Photographer & Videomaker

In the beginning, we filmed anything we found even remotely entertaining (even when it wasn’t) and uploaded it to ceknito.sk so we could show it off to our classmates. One day, my father brought home our first digital camera, an Olympus C-220. It had a 2-megapixel sensor and couldn’t record video, but for me, it was a huge turning point. I could finally photograph whatever I wanted without having to develop film, which, of course, cost money.

I learned the basics of composition and how the fundamental camera settings worked. Gradually, I started coming up with my own projects and getting my friends involved, since I still didn’t have any video equipment of my own. We made all kinds of parodies, crash tests, and other ridiculous stuff that I probably wouldn’t dare publish today.

That period taught me a lot. I learned how to edit videos and work in Photoshop, and over time I began to realize just how many possibilities video had to offer. I started seeing it as a way to express my own perspective on the world.

In 2007, I bought my first piece of “photography gear”, a Sony Ericsson K750i. At the time, it had a very good 2-megapixel camera and, more importantly, supported memory cards, because its 34 MB of internal storage filled up very quickly. I finally had my own “camera” that I could carry with me everywhere, and I no longer had to depend on the family camera, which was often unavailable. I started taking even more photos than before, and that same year I won my first photography competition with a photo taken on my phone.

Over the years, I went through several old compact cameras with pretty terrible specs. Unfortunately, I simply couldn’t afford anything better. I didn’t buy my first truly capable camera until 2011, using money I had earned from a summer job.

It was a Panasonic Lumix FZ38 ultrazoom camera with an incredible 12 megapixels. It could shoot photos in RAW, record HD video, and offered a fully manual mode, basically everything I needed at the time. I started taking photos that no longer looked completely amateur, shooting videos that were at least approaching a decent amateur level, and I finally felt that I had the tools to fully develop my skills and pursue what I genuinely enjoyed. I made several videos, most of which are no longer publicly available, but more importantly, my photography improved significantly during this period.

After finishing high school, I found a job and started thinking about finally buying a DSLR so I could take things to the next level. The problem was that I wasn’t earning much, and I still had a car to maintain and rent to pay. It looked like saving enough money for a DSLR was going to take a very long time.

Then something unexpected happened.

As I was leaving a parking lot, a woman from a neighboring building crashed into me and damaged the rear of my car. Since the accident wasn’t my fault and the car was insured, I knew I would receive some money for the repairs. About two weeks later, the insurance payout arrived, and it was significantly higher than I had expected.

I repaired everything on the car that actually needed fixing and used the money I had left to buy my first DSLR, a Canon EOS 600D.

Since then, I’ve taken tens of thousands of photographs, shot hundreds of videos, and gained countless hours of experience behind the camera.