High and Higher

I have been drawn to the mountains since my very young age. I admire their shapes, their magnitude and their strength. They have been here for millions of years, which makes me feel so little when I stay next to their giant rock walls. I do enjoy their quietness and some sort of slowness of time while I am there. I can find my own internal peace. However, it was not my interest in climbing or skiing which made me to go there at the first place. It was originally my passion for landscape photography, from which all my other interest slowly evolved.

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Large Format Photography with Ebony SW 45

I purchased my first large format camera Ebony RSW 45 in 2011, and I have been using it with more or less success for my landscape photography since then. I even traveled with this camera to Iceland, to discover that it is not so difficult to use this cumbersome equipment in rather challenging weather conditions. I regularly take it with me to the mountains and also around the lake here in Geneva. At the end it is not so heavy, so I can carry it everywhere I want. However, to set up camera properly can be sometimes quite challenging. Especially when it is windy or cold, but it is getting easier with practice.   

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Col des Aravis - My Unlimited Playground

Col des Aravis is very nice and easily accessible area close to the mountain town La Clusaz in France (my favorite skiing resort). It is known for its countless outdoor possibilities from hiking to ski touring. To me it provides also interesting but in the same time challenging opportunity to pursue my photography. It is relatively small area with two dominate mountains on both side of the pass. When you arrive from La Clusaz, there is L’Etale on your right hand side. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful mountains in the chain of Aravis. 

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Expect the Unexpected

As a hobby photographer I cannot choose to go out when the conditions are perfect. I have to squeeze my photo adventures to couple of weekends a year. When I am not outside making pictures I do think about what kind pf photographs I would like to make next time, and I usually set  high expectations for the next trip. But as I cannot choose the perfect moment I am heavily relaying on given weather conditions on one specific weekend. 

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Good News from Bergger

I have not been participating to many photo competitions last year, But when i saw invitation from Bergger (which is French manufacturer of black and white negatives and high quality photo papers) to submit photographs for their new baryta papers packaging, i decided to take my chance. I prepared three photos and send them just before the deadline expired without any hopes and expectations. 

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Small World - Part Two

Fist public presentation of this latest project of mine is done, and after all I am very pleased with the feedback I received over the long weekend in Gex in October last year.  As I do not have regular exhibitions it is always very special event for me. The closer itI become to opening ceremony, the doubtful I was. The voice in my head was constantly asking the unpleasant questions “how people will react to it?”, “will they understand?”, “will they find it interesting?” etc. These questions were permanently on my mind, as it is impossible to hide behind computer screen and internet anonymity during the exhibition. I have to face and talk to real people who  give me immediate verdict about my work.   

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Confrontations Photo - Upcoming exhibition in Gex, France

I am very excited to announce that my photo project Small World has been selected by jury of Confrontations-photo as one of the 11 portfolios to be presented during the upcoming photo festival. All of you who are close to Gex or Geneva you can reserve weekend Sep 30 to Oct 2 in your calendar and come to visit and support this unique photo event. Marek and I were already participating to this event four years ago, and it was really nice experience so I hope this year will be at least the same or even better☺

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Print for Nepal

If you would like to get yourself a fine art photograph and help to support people in Nepal in the same time, you can help artist from Art Upfront to rise funds by buying their fine art photographs. A lot of artist, including me, decided to be part of this big effort and donate entire profit from sale to charity. You can see all available photographs here.

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Small World - Photographs Added to The Gallery

I did mention my latest project “Small World” here some time ago, and I have been continuously working on it since than. This week I went to see my friend Jorg Brockmann who is a photographer and gallery owner here in Geneva. I did ask him for his opinion about this project and It was really nice and productive discussion and I was positively surprised by his comments and suggestions he made to me at the end. 

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Ota Featured On TwelveSmallSquares

If you are a fan of true traditional black and white photography, you should know David Kirby and his amazing website with wonderfully poetic name Twelve Small Squares. David is a darkroom purist whose work stands out for miles on the net and I only wish I will see it once with my own eyes. Check out how he studies shapes and conveys deep moods in his landscape imagery, as an example.

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Photo Exhibition in Prague

I would like to let you know, that I am going to have small photo exhibition in Prague. I will be shoving my silver prints from Iceland in Cafe Pražírna in Prague 2. Exhibition starts this week on Thursday February 26, 2015, and I will be present there from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm, just in case you will be around and would like to see the photographs and me:) In case you will not be able to make it this week, do not worry, the photographs will be there until April 17, 2015. 

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Mamiya RB 67

Marek recently wrote reviews on Phase One medium format digital system, therefore I thought I should add short review or rather to say my opinion about fully analog Mamiya RB 67 medium format camera. Analog photography has become very marginal over the years and a lot of cameras and lenses had been discontinued, but I can say that new wave of interest in film photography has been emerging recently. If you are thinking about experimenting with film or moving  one step higher from 35 mm camera system, this might help you.

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Inspiration

I wanted to write little review about my beautiful Mamiya RB 67 camera today, but at the very last moment I decided to share some inspiration, which I have found recently. Those who follow our blog regularly know that i am not the biggest fan of social networks and internet overall. But form time to time I am very happy that we have it, that we can find very interesting and inspiring things in the vast ocean of all the information available.

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Ice and Sun, Long Journey to Final Print

I printed this photograph almost a year ago, and it is prime example of how “bad” negative can turn to a decent print. I guess I should rather say “technically bad” negative, because if content is bad there is not much we can do about it during the printing process. In this particular case I am quite happy with the content, but everything else went terribly wrong from picture taking to development.

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