Robert graduated from the Department of Cinematography at the Lodz Film School, where he was taken by photography. Photography is a passion and life path he decided to choose at the tender age of 14. His first photographic interests were portrait photography and … war reportage.

After he had graduated in 1989 he lived and worked in Paris. He worked until 1992 as a cameraman in French tv stations doing documentaries and tv series, leveraging the education he had previously received at the Film School. He had a short stint in film and advertising as a second DOP assistant, working alongside one best French directors of photography, Thierry Arbogast (best known for his work in Luc Besson’s movies – Great Blue, Leon, The Fifth Element). It is possibly the most revealing Robert’s professional experience since graduating from the Film School.

In 1993 he started his own career in photography, fascinated by the world of fashion and its “magic”. For more than five years he worked for young designers, French edition of Playboy and fashion magazines for youngsters. He did photo shoots of collections of Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix Jeans in the form known nowadays as an advertorial. Together with his friend – another photographer – he opened the “Clin d’Oeil” studio, working on advertising projects and catalogues for, among others, Complices, Orangina and Naf Naf.

Meetings with Leonard Cohen and fashion designers such as Lloyd Klein and Paco Rabanne revived the old desire to portray people. Portrait was the foundation his photographic development and became its main drive.

The opportunity to work on Robert Altman’s film set resulted in a brief meeting with Stephen Rea, Marcello Mastroianni, Danny Aiello and Rossy de Palma. Rossy de Palma was featured in a fashion shoot for a Jean Paul Gaultier collection at the time. The acquaintance lasted and brought the opportunity to portray Rossy de Palma once again some time at a later stage.

His stay and work in France resulted in gaining of citizenship that allowed for new challenges, development and travels.

Since 1997 he has been working successfully in Poland for all the leading magazines (including Viva!, since its first issue) and advertising agencies. Robert worked in Poland with Patricia Kaas, Pierce Brosnan, Taylor Hacford, Gabriela Sabattini, among others. His long list of clients includes: L’Oreal, Garnier, Timotei, Nivea, Soraya, Dr. Irena Eris, Samsung, Rage Age, Próchnik, Bytom, Hexeline, Monnari, Vistula, Wólczanka, W. Kruk, Wittchen, Lexus, Citroen, Peugeot and Ferrero.

Almost all the leading Polish artists stood in front of his camera: actors, directors, singers, painters, television stars, public figures, celebrities.

He made two photo shoots for Olivier Janiak’s highly respected and acclaimed “Gentlemen Calendar”.

He is proud to work with many theaters, including the Grand Theater and the National Opera, creating visuals for main productions as well as executing his own ideas and publications.

He is the author of the photography project along one of the most famous opera productions of the recent years, “Powder Her Face”, directed by Mariusz Treliński, with outstanding world artists and collaboration with Shiseido and SONY.

It was namely SONY that invited him to co-operation and established Robert as one of the three ambassadors in Poland for the brand’s photography equipment department. This is also due to Robert’s fascination by the up-to-date development of photographic techniques and technology.

For two years, Robert was an ambassador for SONY Mobile, successfully using new technologies that today enable photography with the use of smartphones. He had two exhibitions and a photo album made using SONY smartphones.

Wolański is also a recognised artist honoured with numerous awards, including: Idea Awards, Chimera, GrandFront and Hestia Artistic Award.