A Week in the Life of a Professional Photographer Seminar

B&H Event Space, 420 9th Ave. 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001
A Week in the Life of a Professional Photographer, Sponsored by Olympus

I'm Alive When I Photograph with Antonin Kratochvil, Sponsored by Canon

Sunday, October 25, 2009 | 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Speakers: Antonin Kratochvil

Event Type: Photography

Antonin Kratochvil’s life story is one of struggle and adventure. Born the son of a persecuted photographer in Communist Czechoslovakia, Kratochvil escaped under the wire at age nineteen to begin a life-long exploration of the world. Forty-three years later his photographic archives testify to the breadth of his curiosity and the strength of his personality; his pictures are raw with emotion and redolent of place and humanity. Whether photographing the extremes of war or coaxing Bono to reveal himself to the camera Kratochvil digs deeper with his lens than most would dream possible.

Kratochvil is still exploring. In his presentation at B&H Photo he will talk about his unfinished journey, illustrating his story with pictures from his archive and answering questions about how to overcome convention to surprise and inspire the viewer with a different view.

Antonin Kratochvil

Antonin Kratochvil was born in Czechoslovakia in 1947. He left in 1967 and for some years afterwards led the life of a refugee; he settled in the United States eventually.

Kratochvil has said in interviews that his distinctive photographic style – celebrated both for its intensity and for its unconventionality – grew directly out of the circumstances of his life. He is one of the most versatile photographers alive. Street children in Guatemala and Mongolia, the onset of war in Afghanistan and in Rwanda, Tibetan refugees, the war in Iraq, the environmental catastrophe in Amazonia, the actor Harvey Keitel, Czech beer culture, the Department of Homeland Security and its effect on American civil liberties: all these have been among his subjects. It has been said that no photographer has won World Press Photo Awards over a wider range of categories than Kratochvil. The Infinity Award for Photojournalist of the Year and the Leica Medal of Excellence are only two of the many awards he has won over the last thirty years. His short film Road Work (part of Operation Homecoming) was Oscar nominated in 2008.

www.antoninkratochvil.com