Martin Rak is a renowned landscape and travel photographer based in Prague, Czechia. He took to photography at an early age, but his interest in landscape photography started in 2009. Martin thrives on diversity, from grand vistas to intimate scenes. His colour photographs make great use of light and fog, but he also creates striking black&white images.
Martin’s work has been published in various publications all over the world. He contributes regularly to Black and White Photography Magazine, Practical Photography, Digital SLR Photography, GEO (Germany), and many others. He has been awarded in several international photography competitions such as EISA Maestro, Sony World Photographer Awards, International Photo Awards IPA and Prix de la Photographie Paris Px3.
You can find more information about Martin on his website: www.martinrak.cz
1. What was your path to become a photographer?
My grandfather was an amateur photographer, so I was surrounded by various cameras since I was a little boy. I have always enjoyed spending time in nature, so when I bought my first DSLR back in 2007 I knew I would enjoy shooting landscape and nature right away! The hobby quickly became a passion which after several years turned into my main profession.
2. Do you prefer to photograph close to home or do you find faraway places more inspiring? Are there any special places that inspire you the most to create new work?
I like both. I am always excited to go to new faraway destinations where I find new inspiration, but I can’t imagine not shooting locally in the areas I feel connected to. Most of the images I am proud of were taken within 2 hours from my home. It is because I can wait for the right weather and light conditions and get a unique image. My favourite locations are the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Jizera Mountains in the very north of the Czech Republic. The Elbe Sandstone Mountains are known for their various rock formations, deep canyons and gorges; in the Jizera Mountains I enjoy shooting woodland in the pristine beech forests with granite boulders and rocks, waterfalls and creeks.
3. Are you a meticulous pre-planer or do you prefer creating images spontaneously? Do you revisit your favourite places many times to achieve the required result? Can you tell us more about your method of working?
For the local areas, I always have a list of places I want to photograph, and decide where to go according to the weather forecast. There are some spots I revisit several times a year, because I want to capture them in different seasons and conditions. On the other hand, the best images are usually not planned at all. Especially when photographing in a forest, I never know what I end up with. When I travel to new and distant places, I guess I am a pre-planner though :-)
4. Terra Quantum displays themes and series portfolios; do you like working to the project/series/theme or find creating individual images more rewarding?
I always enjoy looking at a series of images more than individual images, but I must say I struggle a bit when creating good series/projects myself. I have one long-term project now - the woodland of the Jizera Mountains captured in various seasons and weather conditions. In several years, it could be a nice book…
5. Can you tell us a bit more about one chosen photograph – what is the story behind it, when/why/how it was created?
This is a recent image from the Lusatian Mountains, Czech Republic. We had an early start of Spring this year, so the beech trees had fresh leaves at least 4 weeks sooner than usual. In the second half of April though, there was a cold weather period. On April 25th the weather forecast promised some fog and light snowfall in the mountains, so I decided to give it a go. When I arrived at the location, I was a little disappointed, as there was no fog and sunlight was harsh. I was trying to create something, but I wasn’t very happy with the results, so I decided to head back to the car. On the way down I suddenly noticed dark snow clouds quickly approaching and, in a few minutes, I was standing there photographing the spring forest in amazing winter conditions. I wanted to capture the snowflakes, so I raised up the ISO to 1600 to get exposure time of 1/800 sec at f/5.
6. Colour, b&w or both? How do you decide about the elimination or inclusion of colour and why. When do you decide about it - in the field or during the post processing?
Both, but recently I shoot mostly in colour. When I photograph in BW it’s usually on location, especially when shooting long exposures or minimalistic winter images which basically need no colour. Most of the time I compose my BW images in square format.
7. Do you have any plans for exhibitions, books or any interesting projects coming? Can you tell us a bit more about your artistic plans for the next couple of years?
As I mentioned in answer to question 4, my dream is to publish a book with woodland images from the Jizera Mountains in a few years. But who knows, maybe there will be other interesting projects too. I would also like to spend some more time on the Northern coast of Spain.
Martin Rak is a renowned landscape and travel photographer based in Prague, Czechia. He took to photography at an early age, but his interest in landscape photography started in 2009. Martin thrives on diversity, from grand vistas to intimate scenes. His colour photographs make great use of light and fog, but he also creates striking black&white images.
Martin’s work has been published in various publications all over the world. He contributes regularly to Black and White Photography Magazine, Practical Photography, Digital SLR Photography, GEO (Germany), and many others.
