You can easily try to read their paws. Amazingly detailed images of the legs of various animal species allow you to see them in a way you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Martin Veselý (46), winner of the second place of the Czech Press Photo 2022 award in the People and Environment category, immortalized them with his camera.
He revealed to Blesku how the 18 images were created, and that even photographing the foot of a chameleon is not easy. “I was surprised at how fast he is. It is not so easy to catch a small paw at that speed. Photographing the elephant’s paw was even more complicated. I first had to make friends with Sally the elephant over her treats. Only after an hour did she raise her foot on command and let me photograph the foot,” Veselý said.
The African elephant is the largest land mammal with a body length of up to 7.3 meters and a height of 4 meters. | Martin Veselý
Dashing from the giraffe
Even though the photographer gets close to animals during his work, he has not yet experienced any extremely dangerous situations with them. “The nurses are very careful and won’t allow you to do anything that isn’t safe. But there were a few adrenaline moments. I once went to photograph a baby giraffe. I opened the stable door and that morning his mother ran towards me to defend him. So I quickly closed the door again,” recalled Veselý.
He has been photographing animals for over 10 years. Although he himself admits that it is work, he also admits that he has a very close relationship with animals. “I work with Safari Park Dvur Králové, where I go to do photo reports, photograph cubs, outpatient procedures, new enclosures, trapping and much more. Speaking of which, animals are very photogenic.”
A bitten crocodile
Who was the most patient and who was the naughtiest model? “For example, the Cape grebe doesn’t care that you take a picture of its paw in the hole, especially that it has an insect treat from you. On the contrary, the most difficult to photograph was probably the scaly crocodile. He bit into my studio background and didn’t want to let go for 15 minutes,” he revealed Veselý, according to whom people should approach nature with humility and respect. “We humans depend on her. You can learn a lot from her,” he concluded.
One of the images that ensured Martin Veselý’s success in Czech Press Photo 2022. | Martin Veselý
He found beauty in ugliness
The competition images from Czech Press Photo will surprise you with their abstractness and colors, the viewer would not even say that they are cracked paint and corroding surfaces. The Martin Veselý project started during the pandemic, when it was not possible to get along very well. “I started going around railways, stations, old trains and garages. Places where such interesting elements can be seen. I would like to show the beauty in ‘ugliness’ through them. For me, it is a certain form of relaxation for the reporting activity. In addition, there is a large overlap into art,” he described.
The Touches of Africa exhibition, accessible free of charge until March 30 in Prague’s Myslbek Shopping Gallery, is for sale. Proceeds from the exhibited images will help the Foundation Guiding Dogs with Heart… | NK Myslbek/Romana Kovacs
The exhibition helps
The Touches of Africa exhibition, accessible free of charge until March 30 in Prague’s Myslbek Shopping Gallery, is for sale. Proceeds from the exhibited images will help the Guiding Dogs with Heart foundation, which helps the severely visually impaired with high-quality training of guide dogs. “I’m not a dog owner myself, but I have a lot of friends around me who have them. I like them very much and I photograph them. From the moment I started photographing the paws of African animals, people began to tell me that they would like to immortalize the paws of their dogs,” Veselý told Blesku Veselý.