František Dostál (21 July 1938 – 5 December 2022) was a Czech photographer.
Life and career
Born in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, the son of a maid and a tailor, during his youth Dostál was a junior national champion in
high jump
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
,
and a record holder in the sprint relay and high jump.
He studied at the Industrial School of Mechanical Engineering and got his first camera at 16 years old.
He got his first published photo in 1964, in the weekly magazine '.
His favorite subjects were ordinary people randomly picked on Prague's streets, and one of his favorite locations was the
Sázava Swimming Pool.
His most famous work is ''Letní lidé'' ("Summer People"), a collection of photographs taken between 1968 and 1990 in the village of Zlenice, on the banks of the
Sázava river.
During his career Dostál held about 70 exhibitions, published 20 photo-books and collaborated with numerous magazines and newspapers;
his archives consist of several thousand photographs.
In spite of his success, he never abandoned his main profession as a machine tool designer.
He received over one hundred awards,
including in 2008 the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic’s Prize for his lifelong contribution to amateur photography.
He died on 5 December 2022, at the age of 84.
References
External links
František Dostálat Biographical Dictionary of the Czech Lands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dostal, Frantisek
1938 births
2022 deaths
Czech photographers
Photographers from Prague