How does it happen that one becomes a professional photographer? Who or what was your inspiration? Actually, I started quite late – in the course of my fourth year at high school, where I studied stage design. You know, I come from a theatrical background, so I have been "on stage" since I was a little child and theatre has been my second home, I have been drawing for ages too, so when it came to a decision what school to choose, stage design was an obvious choice. Anyway, over time I realized that it was not the right thing for me. At that time I bought my first amateur camera with my usher salary and have been totally absorbed in photography ever since.

So I suppose you started to study photography as well...
Yes, I graduated from Graphic School (Department of Photography and Media) and recently I passed the entrance exam at Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, where I started my first year at the Studio of Photography.

In addition to stage photography you also work in the area of documentary photography - what do you think is the basic difference between these two areas?
The difference between them is in what the photographer, say, absorbs and radiates in each of them. Especially as for stage photography, or ballet for example, it's quite a question if there is any artistic input on the part of the photographer at all. I don't think that anyone who takes pictures of ballet or stage photography in general is necessarily an artist, because all the beauty and art in the picture is the work of dancers, choreographer, stage designer, costume designers and others. As for my part, it's just about an individual insight or approach.

What's the situation with stage photography in our country like these days? Is there anyone in the area who has inspired you?
Sure, there are photographers who have been working in this field for quite some time and have the gift to perceive a play in a way that I find inspirational - for instance Viktor Kronbauer, Jaroslav Prokop and Bohdan Holomíček. However, to make one's living in the area of theatre, or dance photography in general, is getting more and more difficult in the Czech Republic. With the introduction of digital cameras it was especially the level of theatre photography that deteriorated a lot and the whole field, once symbolized by Mr. Krejčí and his students is now basically in ruins. First of all, theatres have to deal with an increasing shortage of money, and then I quite often hear some people say that theatre photography is just a sort of documentation and that anyone can do it, but they are wrong. I've even seen a dresser taking pictures of a performance, and quite often all the shooting is done by an assistant director or someone working in production. Unfortunately, there are just few theatres here that can afford to hire a professional photographer. Anyway, that is obviously not the case of the National Theatre.

How exactly did your collaboration with our first scene begin?
It was such a special moment – on my way home from school I passed by Laterna Magika, where I saw a photo exhibition and was really captivated by that. It was the very moment when I realized that was what I would do in the future. I was just nineteen, I was carefree and didn't have so much work and commitments back then, so I could put in all my time and without the slightest prospect of any fees just go there to take pictures, which is something I couldn't do any longer.

That sounds like the proverbial ”being at the right time at the right place“...
Well, yes, but what matters more is your attitude. I was enthusiastic and eager to spend all my free time there, moreover, I didn't want anything in return. Actually, the only thing the people of National Theatre ballet would do was to let me in and show me the place I could take pictures from so that I would not disturb anyone. I mean, I didn't have any experience with ballet back then. First I had to learn to understand the movement and all its patterns so that I would be able to capture it precisely the way I wanted to. After some I could take better and better photos, still I knew that I must not slacken off, otherwise all my work would be in vain. When my first season there was over, some photographs from the production Solo for Three appeared with my name on them in the journal of the National Theatre. At that time, I also worked for Alfred in the Courtyard, Ponec theatre and others.

In spring there was an exhibition of your photographs in the historical building of National Theatre depicting the mounting of a new production of Swan Lake, which was created for the local ballet ensemble by Kenneth Greve. What was it like to look ”under the hood“ of this production?
It was an absolutely amazing experience. Before that I had been used to taking pictures of finished productions, and now I suddenly realized what a huge amount of work of hundreds of people is involved in it. The new Swan Lake is also very demanding physically, I often really felt sorry for dancers. I took the first pictures of it half a year before the premiere and last shots just the day before the opening night. Meeting Kenneth was a great experience too, he's an incredibly spirited and charismatic man.

”With the black and white photograph a spectator forgets about colours and can focus on more important features instead, such as expression, light and other things. Colours often unnecessarily tend to grip too much attention.“

You have just finished a new portrait file of National Theatre ballet ensemble. How long did you work on it and what idea did you follow?
I wanted to see the dancers as individuals, I didn't want to push them into how I would like to see them myself, on contrary, I tried to let them express themselves; naturally it was up to them whether they would take the advantage of it or not. I worked on the file from November 2008 to June 2009, which is seven months. Actually, for me it was a quite hectic period – back then I also worked on the two documentary cycles I was later awarded the Czech Press Photo prizes for, there were two exhibitions of my photos at Ponec theatre and National Theatre, I created four collections of photographs taken from ballet productions at the National Theatre, I passed the entrance examinations at Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, graduated from the previous school, moved my apartment and started to work on those hundred portraits you have just mentioned.

You just spoke about letting the dancers express themselves, were there on contrary any conditions or fixed concept you really insisted on?
Absolutely, you need to have certain idea, or concept regarding what you would like to get in the end. The portrayed person must never, under any circumstances, notice that you are at loss as a photographer. I knew that I wanted to create a file of respected, serious artists that would look a bit aristocratic, but at the same time I wanted to feel dance about them. For instance I told them not to laugh, because when you smile at a photographer, you must be either really happy or you must act it brilliantly, otherwise the result will look very affected. I also tried to avoid too dominant details, which would divert attention from the most important things - eyes and expression. And I also wanted to get some sort of dynamics into the pictures - of course, by the standards of portrait - both because it's a portrait file of the ballet ensemble of National Theatre and most of all, to create a sort of contrast between movement and expression, where the expression is still dominant.

You took all those photos in black and white, was that your intention from the very beginning of the project - maybe just to maintain continuity with the former portraits that were also black and white?
Well, I chose black and white photography because I wanted the entire file to be visually coherent. Another important thing is that with the black and white photograph a spectator forgets about colours and can focus on more important features instead, such as expression, light and other things. Colours often unnecessarily tend to grip too much attention. 

The whole file gives the impression that you tried to accentuate different aspects of dancers’ personalities than we know from stage, which is basically through the prism of their roles ...
Actually, it all depends on how much the portrayed person is relaxed, what he or she offers to you as a photographer. As often happens with such big ensembles, everyone reacts to shooting in a different way, sometimes you need to take just few shots and sometimes you have to take hundreds of photos from which you choose just one in the end. Sometimes you just take pictures of somebody so that he or she gets used to being in front of the lens and relaxes, so you take, say, fifty photos before some kind of block subsides and you finally get to work.

So the photographer sometimes becomes a psychologist too.
Yes, this is another part of the job too. For instance, it's important to maintain some sort of thrill during the session, to keep the portrayed person in the process - when he or she gives up, it is very difficult to get him or her back to work then.

All right, that was for the portraits, is there anything else you are working on with the National Theatre ballet at the moment?
Currently I'm going to make lighted dance photos from La Sylphide, I mean exterior ones - everything that has been taken from this ballet so far was shot either in the studio or during a performance, although the main heroine of the ballet is a forest fairy – actually, outdoor dance photos are not half as common here as in other countries.

Could you tell us what the situation is like with the project at the moment?
I've had some idea on my mind since the beginning of summer holidays, but first I had to create an image photo for Libor Vaculík's Faust (note: the first premiere of this ballet season at the National Theatre). So just recently I checked the sites in question and considered where and how I would take the pictures. I have already made an appointment with Marta Drastíková (note: one of the cast for the lead role) too and everything is actually ready, so all depends just on weather now. If everything works fine, the first sample will be in this interview.

”Dance is a way of communication, it is a form of visual expression, it is one of the languages of art…“

As a professional photographer, you have naturally huge experience with different genres of photography, what would you tell somebody, say a complete beginner, who would ask you for advice? What do you think is the most important quality one has to possess so that he or she could take, say, high-quality stage pictures?
I guess it is ... (hesitates) ... some degree of imagination. As for stage photography for instance, it is essential to abstract the performance into the photograph. You need to choose just those moments that are distinctive, that speak of the play the most – there are moments that represent the whole play, sometimes you can even abstract the whole production into one single photo. This is what one has to learn to perceive and identify.

Once you become familiar with a particular production, is it an advantage for you as a photographer? And if so, to what extent is it easier to prepare yourself for those characteristic moments because of this familiarity?
Of course, the more you know the production, the more you are confident and able to choose the right place to shoot from – a big portion of stage pictures is useless just because they were taken from the wrong perspective, it's also necessary to learn how to watch the performance from several places. Not only from the place where I'm sitting right now, but also to know where I would move to in two minutes, sometimes I even take notes about that for the next day.

Is there any difference between taking pictures of drama and dance?
I think that shooting dance is much more complicated because in movement there are certain phases and for me, actually, for a dancer too what matters is just only one of them, the culmination point, when the movement is fully completed, which lasts, say, just split second and you need to capture it this very moment.

Do you think the same can be applied to dancers themselves, I mean that the particular phases of movement are apparent in a way some of them perform more than with others?
Well, I think that what matters more is what they actually perform. Moreover, if you know the particular dancer and you are, to some extent, familiar with the way he or she performs, it's easier for you to understand it and choose the proper way of shooting then.

Let's compare the understandability of classical and contemporary dance now. Do you miss in contemporary dance those culmination points that are typical of technical elements of classical dance?
Sure, this is what makes classical dance much easier to understand because there are clearly defined rules and fixed poses that go hand in hand with music, every movement suggests a counter-movement or swing. And you're sitting in the auditorium, perceiving all that is happening in front of you, feeling the music, and if both you and the dancer meet in music, it's perfect then. In contemporary dance it much more depends on how the choreographer outlines the whole performance, it's also much more about your individual approach and understanding of the movement. This is something that I'm still learning, you simply have to feel the movement, you must understand it in order to work with it more efficiently.

Have you got any favourite choreographer or choreographers?
Certainly Jiří Kylián, in my opinion he's a genius, and not just because he works with a production as a complex entity. Many choreographers focus on movement in the first place, but Kylián works with visual and musical aspects of the production as well and creates thus a perfectly balanced whole. When I took photos of his Last Touch at Laterna in June, I felt like being a part of a classical painting. It was one of the most amazing moments a stage photographer may experience. Also see Mats Ek work is a lifetime experience. And I like to collaborate with 420people.

What does dance mean to you at all?
Dance is a way of communication, it is a form of visual expression, it is one of the languages of art…

Tomáš Valníček