Photojournalist and photographer, member of the Association of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF) and the Polish Wildlife Photographers Association (ZPFP). Professionally associated with press photography since 1988. He regularly works with FORUM Polish Photographers Agency and WSCHÓD Photo Agency as well as traditional and electronic media. His portfolio includes numerous publications, including opinion-forming titles — including: Polityka, Wprost, Newsweek, Gazeta Wyborcza, National Geographic; travel magazines — including: Witaj w Podróży, Podróże, Traveller NG, and women’s press. He has participated in many prestigious photographic ventures as well as individual and collective exhibitions.
Michał’s artistic achievements include photographs of European bisons in the Białowieża and Knyszyn Primeval Forests. He has developed his own — distinctive and unique — style and way of looking at these majestic animals.
In 2016, he presented his achievements in this field to a wide audience. His individual exhibition “European bison — the emperor of the forests” (Żubr – puszcz imperator) was hosted by the M. Oczapowski Central Agricultural Library in Warsaw and the Film, Sound and Photography Workshop in Michałowo near Białystok. In April 2017, Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth in Warsaw hosted a presentation of his large-format photographs entitled “Żubry w pejzażu Puszczy Knyszyńskiej” (European Bison in the Landscape of the Knyszyn Forest). The following year saw further exhibitions, including the widely commented “Żubry. Światło i Cień” (European Bisons. Lights and Shadows) at the Alfons Karny Museum of Sculpture in Białystok, and at the FOKUS Photo Gallery in Siedlce. In 2020, the works of Michał Kość were presented in a collective exhibition organised for the 25th anniversary of ZPFP.
In 2020, three of his photographs were awarded at the 16th International Wildlife Photography Festival ‘Visions of Nature”. “Wieczorna kąpiel w piasku” (Evening Bath in the Sand) was awarded the main prize in the “Mammals” category, “Pliszka i żubry” (Wagtail and Wisents) — second prize in “Birds” category, and “Wieczorna impresja z żubrami II” (Evening Impression with European Bisons II) – an honourable mention in the “Impressions” category.
In 2021, Michał was awarded an honourable mention in the “Mammals” category of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition organised by the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT).
In 2022, Michał won the main prize in the Photography Competition at the International Festival of Visual Art Inspired by Nature, Toruń 2022.
In 2022, his two photographs reached the final of the most important Polish press photography competition, Grand Press Photo.
Photographs of wisents by Michał Kość can be found in many private collections throughout Poland.
