ČESKÝ FOTOGRAF

Datum narození: 21. 7. 1972
Stav: ženatý, manželka Stanislava

1994 – začíná fotografovat
1995 – vítězí v nejobsazenější kategorii prvního ročníku Czech Press Photo – sport série
1996 – pracuje pro německé cestovní kanceláře v Kolíně nad Rýnem
1997 – otevírá v Praze své vlastní studio, fotí módu a reklamu, pracuje pravidelně pro časopis Playboy
1997/1999 – vede a vytváří fotografickou podobu cestovní kanceláře Fischer a letecké společnosti Fischer Air
1999 – zakládá filmovou a produkční společnost ZIPO film
2000 – je vybrán mezi šest fotografů světa, prezentovaných renomovanou značkou Leica na světové výstavě Photokina v Kolíně nad Rýnem
– autorem největšího knižního projektu roku 2000 – výpravná publikace POSLEDNÍ KNIHA STOLETÍ, Jeden den v životě České republiky
2001 – režíruje televizní spoty, kterých udělal na tři desítky, produkuje celovečerní hraný film
2001/2005 – je oficiálním fotografem závodního týmu Ferrari Menx
2002 – řadí se mezi nejlépe prodávané české autory na Paris Photo v pařížském Louvru, kde jej zastupovala Leica Gallery Prague
2004 – je zatčen za velice nejasných okolností, následuje tříměsíční pobyt v koluzní vazbě
– vystavuje opět na světové výstavě Photokina v Kolíně nad Rýnem, tentokrát ale v expozici Olympus E-system Gallery
2006 – na pultech se objevuje jeho poměrně výpravná a na české poměry luxusně adjustovaná černobílá částečně retrospektivní publikace s příznačným názvem Luxurious Luminescence
2007 – jako scénárista a režisér natáčí celovečerní dokumentární film o světově proslulém fotografovi Janu Saudkovi, s názvem JAN SAUDEK – V PEKLE SVÝCH VÁŠNÍ, RÁJ V NEDOHLEDNU (cena Glass Eye Award za nejlepší dokumentární film na festivalu EuroFest Montreal v Kanadě)
2008 – probíhá v Praze na Staroměstské radnici velká retrospektivní výstava pod názvem ADOLF ZIKA – 15 LET VE STÍNU SVĚTLA
– natáčí celovečerní dokumentární film o nejslavnějším automobilovém závodě světa 24 hodin Le Mans s názvem LE MANS PHENOMENON
2009 – vychází kniha ONE YEAR OF MY LIFE in 3285 Pictures by Adolf Zika in Co-operation with Leica, celosvětově unikátní fotografický projekt, popisující jeden rok všedního i nevšedního života Adolfa Ziky v devíti fotografiích denně
– zakládá internetový projekt WEEK OF LIFE
2010 – režíruje dokumentární film Tichá vášeň

Jeho životním mottem je heslo „Nic nemá smysl, tak proč se flákat“. Při pohledu na jeho životopis je jasné, že se Adolf Zika těmito slovy skutečně řídí. Ve svých 38 letech má za sebou mnoho úspěchů jak na poli fotografickém, tak i v produkčním a filmovém světě. I tak se před novými výzvami nezastavuje, což dokládá i nedávné založení dokumentárního fotografického projektu Week of Life, který mapuje životy lidí po celém světě.

Černobílé fotografie Adolfa Ziky jsou zvětšovány klasickou metodou a vždy foceny na negativní film, nikdy je digitálně neupravuje. Z převážné většiny jsou fotografie časově nezařaditelné a nezasažené vlivem moderní doby.

Často o sobě tvrdíte, že jste stydlivý. Za zrodem projektu Week of Life však stojí kniha One Year of My Life in 3285 Pictures, ve které odkrýváte nejenom Vaše soukromí, ale také soukromí Vaší rodiny po dobu jednoho roku. Jaký to byl pro Vás pocit listovat svým životem a jak na knihu reagovali lidé z Vašeho blízkého okolí?

Ano, to tvrdím a je to holá pravda. To, že to není na mém vystupování vidět je věc druhá, člověk na sobě celý život pracuje a mnoho věcí se dá naučit, ovlivnit. Kniha One Year of My Life je toho čistým důkazem. Vymyslel jsem si jí jen proto, že to byla osobní výzva, já totiž skoro vůbec u sebe nenosím foťák a tehdy jsem dostal od společnosti Leica novou Leicu D-Lux 3 a oni chtěli, abych jí nějak zpropagoval. No a já jsem si na sebe ušil bič, řekl jsem, nefotíš své okolí, nenosíš u sebe aparát jako správný fotograf a tak teď ho nesundáš rok z krku! No a když jsem začal zachycovat život kolem sebe, tak po pár dnech mi došlo, že je jen jedna cesta, a to dělat to na 100% upřímně, bez obalu. Vše ostatní by byl trapný balast. Proto jsem byl nekompromisní, mnohdy i ke své rodině a vytvořil něco, co je dle mého názoru světově ojedinělé. Upřímnou fotografickou výpověď jednoho roku života jednoho fotografa.

Jak se stavíte k současnému trendu všech těch televizních soutěží, sociálních sítí apod., ve kterých se lidé téměř svlékají z kůže a de facto prodávají svoji duši? Kde je Vaše hranice, za kterou byste nikdy nešel?

Já mám hranice velice nízko, nešel bych skoro do ničeho a neukázal bych nic. Své soukromí si střežím už 15 let a v podstatě nekomunikuji s bulvárem. A ten na mě pomalu zapomněl. Takže ta kniha byl jasný umělecký počin a pro něj jsem žil a dýchal. Ale osobně jsem velice uzavřený, co se týká exhibicí na veřejnosti.

Projekt Week of Life si klade za cíl jeden velký úkol, kterým je zdokumentování života lidí na planetě Zemi. Jak se Vám v současné době daří tento cíl naplňovat?

Je to běh na dlouhou trať a to mě baví, protože jsem to nikdy neuměl. Lidi mají rádi sprinty, já taky, ale dokázat vytrvale běžet umí jen pár jedinců a já se o to pokouším. S WoL se nám podařil velice úspěšný rozjezd, start-up na jedničku, ale to je jen první kilometr maratonu. Teď je před námi dlouhá cesta a hlavně mnoho důležitých rozhodnutí. Dnes už ale vidím, že je to fenomén. Když si čtu jak WoL lidem změnil život, dojímá mě to.

V čem vidíte hlavní podstatu projektu? Díváte se na něj za tu dobu, co existuje, nějak odlišně?

Hlavní síla? Ryzí dokument, opravdový nefalšovaný dokument! Špičkoví fotografové z velkých agentur fotí svět kolem tak, jak ho oni vidí svýma kreativníma očima. Ale často to není realita, skutečnost. Naši členi jsou veskrze amatéři a není pro ně hlavní udělat jednu silnou fotku, ale 63 fotek, které se navzájem pojí pupeční šňůrou autorova života. A jestli se dívám jinak na WoL po skoro dvou letech jeho vzniku? Ani ne, cíl je stále stejný, rozšířit jej do co možná nejvíce zemí světa.

Dva roky fungování projektu je docela dlouhá doba, která nabízí i mnoho možností. Popral se nějaký z Vašich členů se stejnou výzvou jako Vy kdysi, tedy nafotit rok svého života?

Ano, jeden rok života dokončili Zdeněk Dvořák a Tomas Loewy, a pokud jsem dobře informován, tak jeden rok života má rozfoceno ještě asi 5 lidí. Ale ten rok je hodně velký extrém, já myslím, že každý, kdo vydrží týden, by zasloužil medaili.

Na Week of Life jsou v současné době zachyceny životy lidí z 38 zemí světa. Která země Vás svým vstupem nejvíce překvapila a kterou Vy osobně byste rád v projektu přivítal?

Pro mě mělo zásadní význam Rusko, to je neobyčejná země s neobyčejnými lidmi a historií. Jejich sety jsou jiné, mají v sobě ještě jakési dobrodružství z přežití. A velice rád bych v masovém měřítku přivítal USA, Kanadu, ale třeba i Japonsko!

Mluvil jste o tom, že WoL má před sebou ještě hodně dlouhou cestu. Můžete prozradit, jaké jsou vize projektu do budoucnosti?

Teď je naším hlavním cílem celosvětový marketing a redesign projektu. Na obě věci nastal ten správný čas. Ne snad proto, že jsme něco doposud dělali špatně, naopak, ale proto, že chceme projekt otevřít široké veřejnosti a to hlavně novou funkcionalitou Day of Life, tedy den vašeho všedního života. Je to věc, na kterou vám stačí mobilní telefon.

Jste úspěšný fotograf, režisér a producent. Založil jste dokumentární fotografický web, ve Vašem srdci také bije vášeň pro sport, hudbu a silné stroje. Jakého Vašeho počinu si však v životě vážíte nejvíce?

Kdyby muž na tomto místě neřekl, že dětí, asi by nebyl muž, ale to jste zřejmě neměla na mysli. Takže pokud se jedná o profesní věci, tak si asi opravdu nejvíce vážím Week of Life. Je to totiž absolutně neuvěřitelné, jednoho dne jsem něco udělal, vymyslel, nějaký systém pohledu na život, a dnes už tím žijí stovky, tisíce lidí a mnozí z nich ani neví, že to nějaký Zika založil. To je neuvěřitelný pocit. To je to, proč pak člověk nemá dřívější deprese z mládí. Něco tu po něm asi opravdu zůstane. Nějaký odkaz!

Adolf Zika

CZECH PHOTOGRAPHER

MARITAL STATUS – SINGLE, MARRIED, DIVORCED, WIDOWER, GIRLFRIEND PAVLA

1935 – born in Prague on 13th of May

1950 – he gets his first camera KODAK BABY Brownie –first photographic attempts

1952 – apprentice to a photographer, he works at a printing shop until 1983

1959 – he gets hold of his first real camera, a Flexaret 6×6; he starts drawing and painting

1963 – forever influenced by the catalogue of the magnificent photographic exhibition ‘Family of Man’ (Edward Steichen)

1972 – he creates his typical WALL composition, which became a projection screen for his figural scenes

1981 – his first monography ‘Il teatro de la vita’ appears in Milano

1983 – becomes a free-lance photographer and devotes himself fully to his own work

1990 – becomes the first Czech national to receive the French title ‘Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (Knight of Art and Literature), French film director Jerome de Missolz makes a film about him – ‘Jan Saudek – Czech photographer’

2005 – his biggest monography, 14th overall, is published with the name ‘SAUDEK’ accompanied by a wide retrospective exhibition in Prague

2007 – Adolf Zika makes a full-length documentary film about Jan Saudek called ‘Trapped by his passions, no hope for rescue’, which received the Glass Eye Award at EuroFest 2008 in Montreal for best documentary film

Jan Saudek is regarded as the most renowned Czech photographer worldwide and has had over 400 individual exhibitions. His photographs are portrayed in most of the prestigious and significant museums and art galleries all over the world.

• The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (USA)
• Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (USA)
• Centre Georges Pompidou, MNAM, Paris (F)
• International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, Rochester (USA)
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA)– Moravská galerie, Brno (CZ)
• Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (F)
• Musée Paul Getty, Los Angeles (USA)
• Museum Ludwig, Köln (D)
• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, (AUT)

To people who live for photography, especially artistic photography, there is no need to introduce living legend of world photography, Jan Saudek. We strove for this interview while still putting together the first issue of the Week of Life magazine.But with Jan, it is like with a king. You need to wait patiently for his servants to let you know he is expecting you at a given time and place. Be five minutes late and the door is already closed. None other than Adolf Zika, who has filmed a successful feature length documentary film about Jan Saudek (awarded the Glass Eye Award in Montreal) did this interview, the founder of week of Life. The 75-year old charismatic and well-respected artist was in a good mood, enjoying life to the fullest. Rightfully so, since only a few days earlier, he found out that his incurable illness, feared by the doctors, had somehow disappeared. Perhaps it was frightened of Jan’s athletic and well-built body, letting him enjoy life for some time to come. Jan Saudek is among the most significant Czech individuals whom the United States helped get to the top. Come and hear his thoughts and ideas regarding today’s information age.  

Jan, do you think that in today’s era of technology it is right for people to disclose their privacy and let others from across the world see how they live, what they do and what they enjoy?

The privacy of one is the privacy of all. In today’s fast paced world, there is no time for hiding, withholding or being silent. That would be the worst scenario. It’s good to open yourself to the world and show that we are all equal, which is, I think, inscribed in the American Constitution. True, we live in a different environment and are used to different customs, beliefs and faces, but we were simply all created equal.

Do you take note of the world of the internet and all the community networks around you?

You know, I ignore it. Electronic mail itself has disappointed me, along with all the media around. I really think that the internet is for people that are too shy to say the truth and hide behind some identity – I have had a negative experience with this and I am sure you know what I mean. But, it would be nonsense not to use it. It would be like riding the mule here in the middle of the city, or using classic photographic film and rinsing it in the developing dish. You cannot stop progress and I don’t mean to, since I find it backwards to ignore such devices as the mobile phone or all these community networks. People shouldn’t over do it, but if there is a purpose behind it, like your project to help people realize that we are all the same and equal, then I say yes.

Digital photography ousted our beloved analog some time ago. Does it feel right that it enables anyone on this planet who knows how to press the shutter button to become a photographer, even for just a week or so?

The problem is that today almost everyone uses a camera and it is inevitable that among the billions of images made there will be some that are brilliant, sadly, only due to pure chance or coincidence. That is, however, the way it is and I will not try to change anything. Personally, I was against digital photography and now I am the proud owner of a digital camera because, if nothing else, you can acquire amazing images with it. But, at the same time, people use it to deceive and that frightens me. You can create images with a different face, different head, you can get to the bottom of the ocean. But I will not be the one to dispute the technology, since that would be reactionary. So, I just see it as the masquerade that is celebrating human life.

Would you agree with me that every person is a voyeur in one sense or the other?

Sure! Besides that, everyone is slightly perverse and has killing tendencies, as well as the need to invade the privacy of others while staying invisible to them. That is natural. It is only about how much we can suppress these tendencies or use them for the good, never for delinquency.

Could you imagine yourself documenting your own life in this way or similarly to they ways of other photographers?

I do that constantly and I’ve done it since the 1950s. Arranged or not, that is how life goes. It is the essence of human kind to be unable to accept reality, eventually making its way to the top, leaving the lies and the imaginary gold-foil only to be swept away. At least, to the eye of the observant spectator.

Once again, could you imagine looking through a book or a magazine only to find one human life after the other?

My beloved, I am overloaded with information and so I have to defend myself against it, otherwise I would be stuck to the PC unable to do anything else, since the information flow is too powerful. No, I wouldn’t be able to do it, I need to live my own life, document it and then give a message. That I am able to do, just like it happens on WoL. However, we need to realize that this life of ours is the only life we have, and I am no exception. I am very suspicious of the fact that this life is the last, that there is nothing after it, nothing that continues on. No one has been able to come back and tell us what lies ahead. If that is the case, it would be wise for everyone to document their life in one way or the other and inform others. Even if it means documenting a week for the project Week of Life! (Long pause)… I like the project!

Thank you, well said. What do the United States mean to you?

Yes, America, I mean the United States, but let us include Canada just for Cohen. It has played a fundamental role in my life. Already before the war I was able to see Snow White from Disney, an amazing tale, invincible to this day. After the war, I familiarized myself with Polock and other class acts who were also painters in those days. Regarding music, I got acquainted with bugy bugy and then with Rock and Roll. I was deeply influenced, since I believed they have the best musicians in the world. In the late 60s, I found myself traveling to the Midwest, where I met a person who influenced my life in a decisively. He was the curator of prints and drawings at the Art Institute in Chicago who told me to go on, to continue and never stop! It was Hugh Edwards. A person who changed my life, this gentleman from Chicago.

Do you feel the United States was a different country then than it is now?

As a matter of fact, I have visited the United States several times and I was deeply touched each time. Truman Capote, Bobby Dick, Herman Melville, Proulx, the lady. I am still amazed, even today. Naturally, there is a lot of junk even in the United States, but it is up to us to carefully select and I have always selected correctly. The American culture is the combination of various cultures from around the world, involving Russian, German, Dutch, Native American and so on. It leaves a good impression. Oh, and I don’t like terrorists. That would be all.

Jan Saudek

CZECH ICE-HOCKEY PLAYER

BORN: 4.13. 1976 IN TREBIC
CLUB: NEW JERSEY DEVILS
MARITAL STATUS: MARRIED, WIFE PETRA

• Started his professional ice-hockey career in Kladno in 1992
• Drafted by the New Jersey Devils 51st overall (2nd round) in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft
• Has played his 14th season for the Devils and has become one of the key players and leading personalities of the team as well as the NHL
• He wore the captain’s „C“ in the 2006/2007 season and earned the nickname „Mr. Overtime“ thanks to his exceptional abilities to decide matches in overtime
• Has won the most prestigious ice hockey trophy – the Stanley Cup – twice during seasons 1999/2000 and 2002/2003
• The New Jersey Devils franchise’s all-time leading scorer, while also holding franchise records for most points in a season (96) and most career game-winning goals (70)
• In 1994, at the age of 18, he first wore the national jersey for the Czech Republic during the European Juniors Championship
• Czech national team bronze medalist from the World Championship held in Switzerland in 1998 and the 2006 Olympics in Torino
• Led the national team as Captain during the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver
• Since 2006, he has been organizing a summer hockey school in the Ice Vault Arena, Wayne, New Jersey
• In the same year of 2006, Patrik Elias was named the Czech Republic’s Good Will Ambassador to UNICEF

ACHIEVEMENTS

• All-Star Team (EJC 1994)
• Bronze medal WC 1998 Switzerland
• Stanley Cup winner 2000
• Winner NHL Bud Light Plus/Minus (2000-01)
• Stanley Cup winner 2003
• New Jersey captain for 2006/07 season
• NHL All-Rookie Team (1997—1998)
• NHL All Star Game 2000Nominated to the NHL All-Star first team (2000-01)
• NHL All Star Game 2002
• Bronze medal 2006 Winter Olympics Turin
• 2008/09 — The Golden Stick Trophy for the best Czech hockey player

For section WoL Interviews’ historic first interview we feature Patrik Elias, all-time leading scorer for the New Jersey Devils. The parallels between him and the Week of Life Project aren’t simply a shared origin in the Czech Republic and current success in the US, but also a mutual interest in the well being of others as exemplified by Elias’ activities with UNICEF.

We selected you for the first issue for several reasons, but the main reason is what connects us the most. Week of Life is a Czech project that found a partner in America, thanks to whom now has the chance to develop and grow. You too were born in the Czech Republic, as a matter of fact in the former Czechoslovakia, and America helped you evolve as well. What’s your take on this? What did America give you?

It definitely gave me greater independence, despite living in Kladno, which was quite far from my home for Czech standards. The transition to a different country, where a foreign language was spoken, where there is more competition and a different mentality, it was definitely a challenge and a calling for me. But it wasn’t just America, but the NHL as well, where a person always encounters something new to learn.

If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been in America for the past 15 years. You’re playing your fourteenth season in New Jersey. That’s a one half of your adult lifetime and that changes a person, you learn new customs and habits. Where are you more at home? Could you imagine one day returning?

In my heart I am still Czech, or rather a Moravian, but I must admit that the other I get, the more I feel a pull to return home. On the other hand, it’s true that I’ve grown accustomed to America. The way of life here suits me in many ways and I definitely don’t miss some typical Czech traits such as jealousy.

Let’s return to the past once more, what were your beginnings in the USA like?

I couldn’t speak English and all of a sudden I was very far away from everything. The distance was immense in comparison to that of Trebic and Kladno, which I had trouble getting used to as a 14 year old, but that experience helped me during my transition to the USA. I was very lucky to have teammates and people around hockey, who helped me unbelievably during my first few years.

Another reason why I chose you for the first interview was due to your activities for the world organization UNICEF. Week of Life isn’t simply an internet project, WoL is also a group of people that want to give. This also connects us. Tell me, how does it happen that a sports star, whose only concern is to score goals, attain the beautiful and incredibly important need to GIVE and HELP others?

Well, you rather simplified my work, but I understand what you mean. In regards to UNICEF, my need to help was inspired by my bad experiences with hepatitis, which almost ended my career. In these situations a person realizes that there are more important things than, in your words, to score goals. The possibility of assisting UNICEF was something that my wife and I were discussing in the hospital, and I think a person in such a position, who has the option of helping, should take it as a given. That too is something that hockey and America has given me – the chance to help others.

When you look at Week of Life through the eyes as a person, a celebrity, who protects his privacy, can you find the understanding and reasoning why ordinary people should reveal to others how they live, why a doctor from one place in the world should learn about a doctor from another place in the world?

We live in a time of information technology and the concept of privacy gets smaller by the day. Each person imagines something different under it and it’s up to each of us to establish our own boundaries. I don’t consider WoL to be an invasion of privacy; I rather consider it to be an interesting project that aims to expand horizons and to educate. In short, a web of information that belongs in today’s world and has its substantiations.

You mention new communication technology. How have these things influenced your life?

Pretty normally I think, but the first thing I do in the morning is turn on the computer. I’m slightly dependent on the internet and attached to my iPhone. I support all these technologies and consider them to be revolutionary, but everything in good measure. This means for example that children should use technology as an educational tool, best in the context of schools, and not have it replace physical activity and direct personal communication in a collective with computer games.

I’d like to return to the subject of UNICEF. While on your missions have you ever been emotionally overwhelmed when you saw the suffering of children or the poverty around you?

How do you handle these things?One of the most dramatic moments was when I visited a home for children with HIV in Belize, I had trouble holding back my tears… and I haven’t even been to Rwanda and other countries in Africa, where the situation is much worse. These children did not choose their fate and without help cannot even influence it, which is a reason why I respect the work of UNICEF, who not only saves children from the immediate threat of death, but also returns them to schools, teaches them how to plant food, basically how to take care of themselves and their surroundings. We could speak forever about the various UNICEF programs, but the millions of saved and protected lives yearly speak for themselves. When you come to a place where UNICEF is giving aid, you’re afraid and ashamed that you didn’t help out earlier.

A silly question at the end, but I believe it’s a question that any little boy with a dream in his pocket would ask. How does one become a professional hockey stat in the NHJ, to be famous, rich, and successful?

It has its advantages and disadvantageous, and it’s exactly this – to be rich and famous that neither you nor your parents should think about if you want to be successful in hockey. It’s not good if you enter it with these goals. You have to work on yourself, love hockey, try to be the best and do all you can to attain it, you must work, work, work, and everything else is the cherry on top, which comes in the form of recognition and other advantages, that comes at the very end. Maybe…

Patrik Elias