INTERVIEW

You have a fairly universal education as a photographer and cameraman. How did it come about?

I am a person with a long and versatile history, although I have been a freelancer all my life. I started a long time ago as a photojournalistic wedding photographer. Subsequently, I went through a period focused mainly on film documentaries. Currently, I also returned to weddings, events and portrait photography.

How is it that you are a graduate of several professional schools related to photography and visual culture? So much time for education is not common these days.

I don’t know, but studying and doing new or unknown things naturally filled me somehow. First, four years at the department of photography at SOUS and practice as a reporter. Later, four years in-house documentary film at master’s level. Along with work for major national TV stations (FAMU Prague + FFUK in Bratislava; four years external doctoral program in advertising at UKF in Nitra). Clearly OVERQUALIFIED??? But I have no regrets, I moved to where I am today and I draw from it in practice.

What are your biggest achievements and awards in photography and film production?

In the photo, for example, I had separate exhibitions of reportage works. I took pictures of those beautiful dishes, popular actors and celebrities, film premieres of titles coming to distribution. I also went to international A-class festivals. And also weddings, portraits and events. When I was doing my doctorate on semester-long study stays at the production department of FAMU in Prague, I of course taught prestigious subjects as an external lecturer. In addition, there were several awards in the film industry. Some of the author’s own documentaries were then shown on the full-format TV channels JOJ PLUS and TV FILM EUROPE. Other Aurora works have premiered at international documentary film festivals. For example, I often went to the neighboring Czech Republic – to the IFDF in Jihlava. I did not disdain creative production workshops for development projects either. 

Let’s go back to photographing portraits and weddings. What do you enjoy most about it?

Each client or each event is specifically completely different and differently interesting, always a new challenge. I do a lot not only with business clients, but also with regular medium and smaller commissioned projects. I’m not afraid. All new clients and changes fulfill me formally and content-wise. I like to make my own clientele satisfied, which is important, but all this will never just be self-evident, but a filling with added value – always striving for something more than the usual standard.

Try to show us the importance of combining theory and practice in a more figurative way

Well, photographers are generally required to take perfectly beautiful photos of people as a reflection of an event – or posing for a portrait. I don’t take it mechanically in the sense of subjective art or objective rationality. It is mostly a craft, but also passion and talent – all learned through practice and intuitively. Each photograph may or may not appeal to you with a more hidden or exposed emotion, but also with the originality of the approach or perspective. Experience and practice are like the taste of a good matured wine. In short, wine tastes completely different from cider or burčiak. You simply do as you see and feel. But behind that is all your subjective “live, loaded, viewed” but especially the images clicked…

One last question: Do you think there is a clear and significant difference between a bad photo or an average shot – compared to a real high-quality super photo?

Honestly? Not always for the layman. Someone has a certain cheesy postcard pattern coded in communication, but they themselves don’t know about it. But all ASSESSMENT is mainly about the taste and style of the audience. By the way, not everyone, as a lay viewer, gives it completely unequivocally. The assessment of true artistic professionalism is certainly knowledge-specific. On the other hand, something significantly different is expected from a real professional photographer – than, for example, selfie shots with acquaintances and friends… I hope with faith that this intention is also clearly visible in the portfolios I present, and that my stylized photos seem clearly stylish … what actually, all that hidden effort is for a kind of “natural exceptionality of the captured moment and moment in a good professional approach, and for the photo as a unique – but also a creatively authorial aesthetic statement. (…)