From the life of a solidpixels ambassador: from Prague to Copenhagen and beyond with photographer Vojta Tesárek

Who are our ambassadors? How do they work, what do they enjoy and what are they currently working on? In the first part of our new column, we talked to the talented photographer Vojta Tesárek.

What is your main occupation?

I make my living mainly as a photographer (mostly as a food photographer) and currently as a photo assistant at The Lab studio in Copenhagen.

Last year you decided to move from Prague to Copenhagen, Denmark. What did this change in your working environment teach you? What do you see as the biggest differences between Prague and Copenhagen?

I would say especially hard work and communication. When you have to build a clientele in a foreign country, you're basically starting from scratch. You basically have no contacts, no one knows you and no one is there waiting for you. This forces you to work hard, be hard on yourself and learn to sell your work. On the surface, it might look like you come to a foreign country, get a feel for the place, check out a few businesses and start shooting. But in reality it's a bunch of emails, meetings and introductions with unclear results. In my first months here, I wrote to about 100 restaurants and got one response. I'd say that in Denmark, more than in the Czech Republic, it's true that you get commissions mainly through acquaintances, starting out as a no name photographer here is simply no fun. But if you can be relied on and can take credit for it, people will take notice and the commissions will start pouring in. I also see a big difference in the size of productions. We can only dream about budgets and the associated service that are standard for shooting in Denmark back in the Czech Republic.

What does your typical day at work look like?

Every day at work is different. It depends on whether I'm shooting, assisting or editing that day. A typical day as an assistant starts at about 8:30am when we meet on set at the aforementioned The Lab. We have breakfast together where we discuss how the shoot for that project will go, how we will set up the lights, etc. After (or even during) breakfast, we start setting up the equipment. Then we shoot until about 6pm with a break for lunch. Then we pack everything up and go home.

Why did you decide to become a solidpixels ambassador?

There are several reasons for this. I like to support Czech projects that are not afraid to be world-class and have some added value. Solidpixels impressed me with its practicality and also with the people behind the project. At the same time, I find it important to look for future projects that offer a different way of earning money other than just taking photos.

What do you see as the key advantage of solidpixels?

Probably the overall practicality and ease of use, whenever I need to change something on the site, I can easily do it with a few clicks. I don't have to deal with complicated coding, user-unfriendly interface etc.

Will you share your latest favourite project with us?

At the moment, I am probably most interested in (and employed by) the ADEMI brand. Behind the ADEMI brand is my friend Adéla Mitrengová, so you can imagine that we discuss this topic every free moment. At the same time, of course, it's a passion project that's hard to say no to. Adéla handles most things herself, so I often transform from photographer to marketing expert, researcher, salesperson, mover and so on. We realize that a successful business also requires a modern website, which is not the only reason why we decided to partner with Solidpixels.

Do you also want to try building and selling world-class websites? Try it with our ambassador program.