Following in the footsteps of Huy Cao and Ben Donoghue, our third photography entry comes from an individual whose passions are deeply rooted in bass music and photo production. A welcomed combination here at TRUSIK that evidently inspired the launch of this photographic feature series. Hailing originally from Prague, Hana has been involved with many different music scenes either conducting interviews as a music journalist or capturing those precious moments as a photographer. The pursuit of her passions has led Hana to London where she is currently living while finishing her Masters and building a portfolio. I came across her work mainly through Icicle, the Dutch wonder whom she photographs at various gigs. After a bit of research and photo digging, I made contact and offered her a chance to present some of her work and tell us a little bit about herself.
As far as I can remember, I got my first camera when I was about 8 years old. Since then, I’ve experimented every once in a while with different types of analogue cameras but never that seriously. When digital cameras became a bit more accessible, it brought a significant shift to my shooting flow. When I started to take pictures at parties, which was almost 10 years ago, my camera pretty much grew together with my hand. I think music properly brought me to photography and vice versa. And guess what, music photography still gives me the same uplifting feeling as at the beginning. Even though I can see the changing generations in audiences and sometimes I feel like being the oldest in the room even though I’m not that old… I hope (laughs).
I’m originally from Prague, Czech Republic and for most of my shooting career I was based there. During that time I was a member of important crews that brought serious music enlightenment to my country. My work there was mostly associated with Drum & Bass, however, I listen to a wide range of genres so it has never been that strict. I was not focused only on photo production but on music journalism as well. Therefore, I had the honour to interview a lot of interesting musicians across genres like Orbital, Underworld, The xx, Boys Noize, Skream & Benga, Mike Skinner, Chase and Status and as many Drum & Bass DJs as possible. Yeah, I’m pretty proud of it (laughs) but that wouldn’t be possible without all the wonderful people around me! Thanks to them!
So you can see that I’m not really stuck in one genre, but bass music has always had a very special place in my heart. Lately, you could see my work closely related to ‘Let It Roll’ festival that has evolved from a small local party to the biggest Drum & Bass and Dubstep event in Central Europe. They really are my musical family and no other festival gives me so much joy.
When it comes to the technical side of photos, it is a rather odd thing that I mostly produce photos with very vibrant colours even though personally I prefer typical analogue dull shades, blurry images with grain and black and white photography in general. However, parties are about joyful colourful moments spent with your friends for me and this forces me to make them dramatic and ‘epic’ if possible.
Quite a lot of people ask me whether I’m photographically educated, but I’m not. Nevertheless, I am academically concerned with photography in the realm of the social and that’s why I left everything behind in my country and moved to London more than half year ago to finish my master’s in visual sociology. So what I do is sociological research with a camera in my hand. Yes, as I said before, my camera is inseparable part of my body wherever I go. Ultimately, I don’t think that school is that important for photography. Surely, it might give you a lot of inspiration and theoretical background but the most important is just to look and shoot.
Living in London changed the way I work a bit. More precisely, I had to start from scratch. However, things are being put together again and nowadays I mostly take pictures for particular DJs and am still building my network. Generally, I’m looking for new opportunities not merely in the field of concert photography but in other genres as well, check out my portfolio. Finally, I want to thank TRUSIK very much for offering me this precious space to introduce myself. I appreciate it so much. And for those who think about being a concert photographer: Just think before you shoot and don’t drink too much. I know what I’m saying! 😉
