Tomáš Třeštík

More than anything, Tomáš Třeštík is a guy who loves taking pictures. He's many other things too – an accomplished portrait, editorial and commercial photographer, and a lifelong citizen of Prague in the Czech Republic. But whether you speak to him in person or follow his frequent social posts, it's obvious that he simply adores shooting photographs.

"I'm not the guy who thought he would be a photographer from childhood, but I was definitely influenced by my mother," he says, referring to Helena Třeštíková, one of his country's most celebrated documentary film directors, known for following her subjects over exceptionally long periods of time – years or even decades. "From a young age, I was involved in this filmmaking world. Usually when my mother was filming there was a photographer with her. So, I knew the job – what it means to take a picture."

As such, many of the friends Tomáš made were studying film rather than photography, and he started to pick up work as a photographer on film sets. With many productions filming in Prague at the time, there were also plenty of opportunities to shoot commercial images. This high-pressure, high-reward work quickly became Tomáš' priority.

"It was a baptism of fire," he says. "But I liked it, and I still do. I was supposed to study at FAMU for four or five years, but it took me eleven. I think I still hold the record. And I only finished because I made a bet with my father [writer and art collector Michael Třeštík] that if I finished, he'd buy me a wrist watch."

As well as his commercial work, Tomáš specialises in portraiture. Some of his best-known images are his balcony portraits – images of people from all walks of life, shot on the same balcony in Prague. As Tomáš tells it, the whole thing came about by chance. He'd been working with his father on a project converting a flat into a studio space, and while checking out the renovations, he spotted a friend on the street below.

"I shouted at him to come and see my new place," says Tomáš. "He's a famous Czech singer – I'd shot him and his band about 14 days before. He went up, and the only place where it was quiet and there was no dust was the balcony. We were talking there, he was smoking, and I just took a picture of him with the camera that was in my pocket."

A few days later, Tomáš' girlfriend came by, and he photographed her in the same place. He then captured another subject, and noticed how the three images were starting to look like a series. From there, it has grown and grown, and Tomáš says he now has around 5,000 pictures of people on the balcony, with subjects ranging from famous rappers to his local dustbin collector.

"Like I said, I'm influenced by my mother, who works with people for many, many years," he explains. "And with my father being an art collector – I think that the balcony project combines these two approaches. Keeping focus on something for a long, long period of time, and collecting. Because it's sort of a collection of people."

You do a lot of commercial photography, but your speciality is capturing people rather than products. Why is that your focus?

"Because I like people. I was always shy – I think I still am – but photography helped my self-confidence. Meeting new people makes me feel gifted, and photography brings me many opportunities to talk with people I would never otherwise meet."

You're an enthusiastic Instagrammer. What do you like about sharing images on social media?

"As a child, I was used to being seen. My mother was well-known, and because my father was an architect, our flat was featured in a lot of magazines, so the idea of sharing your personal life wasn't so strange for me. I enjoy my life. I enjoy the things I do, and the stuff I collect, and the girls I'm in love with, and I enjoy my kids. I love to share it, the same way I love to see other people's lives. It's a part of me as a photographer – I don't want to be the grey man behind the camera, the hidden, invisible one. For me, that doesn't work."

Do you shoot video as well as take photographs?

"I don't. I want to, and I think I know how. But I respect videography as an art form, and I know what it took for me to become a photographer. It's like someone who's good at skiing and someone who's good at snowboarding – you don't want to assume you can do both. I know that I'm a much better photographer than a videographer. It's similar, but different, and it attracts me. But I respect the boundaries."

Do you have any career ambitions for the future?

"Just to keep doing what I do, without any burnout. I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and I enjoy it every single day. I am not a 'challenge' type of guy; I am happy as I am."

"For almost 10 years I've taught photography, and I give my students one main piece of advice: keep shooting. I see many people talking about how they want to become a photographer. Shoot – do it – then talk about it. Worry about mistakes after. Don't get scared you'll screw it up; you probably will. But the second time, you won't. I tell students to shoot their personal lives. To do a story about their girlfriends, boyfriends, dogs, parents, grandparents – it's up to them, but I think the more personal they get, the more valuable the pictures will become."

Instagram: @tomastrestik