Paul Kowaliski was a photographer and author born in 1908. He studied mechanical engineering in Warsaw and in 1944 received his doctorate in natural sciences from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich for a thesis entitled ‘Attempts to improve the resolution of photographic layers’. An expert in colour photography, between 1934 and 1939 Kowaliski taught photography at the famous Publiphot photography school, created by Gertrude and Jules Fehr in Paris. During the 1950s he was based at Rue Notre-Dame des Champs, Paris. It was around this time that he took a photo of ORT France students in a workshop [see image]. He also taught at the École technique de photographie (Technical School of Photography), now the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière (The National Film, Photography and Sound Engineering School) in Paris.

Kowaliski authored several books on photography theory and technique and participated in various exhibitions, including Photography 1839-1937 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

In later years he worked at the Kodak Pathé research laboratory and served as Secretary of the French Color Center in Paris.

Paul Kowaliski passed away in 1977.