Ladislav Kamarád - photo exhibition in Prague

Ladislav Kamarád - Master Qualified European Photographer

18.6. - 31.7. 2009
Staromestská radnice - The Old Town Hall in Prague, Old Town Square 1, Prgue 1
Open from Tuesday to Sunday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

The exhibition of unique large-format photographs, pictures praising the beauty and splendour of nature, allows visitors to forget the everyday reality. Ladislav Kamarád, the only Czech holder of the most prestigious title awarded by the European Federation of Professional Photographers in Brussels, has photographed, among
other things, even from the eight thousand meters high peaks. His photographs invite you to visit Nepal, Pakistan, Patagonia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, and Namibia. Pictures from New Zealand, Iceland, Egypt and a new series of photographs from the Czech Republic are exposed there for the first time. At those places, just like
elsewhere in the world, he finds windows looking on the lost worlds – “holograms” inviting you to step beyond the bounds of reality. High professionalism and the refined sense of original compositions offer an unforgettable experience.

About Ladislav Kamarad

He was born on 21st June, 1963 in Prague where he has been living ever since.
At the age of 16 he began to travel in order to photograph.
Initially he studied science and technical professions and he was also interested in physics and astronomy – he even built large astronomical telescopes and ground optical components with the accuracy to nanometres.
As far as photography is concerned, he is an autodidact, he considers education in photography useless.
His photographs appeal to people all over the world as proved by his own virtual gallery at: www.horolezec.cz
At home, he is occasionally mentioned in connection with Vilém Heckel, a Czech photographer of mountains. Abroad, his work is sometimes compared to that of Ansel Adams.
Since 1990 he has been working freelance.
He supports himself exclusively by selling his free works.
He seeks positive energy at untouched places all over the world.
As an individual, he is a more complicated personality than one could infer from a casual assessment of his image.
He possesses his own top DTP studio with a perfectly calibrated workflow, including several highly powerful computers of his own construction with up to 64 GB of operational memory, Eizo Graphic LCD monitors, a specially adjusted (cooled) film scanner and a large-format Epson printer.
For taking photography he uses a set of several classic fully mechanical Hasselblad V system cameras and a complete set of Zeiss lenses with leaf (central) shutters.
He is a constructer and inventor – apart from other things he has rebuilt his system of classic Hasselblad medium format cameras by himself. He has carried out a complete adjustment of cameras and made – as the only one in the world – several underpressure magazines for 220 roll film in which the film lies with the tolerance of one hundredth of a millimeter all along its surface.
He is a member of the Association of Professional Photographers and the Syndicate of Journalists of the Czech Republic.
He is the first and only Czech holder of the prestigious title “Master QEP”, i. e. Master Qualified European Photographer. That is Europe’s highest certificate of a professional photographer granted by the European Federation of Professional Photographers based in Brussels.
He had been engaged in black-and-white photography until the technological progress allowed him to fully control the processing of colour pictures.
He uses classic reversal (slide) films – Velvia or Provia – and he supposes that it will probably take a couple of years before he begins to use medium format digital backs.
He is an author of a number of exclusive calendars, including black-and-white ones for the years 2001 and 2004 that won the title of the Photographic Publication of the Year.
He does not exhibit frequently, nevertheless all his exhibitions up to now has had a high visit rate.
He has won a number of awards in competitions but he does not take part in them any longer.
He is a perfectionist and the outstanding feature of his work is precision.
Every his picture is an original not only by the author’s creative ability, but also by tens of hours of demanding work.
He uses – just like Josef Sudek, for instance, “well-seasoned” pictures for final processing to keep his distance from emotions and circumstances under which the pictures were taken. He takes a photograph only if the potential shot is motivating and special in some way.
Brilliant large formats of final pictures result from the method which proceeds from the exposure to a slide through its scanning, fine-tuning in Photoshop up to final printing on a large format printer controlled by RIP. He keeps check on all those processes and uses all the technological devices to their utmost limits.
It takes almost two hours and a half to print one exhibition photograph 110 by 110 cm with the Epson StylusPro 9800 plotter controlled by RIP EFI Colorproof XF in the highest quality mode.
He has photographed in many countries all over the world – and last but not least in Bohemia. He often values “domestic” pictures more than photographs from even the most exotic places abroad.
He has taken photographs with medium format equipment at the altitude of more than 8000 meters above sea-level without using an oxygen mask, twice he looked at the world from the summit over eight thousand meter high: Cho Oyu (8201 m) and Gasherbrum II (8034 m).
He opens windows looking to the lost worlds and creates somewhat like a “holograms” inviting you to step beyond the bounds of reality, to the infinite realm of illusion.
For the first time he exhibits pictures from New Zealand, Iceland and Egypt, as well as a three-meter panorama from the summit of Gasherbrum II and a new series depicting the Bohemian landscape.
Photography is not only a profession for him; it is also a philosophy, a way of life and a positive way of communicating with people.