These photographs are the testimony of a reality still far from modernity, where daily life flows in close contact with nature, governed by tradition and the rhythms and rituals of breeding.
The photographer Paulina Pietrzak visited the shepherds - perhaps the last, certainly the most characteristic ones - who continue with love to carry on the pastoral traditions of southern Poland, still producing the famous Oscypek cheese in the same way as their ancestors.
Most tourists who visit the Polish Tatras consider the shepherds as a simple tourist attraction, unaware of the harsh living conditions faced by these people, for six months away from their families to work in the difficult conditions of the mountains.
From year to year there are fewer and fewer Poles who decide to become shepherds, despite the fact that the job is considered honorable and is an indissoluble part of Polish culture and folklore.
