I just love taking photos, and that is why I do it

Hi, my name is Lukáš Těžký, and I am in my early forties. I would like to thank you for the possibility to share my passion for photography with you.

First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I come from the Czech Republic, from a little town called Svoboda nad Úpou, lying at the foot of the Krkonoše mountains, but I live near Olomouc. I have two lovely kids and a beautiful and loving wife (she will help me with my English 😊) …and I must not forget our dog, who is an important member of the family.

At work, I deal with the aggregates and asphalt mixture quality and launching them to the market. It is sometimes very demanding.

Photography means leisure and relaxation for me, I charge up energy through it. I love being in a forest or in the mountains, and I adore and prefer unfavourable weather conditions, thanks to which it is almost certain that I will be there alone only being surrounded by nature, and the only thing I can hear apart from my own footsteps is rustling of the wind. Landscape is my favourite topic. Of course, sometimes, when the weather conditions worsen a lot, when it becomes too windy, or it both snows and rains, that is when I worry about the equipment, and I hope it will survive the severe weather conditions.

If the terrible weather really comes, I need to be prepared beforehand, at least partially. It means to have installed the right lens with a filter, to have a charged battery and have a piece of cloth to wipe the filter. I carry the camera under my waterproof jacket, and if possible, I stand in the same direction as the wind blows when taking photos in windy weather. There is not much time to take lots of photos in a chain or play with the camera settings. What really matters is to have good waterproof clothes, and if it is really wet, I always wear insulated wellington boots.

You may ask how I started and what brought me to photography. As a child, I loved developing and enlarging photos with my dad in a darkroom. I can still feel the scent of the developer and the fixer. Also the red light, photos hanging on a string evoke freedom and carefreeness to me. I come from quite a large family. I have 2 elder brothers and a sister. My dad was brought up together with his 5 siblings by their mum, and he loved to take photos – mostly pictures of our family. He would sometimes lend me his camera so I could try taking photos, but I was too shy to do that, and I did not have the confidence. I usually wanted to take pictures of everything around me except for people… and also my consumption of films was really high. Then there was a pause – my dad did not have the darkroom anymore, and I started high school in a different town and had to stay at the dormitory.

After passing the A-levels, I enrolled in a Technical University course – it was just when my dad had got his first digital compact camera (I cannot remember what brand it was anymore, but my mum might still has it somewhere). And I started borrowing his old Zenit film camera. But I had to think twice about what I was going to take photos of, as I could not afford it as a student. After having graduated from the university, I began to work and soon I was able to buy a digital reflex camera for myself. The first one I had was the Nikon D60, followed by Nikon D90, and later I stuck to Nikon FX D700 and D750, which I kept using for quite a long time.

Then the period of using Fujifilm came. It was at one wedding where the photographer was using a Fujifilm X-T1 and an X-T2, and when watching him do his job, I could not help thinking about the great quality of his photos. I tried to compare his camera with the equipment hanging around my neck (D750 + 24-70mm F2.8), thinking what a big difference in size it was. Not mentioning how heavy my photo backpack was. So I decided to give it a try and bought a second-hand Fuji X-T1 and a 35 mm F2 lens.

I started taking that small camera everywhere I went, though still using the Nikon D750 for landscape photography. Then our kids were born, little Tomášek and Anežka, and suddenly I did not have so much time for landscape photography, and using the X-T1, I began to take pictures of our kids instead. At that time, I really fell in love with Classic Chrome film simulation, which offered perfect skin colours as well as beautiful pastel colours. I simply use Jpeg and Classic Chrome when I photograph my family and our trips.

Later, when our kids grew older, my wife let me 😊 go on some photographic trips in the countryside. I was still sticking to D750. Then I found out that the X-T3 was developed and released, and I felt it might be the right thing for my landscape photography. The design and operation of Fuji evoke my memories of the film reflex cameras and the darkroom where my father would take me. I have all the necessary buttons for setting the camera at hand, I must not forget there is no time-consuming search in the menu bothering me anymore, which is something I have absolutely fallen in love with and the aperture ring is just the icing on the cake. The switch to Fujifilm was completed, though I would definitely find lenses that would appeal to me, but I can well do with what I have got so far. I am writing this article just when a new X-T5 appeared, and you know that feeling when you do not necessarily need such a camera body, but it still remains your desire.

I do not consider myself being a classic landscape photographer as it is not my big ambition to create large panoramic photos while spending a great amount of time sitting by the computer. I cannot use focus stacking or HDR, and I do not see any sense in it anyway. I do not drive to any popular „landscape“ places intentionally, I just stop off somewhere on my way to work etc. It is not my ambition to sell my photos either. I just love taking photos, and that is why I do that. Of course, I feel pleased when somebody appreciates my photos or asks me for a photo to hang on the wall.

Mostly I look for forests and trees. The older the forest is, the better. I soak up its energy, pleasure and joy. And if there is some fog, then I feel absolutely satisfied. I often find new places which look ordinary at first sight. Other people ask where those places are, but I never want to reveal this secret. I like to go back to those places in different year seasons, and I always find different views.

When taking landscape photos, I use the RAW format, of course, and I edit them in Photoshop Lightroom, so while the kids are asleep, I often spend the time by the computer. I have prepared presets, so photo editing does not take long. Practically all of my photographs are colour photos, just sometimes I try black and white, but I do not use black and white vision on my camera.

I own the 18-55mm, 35mm F2, 55–200mm, 16mm F1.4 and 90mm T2, with the latter two lenses being my favourite. I loved the 105mm F2 Nikon lens and the 90mm f2 may fully substitute for it.

I am not a very good writer and storyteller, but I hope you will like my photos. Have a nice day, and I wish you good light and perhaps a bit of fog and mist too.