Juraj Sucharda: Photography becoming my profession

Juraj Sucharda: Photography becoming my profession
Juraj Sucharda, Businessperson, Slovakia

Juraj Sucharda’s entrance into Week of Life was bold and symbolic at the same time – in his first week, he documented his second daughter’s arrival into this world as though to predetermine his next steps in the project. The initial colorful weeks full of love, compassion and family happiness turned over time into photographic gems rich with emotions, life and the desire to advance more and more in the field. Juraj has made a huge step forward from the time he started documenting his life and right in front of our eyes is turning out to be an amazing documentary photographer, who rarely lays aside his camera.

1) You rank amongst the long-term most active members of the Week of Life project. At the time of the interview, you have already completed 12 weeks. A number quite respectable and worth of admiration. The first entered week dates back to the end of 2009. This first question is addressed to everybody. How did you get acquainted with the project and what caught your interest?

I learned about the project by coincidence, today I can say that it was a lucky coincidence :- )) It was during a competition organized by Slovak Railways, where my wife participated and Adolf Zika was involved as a photographer. My wife succeeded to get 10 minutes out of his busy schedule and arranged for a short conversation that completely changed my life. From the occasional ‘click’ photographer I became an enthusiast, even a fanatic, seeing everything through a viewfinder at a 100% perspective. I discovered the amazing power of photography and started to utilize this fact to the fullest extent, hoping to progress even more in the future. After spending time with this website, my photographs but more importantly the photos of others, changed my perspective on life as such, realized its beauty and that LIFE is undoubtedly the biggest gift of all. The fact that our days were sublime, even though we did not see it at the time. How wonderful the sunrise was, or how castles made from Lego looked, night swimming or a good night kiss. To find forgotten dreams and wishes in the photographs of others. The cruel reality of becoming aware that we really do have only one life and that we have to learn to live it to the fullest, since it is way too short. Not to regret the things that happened but the ones that could have happened and didn’t.

2) The first revealing information after name is profession. The word businessperson can mean a lot of things. What does your profession really consist of?

Businessperson in my case = Sales representative. It is a daily portion of college education in form of communication and people skills. It may seem simple at first sight, but it definitely isn’t. In short: I am the one who ensures that you can find what you need on the shelves in a store, as well as the things you don’t need. There is only one field to fill in my profession, but I would need at least three to be honest. I am writing this due to the fact that alongside my main profession, whatever it was at the time, I also worked as a carpenter for 15 years. And in the past weeks, even though only in small measures, I worked as a photographer, gathering money for the ones in great need… 40 000 EUR for the kids in the Neonatology section, giving me a great deal of joy and satisfaction.

3) Three professions must be really exhausting. Still, there is another interesting matter in scope of WEEK OF LIFE attached to your person. Your wife, on her maternal leave at the moment, is involved as well,. You even photograph during the same time period, giving us a dual insight into your lives. Did this come along by itself or did you have to convince your wife to join the project?

It really is exhausting, but it’s mainly about time management. Besides that, I really like each one of my professions.  At the same time, they give me everything I need. As a sales representative, I work with people and in a great team, carpentry gives me joy every time I create something and photography lets me go loose from that ‘private’ life of mine. In spite of my busy schedule, I manage to put aside some time for my girls, who are at the top of it all and give my life a certain meaning. The idea to combine our weeks and document our life together came from my wife at the time we got hold of the Olympus PEN. After enjoying the features of the PEN for some time, we decided to purchase another camera and complete our photographic set of tools for documenting our lives. You should see the moments when we both think of the same idea for a photograph and jump out to grab the camera, neither of us willing to step aside thus creating this matter of two different perspectives. Not to mention our WoL recruitment skills, as we have a new WoL member in our daughter Miška, potentially the youngest photographer on the site, but at present, her age and corresponding stamina does not allow for a whole 7 days of documenting her life….however, we are working on it.:-)

4) As you mentioned yourself, to some degree, photography has become your profession. As you are self-taught in photography, do you regard education in this field as necessary?

I am intensively working on it to become my profession. Regarding education, it certainly is important. It does not necessarily have to be in form of long studies at a university, but like in my case, it can consist of all-around reading of proper literature and internet sites, or simply spending an extensive amount of hours viewing all kinds of photographs and images. I’ve spent quite some time searching for schools with proper education specializing in photography, but unfortunately failed to find one in my area. My ultimate dream is to have a world-known photographer as a tutor, who would be able to squeeze the maximum out of me. Adolf Zika is that kind of person to a certain extent, whose honest and constructive criticism always pushes me that extra step forward. You’ll only do things correctly once someone points out the mistakes you made. And I cannot forget the influence of WoL, whose impact must have touched many other users as well. :-)

5) Everyone who passes by your weeks is able to see a huge progress and fascinating content. Photographs of prematurely born babies or Children of the sun played an influential part in very appealing reportages. A viewer can also notice the fact that black and white photography has taken over previously preferred color toning. Is there a specific cause or is it just another one of your steps on your line of evolving progress?

Correctly chosen themes and interesting subjects is what every photographer builds upon, there is no way around it. And if your choice is in whatever way helpful or beneficial to someone else, joy from a positive outcome is twofold. The truth is, I am preparing another one of my reportages and if all goes well, another good deed done. Why black and white? Well, yes, I have chosen to follow this path, since it has somehow charmed me and turned more satisfying. I feel as if my photographs in color were somehow unclear and on the contrary, the ones in black and white fulfill me and draw out the real essence of a given photo. Every single one of my role models more or less relied on this bicolor, but at the same time multi colored world. As we all know, black and white is not just about two colors, but about the different color tones between the two.

6) You travel frequently. Is there a specific dream destination you would like to visit with a camera in your hand?

We certainly don’t travel as much as we would like. Who knows me is aware of the fact that my dream destination is the United States. Basically from top to bottom. For almost two years, I’ve lived across the eastern border, from New Jersey, New York, all the way to Maine, and desperately fell in love with the country. Despite all the prejudice of others and the rigorous individuality of the country, I will never allow anyone to talk about it in negative terms. It really is a country full of unlimited opportunities and a mix of diverse worlds; be it documenting the streets of New York radiant with energy, even-tempered calmness of small cities of the Mid-West, the entertainment in Las Vegas, Native Americans from our childhood dreams or the amazing nature in Alaska or Yellowstone. I am not at all pretentious; a car with large seats driving me around the country-side would be more than enough. After all, we spend and enjoy most of our holidays from the seat of a car anyway....

7) The WoL project is constantly expanding. It would take some time to go through all of the submitted weeks, soon to reach the number 600. How do you see the benefits of the project today and what will be its role and significance in the future?

To come up with an idea that will change the world and actually implement it surely isn’t easy. The locals in some of the cities I have visited created for their children, descendants and heirs a so-called ‘TIME CAPSULE’, in which they placed 10 to 20 miscellaneous objects, some thoughts and legacies. ‘To be opened on 1st January 2100’ was written on top and it was done. Week of Life is a project that will leave more than a dusty legacy and a few words on paper. It will leave behind much more than that, TB (terabytes) or even EB (exabytes) of information about how we lived. And there is more. It may serve as instructions for a better life, guiding the descendants to carefully look around and take the necessary steps, as everything we need is usually closer than we think. Something that will help us better understand the world and people around us. We cannot hope for a better message.

8) The project itself is available to the entire world on the internet. The internet offers a lot from the extraordinary and tempting. A single click leads you to what’s happening around different social networks, you can play games, watch the news; simply entertain yourself in a limitless world without having to do much. Here, you need to spend your week documenting your life, often very challenging for many people. How would you approach a person who does not know the details about this project, but would like to take part?

Everyone takes a look at the photos they have at home once in a while. It takes the person back to the past and draws a few smiles. However, who would run a photographic archive at home, with roughly 3000 photos per year, more than 150 000 per life. A simple WHY should suffice. Our children often ask us this question and it is at that moment when we realize the exact meaning or reason… Why should we write journals and diaries, complete our family albums and not find further inspiration? There is no similar place as Week of Life to relive your memories so intensively. Looking back at the lives of us all creates the real ‘3D’ film that we have lived. And as a matter of fact, why not take part in something that is destined to be huge. I’m pretty sure that everyone would like to use the time-machine at least once in their lifetime.

Weeks of Juraj Sucharda