Photos that play

Music columnist and editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine UNI Ondřej Bezr published a book in 2018 Photos that play, in which he has selected images by twenty music photographers whom he considers to be the best in the field in the Czech Republic. Their works, according to him, can truly evoke music, convey its atmosphere, its spirit and message, hence the title of the book and the exhibition, which was created by selecting the images of all twenty photographers. The exhibition was initiated in 2024 by the Czech Centre in Paris, last autumn it was presented at the International Blues Alive Festival in Šumperk and now it will be on display throughout May at the Unijazz Reading Room in Prague. Václav Havelka will play at the opening.

About the photographers represented in the exhibition Ondřej Bezr wrote:

"There are top professionals and de facto amateurs among them. More precisely, photographers who make a living from this work, and those who make a living from something else and take pictures in their spare time. But I dare say that you won't be able to tell that from the results of their work. There are those who prefer big stages and world stars, as well as others who prefer the quiet of a small club and more alternative genres. It's simply a photographer's personality. Perhaps really the only thing they all have in common is a love of music and a persistent drive to capture it with a camera. Of the twenty photographers represented, two did not live to see the opening of this exhibition. In 2018, the photographer Ája Dvořáčková passed away very prematurely and in 2023, the doyen of Czech music photojournalism Daniel Vojtíšek passed away. I would like to dedicate this exhibition to their memory."

Free entry