Fashion; Glamour photography of Ludek Ciganek

I was born in Trebic, Czech Republic, where I also currently live. Photography has fascinated me even as a child, ever since my father allowed me to handle his film SLR camera.

We used to spend a lot of time going through photos and slides at home, so I guess it could be said that I grew up with photography. My first real attempts at taking photos came much later, however, with the purchase of my first digital camera, about ten years ago.While in the very beginning, I took a stab at many genres, I quickly discovered that portrait work is what really interests me the most.

Ever since I realized that photography is something more than just taking a snapshot and capturing a moment, it has become a part of my everyday life.

I also wanted to work with people. Since just taking a photo of a particular moment in time did not really fulfill my photographic desires, I started to create, rather than just take pictures, by setting up scenes to my liking.

I favor working with natural light and prefer shooting outside to working in a studio. I enjoy the whole process, starting with scene selection and setup, taking the actual shots, and finishing with post-processing work. In the resulting pictures, I like to see simplicity, which is probably why I often end up with black and white photos.

At the moment, there is no concrete plan for the future, except to keep improving and prevent myself from standing still. Although photography has long ago become more than just a hobby to me, I hope it will always bring me the same kind of enjoyment as was the case in my humble beginnings. There are a few ideas for a photo inside my mind, which I would like to see realized. And it goes without saying that I am always on the lookout for fresh, interesting faces, as finding the right model is key for portrait photography that “just works”. [Official Website]