Fotograf Magazine

In available documents on František Dostál, you will learn that in 2008 he received the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic’s Prize for Lifelong Contribution to Amateur Photography. But what are we to read from this fact? How are we to understand the concept of amateur photography? The difference between amateur and professional photography is clear. However, if you were to look at the photography of both amateurs and professionals without knowing in advance who authored which photos, would you be able to say for certain which ones are amateur and which ones are professional? And upon what criteria would you base your decisions? In technical terms? In terms of content? Today, many professional photographers work intentionally in their open/free creations with low-quality cameras, forming an informal kind of careless composition, and then the shabby photos are crudely installed in galleries. As digital photography gained footing in the Czech Republic, we have become inundated with thousands of technically proficient photos: overwhelming in quantity, but mainly for their absence of content.