she suddenly found it as her new “Bright Idea” to test waters on the new venture with the JJ Community! She added that she always evaluates her Editing duties as a chance for participating photographers to be seen through her selections, she also confessed she always pays an extra attention to the Photographers who are not receiving big number of likes despite the fact the quality of their photos are indeed High standard.

Elzbieta told me she always finds each and every daily JJ theme challenging, but her most favorite ones are probably the “Less than 1000 Followers” or “Less than 500 Followers”, according to her such themes do give her the absolute of control as an Editor to recognize underrated photographers through JJ Community’s podium.

I asked Elzbieta about her forecast about the future of Instagram and after a long pause she shared her concern regarding IG’s core-concept going thin at places. She added the priority of sharing Photographs seems a bit shuffled between non-photography related stuff and random advertisements popping up on the IG feed during last few months. But at the end of the day, she rated Instagram as the best tool to share Photographs and find good friends like no other!

Aside from being a top-rated JJ Editor, I asked Elzbieta about her life hobbies & personal qualities and she told me she has been into Psychology, Philosophy, Drugs & Alcohol consultations for many years now. She also called herself as an Avid book reader who used to simultaneously read up to 6 books at once! She also added being a good “listener” is one of her surefire qualities too, moreover she confessed “Honesty” is indeed one of her other qualities, but unfortunately it’s the one quality that sometimes she would have wished not be blessed with it at all!

A few quick facts about Elzbieta!

• Cooking is something that she’s very fond of, but since her favorite food happens to be Sushi, she rather buys it instead making it for herself!
• Elzbieta uses her trusty old iPhone 5 both as everyday photography tool and as the device to make her legendary JJ Editing duties with it!
• Beatles’ Yesterday and John Lennon’s Imagine are her two most favorite songs, but all in all she called herself as an avid Beatles fan who unconditionally loves their entire catalogue.
• Elzbieta’s favorite topic for photography is to capture photographs of Buildings! According to her it’s her dream to photograph each and every single building that she sees! Venice, Italy would be her dream location if she would have moved out of the Los Angeles.
• A Breast Cancer survivor since twenty years ago, Elzbieta regularly practices “Meditation” as the ultimate tool to overcome her occasional physical pain and stressful days behind her back.

I asked Elzbieta if she cared to share a BIG exclusive secret with the JJ Community and admittedly after a long pause she let herself go and dropped the bombshell! She suddenly started by calling herself as a Catholic-Buddhist! Elzbieta said she kept it as a secret up until a day she had to check-in to a hospital for a procedure back in Poland. She added a nurse came to fill up the admittance form and asked about her practiced religion! Elzbieta said it was the moment of truth that she had to face for long time, thus from that faithful moment she decided to openly commit to what she has been secretly practicing for a many years! To sum it up, Elzbieta mentioned she dearly embraces Love, Goodness & Compassion as the key elements being implemented in her life for as long she remembers.

Moreover I challenged Elzbieta if she had the opportunity to travel back in time to change a single thing, what that particular thing would have been? Again, after a relatively long pause, she started to say she loves the way she had lived her life and there are seems to be no regrets about the decisions she has made throughout her life except one! She continued by saying she often misses her family and friends back in Poland, but at the same time she feels meticulously accustomed to the life that she’s living in California. Subsequently she decided to assess her one and only regret in life as the Immigrants’ Dilemma which unfortunately seems to be no escape from it at all.

As the last question, I asked how she evaluates JJ’s “Create to Connect” motto and she told me she sees all forms of art as different tools to create bridges between the artists and audience. She added art in general is the key to let others enter to our world and let them interpret and subsequently find out about our opinions and feelings in the most tangible and dramatic way possible, therefore she thoroughly embraces JJ’s motto to its cores. She also added she dearly values JJ Community as there seems to be always some sort of ongoing discussion about tabooed subjects, charitable work & real-life stories in different forms, thus she sees JJ Community as a platform not only to share photographs but also as a perfect place to share our thoughts and to be heard by one and another!

And this leads us to the end of yet another Exclusive JJ Interview, and let me tell how honored I felt knowing Elzbieta a bit better, I sincerely hope you guys you feel the same way about her and her priceless efforts within the JJ Community.
Kindly do stay tune for more brand new interviews coming up to your way! We’ve got a whole new generation of JJ Editors lined-up to be interviewed shortly!

Yours Sincerely,
Arashrimus ( @arashrimus / @jj_editor_arashrimus )