Stefan Czurda is an abstract street photographer from Vienna, Austria.
In an urban environment, Stefan seeks to capture emotional moments of everyday life on the streets and experiments with motion blur to create abstract street portraits, which he calls Urban Ghosts.
In addition to his main “ghost protagonists,” other crucial elements in Stefans photography include contrast, tonality, color selection, and the use of non-distracting backgrounds.
Alexey Titarenkos “City of Shadows” series has greatly influenced Stefans artistic work. Additionally, he has been impacted by the creative contributions of Saul Leiter and contemporary photographer Olga Karlovac.
In 2023, Stefans Urban Ghosts received an honorable mention award in the “urban/speed” category at the Paris International Street Photo Award (PISPA 2023).
In early 2024 in his first exhibition in his home town Vienna, Stefan unveiled his series titled “Street Melancholy“, focusing on the fleeting nature of emotions captured on the streets.
Street Melancholy series was also awarded a honorable mention in the category “abstract vision” in the Black and White Photo Award 2024.
In 2025, Stefan’s new project, inspired by Antonio Vivaldi, was published. With “Her Journey“, he took a different approach to the theme of emotions. This time, he sought to explore a part of his own emotional world and express it through a short story, accompanied by street portraits of Marjetta, the story’s protagonist.
Starting in 2025, Stefan will also be offering portraits in his signature Urban Ghost style in his hometown of Vienna. Learn more about the portrait session process here.
Find more references to Stefans work in the Press and Awards section.