The interview with Honza Pelikán will be interesting especially for those of you who are interested in photography. He is a professional photographer and has a really long series of very interesting projects behind him. Well, tell yourself – how many of your acquaintances worked with Jaromír Jágr, for example? John will offer his view on Apple and its products, but also on whether, thanks to increasingly advanced technologies, all smartphone owners will become photographers. So let's do it!
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Hi Honza! First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to interview me. LsACan you briefly introduce yourself and your work to our readers?
Hi Michal! Thank you very much for inviting me to this interview. My name is Honza Pelikán and I have been doing photography for the last 7 to 8 years, and for the last 2 years this hobby has been my full-time job, so you could safely say that I am simply a "freelancer".ance photographer". I focus mostly on the commercial sphere of photography, so all kinds of promos for companies and their campaigns, whether they are social media campaigns or print. Well, I've probably always been and will always be closest to sports photography, it's simply a passion where it all started and hopefully it will never stop.
So your hobby is your job - that's everyone's dream! Do you still remember what your very first "professional project" was? Alternatively, which photo shoot do you remember as the best, which you enjoyed the most and which you will always remember fondly?
Wow, this is a very difficult question that I'm afraid I can't quite answer. During the time that I have been taking pictures, I have experienced a lot of things, so it is really difficult to choose one specific project. I probably enjoy projects where I can meet interesting and skilled people the most. For example, the recent photo shoot with Jarda Jágr for a campaign that will hopefully run on TV during the next year was great, or for example this year's Czech Coca-Cola campaign with that cool retro VW car - Colin, where I had the opportunity to meet famous Czech and Slovak people at a few stops youtubers and influencers to participate in the creation of content on Coca Cola's social networks. There's a lot of it and it's really hard to pinpoint one thing.
Spain 2018:
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Well, it's only good for you that there have been so many interesting projects that not just one stands out. Let's take a little detour to Applu. I know you've been using Apple products for quite some time. What was your first device with the bitten apple logo?
A lot of people might think I started with something smaller, like a phone.onem, but the opposite is true – my first device from the brand Apple was a 27″ desktop iMac. I bought it I think in 2011 and fell in love with it immediately. Back then, it cost something like 40.000 CZK, and I got half of it from my parents for probably all the "holiday events" that year. So all birthdays, report cards, holidays and maybe even Christmas fell on this Mac. But it was worth it, thanks to this machine, it immediately changed for me and significantly accelerated the workflow at work. Hereby, I would like to thank my parents for always being able to give me a helping hand in times of need and always trying and trying to give me the best possible time. Thanks!
So that's a great jump on the brand Apple. You're right that most people have a phone as their first device these days. iPhone or iPad and a few years ago the most common first iDevice was perhaps one of the iPods. What is your current complete lineup? Apple products?
My current equipment was a rather “thorny” path, because after about 2 years I realized that the iMac is great, but when I started traveling more and more thanks to photography, whether in the Czech Republic or sometimes even outside it, dragging a box with a 27-inch iMac with me is really not very nice. That's why I bought an iPad for about 3 years and used it to do my work on the go, but even that stopped being a good fit for me after a while, due to my occasional “clumsiness” in editing photos. So I ended up buying a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15″, Mid 2014, 2,2GHz Intel Core i7, 16G RAM with Intel Iris Pro 1536MB graphics card), which is still my faithful partner when working on the go and at home. The gentleman in Apple When I bought it, the store told me that I now have minialmost 7 years old. So we'll see, we're almost halfway there and no problems yet. In addition, I still have iPhone 5S, which has become a decent grandfather over the last almost 4 years and will soon need to be retired and a newer reinforcement called in.
It is certainly interesting for many readers to find out that even for professional work with photos, a software that is actually four years old can be used. MacBook. So you still have your work to do.onem is completely sufficient and does not limit you in any way when working? Otherwise, I assume that if you are not working on the road, you connect it to a larger monitor?
Of course, there are moments when you can already tell that he has a little behind him, but by trying to treat him "decently" and not overloading him with unnecessary programs and files, everything still goes according to my ideas. I've also made a few videos over the time I've had the laptop, and I have to admit that my particular configuration is a bit faltering there. After all, it is a computer primarily used for photos, and therefore editing videos in, for example, 4k resolution is no longer quite OK. And otherwise, as you say, if I'm not on a photo shoot or somewhere else on the road, I have an external professional monitor at home designed primarily for working with photos from the Eizo brand, and it's a real pleasure to work with it.
Backstage Barbershop editorial:
I noticed that you cooperate with Canon, for example. How difficult is it nowadays to get such a collaboration? After all, there are quite a lot of photographers these days - at least from my layman's point of view - and each of them would welcome the possibility of support from one of these large companies.
You are right that nowadays “almost everyone” is a photographer and I think it is mainly because technology is becoming more accessible and there is a lot of information everywhere to help you master the basics of photography. Social networks such as Instagram are certainly to blame for this, which have a great influence these days. And that is how I get to these collaborations. I myself got to Canon by throwing away my shyness and writing to them through their Facebook account that I would like to work with them and they caught on. So as they say – lazy mouth, plain misfortune. But not so that anyone thinks that I get some technology from Canon or something, at all. Only if there is a need for a larger project, I can contact them and they are always happy to help.
What about your private projects? I will tell the readers that you have, for example, a trip to Ukraine a few years ago or a recent visit to Vietnam and other countries. How is shooting on these private trips different from work for you? Do you enjoy it more if you don't have to follow exact instructions of what and where to take a picture? And do you plan to visit any other interesting countries?
I wouldn't really call these trips private projects, they were just classic vacations with friends where I took my camera. But I have to say that lately I've been enjoying the time I don't have to spend with my camera in my hand and I can do other things. But I couldn't "hold on" to both Ukraine and Asia, and the camera didn'tchat at home. So it's a relatively big burden that you'll feel on your back, but it will definitely come back to you in the form of unforgettable experiences captured in photos. I've been thinking about a smaller camera for a long time, probably a mirrorless camera, just for such trips and leisure "clicking". And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, so people can expect more skate photos from our homeland on my Instagram.
Cambodia, Vietnam, Bali 2017:
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Since your current phone is iPhone 5S, you've spoiled my next question a bit, but I'll try anyway. Do you feel like the quality of photos from the latest phones somehow "threatens" your work? I mean, the vast majority of people these days are good enough to take pictures of anything with their phones.onem. They are already capable of producing, in my opinion, really high-quality photos and yet they do not require any skill from the “photographer”. You just press a button and you have a beautiful photo. If this trend continues, can even an ordinary photo taken with a phone come close to professional work, or do you think there will still be a big gap between these two spheres? For example, TIME and People magazines have already had a photo taken on their covers just iPhonem.
I think there will always be a big gap between that and the other. Of course I agree that the cameras in mobile phones areonehave improved a lot. I believe that, for example, on social networks, someone can be a popular and successful “photographer” without having or at least knowing how to use a camera, but I don’t think that clients would start going to “amateurs” en masse with orders like we need to shoot an advertising campaign for a specific brand. In short, this will always be a matter for professionals who not only know how to work with a camera, but also with light, a model, etc.
Honzo, thanks again for your time and your insights, which are certainly interesting to many of our readers! Finally, tell our readers where they can follow you - either on Instagram or on your website.
Again, thank you very much for the invitation to the interview on this great portal. People can certainly follow me on all social networks like Facebook a Instagram, where I'm probably most active. On the web portfolio janpelikan.cz you will actually find a selection of top things that I have created and create and try to update as often as possible. So once again, thank you very much for this interview and I wish everyone a good time. Thanks and bye!
KoneHave a nice conversation 😏
I can't help but agree. Although I was a little unconvinced by the penultimate answer. Of course, no one will use a phone for professional photography, or even customers will not look for amateurs who do not have professional equipment and do not know how to handle it. However, from what I have tested, photos for social networks in good light can be used from a high-quality mobile phone. After all, every social network compresses and if a person knows how to take pictures and only changes the device...
Otherwise, of course, there are many types of photography that mobile phones can't handle, but who knows, like SLRs once couldn't shoot video, today they are certainly equal competitors for cameras, although this function was condemned by professionals on the 5D Mark II and today everyone uses it :-) But time and technology is changing and who knows where mobiles will be in the next 10 years…
It is definitely possible to use the phone for marketing via social networks, as well as a "sneak peak" of what I'm planning, or what my style is, and I won't be dragging a film crew for some short videos. Let's look at the last 10 years - it's a really big leap - because it was never possible for photographers to ever bring only a mobile phone with them and leave the equipment at home. Today it's happening (admittedly also for the own relaxing photo shoot). Previously, none of them would focus on the quality of neurocar.
Great interview, he takes really great photos! :-) I'm just amazed that he uses it as a professional iPhone 5S and that he condemns taking pictures with a mobile phone. I will speak for myself, I bought it iPhone X (now XS), so I hardly ever touch the camera. :-) Of course, from the perspective of this professional photographer, I would probably be classified as a semi-professional – i.e. an amateur who makes a living from it ;-)
Hi Jirko, I completely understand that you were surprised that we mentioned it in the interview. iPhone 5S. Yesterday I made myself happy and bought an XS. So from now on I won't be afraid to take more photos with my phone, but I still think that a big camera will always be a big camera. But I'm certainly not judging anything, you wouldn't understand me wrong :) have a nice evening!
Hi Honza, thanks for the response! That's GREAT! 😊I would be happy if you wrote a review on iPhone XS from a photographer's perspective, I'm really MEGA excited about it, I just don't understand how it takes photos... of course, a mirror won't replace it, but those photos... that's amazing, considering it's from such a small phone. 😉As I wrote in a previous comment, I don't take a camera for smaller photo shoots anymore (i.e., going out with someone to take one photo), not that I would spend the whole shooting day taking photos on it iPhone, just for understanding. 😊
PS – you are doing a really great job! Sometimes I really don't understand, it's a great vibe, the feeling for it, just a massacre.. 👍, I would like an article or an interview from you on the topic of what technique you use 😊
Have a nice day!
J.