About author

Vít Lukáš is a zoologist who has been involved in nature conservation and photography for more than twenty five years.

He lived in Chile for ten years, where he worked for zoos, founded one successful natural science station, taught at two universities and led several research projects. Thanks to his participation in various international projects, he was able to travel almost all of Latin America. He has completed over 150 expeditions, roughly a third of which have been to tropical rainforests. In 1997, he fell under the spell of macro photography, which he continues to do today. In his pictures, he tries to capture animals and plants in their natural environment and at the same time document details that cannot be seen with the naked eye. His macro photographs were presented in a number of magazines, books, and at exhibitions in Czech Republic, Chile, Colombia and Canada.

In recent years, in addition to macro photography, he has also focused on photographing and videographing larger animals, including humans :-). Similar to macro photography, when photographing larger objects, the focus is on details that may escape to the eye. He looks at them with the eye of an observant zoologist, he enjoys capturing situations from new and unusual angles.

After returning from South America (2011), he worked as a curator of primates at the Prague Zoo. In the years 2020 – 2022, he worked at the National Museum, where he was in charge of creating photo and video content for new natural science exhibits. His photos of animals regularly appear in different media, magazines, on billboards and citylights. Since 2023, he is working as a freelance photographer, filmmaker and zoologist. In the same year, he became the ambassador of OM System photographic technology.

EQUIPMENT

Since his photographic beginnings, he has worked with Nikon. In 2023, however, he switched to OM System, of which he also became an ambassador.

Partners and collaborations

AWARDS

European Wildlife Photographer of the Year (GDT) 2023 – category MAN AND NATURE

The photo of nutria “Ecologist’s bane, tourist’s delight” received the Highly Commended award

WildArt Photographer of the Year 2023 – category COLOUR

The photo “Beautiful predator” won the Founder’s Choice Award Winner

WildArt Photographer of the Year 2023 – category COLOUR

The photo “Resting” received the Highly commended award

Czech Nature Photo 2023

Winner of the category “Invertebrates” with the photo “Snail in the rain

Winner of the category “Award for the best photo of Czech nature” with the photo “Reversed role

Winner of the “Reptiles, Amphibians and Underwater Life” category with the photo “Distressed Female

Second place in the category “Animals in human care” with the photo “Stick insect

Second place in the category “Invertebrates” with the photo “Cycle of Life

Close-up Photographer of the Year 2022

Desperate female” mating toads photo made TOP 10 of over 9,000 photos in category Animals

Czech Nature Photo 2022

Overall Winner. Photographer of the Year with the image “Tadpoles“. The same photograph won first place in the category Award for the best photography of Czech nature, as well as the Readers´ Award of People and Earth magazine.

First place in the Invertebrates category went to the photo “Disappearing Pollinators

Czech Nature Photo 2021

“Animals in Humane Care” Category Winner with Photo “Egg Check

Second place in the category “Award for the best photo of Czech nature” with the photo “Under water, above a leaf

Third place in the “Invertebrates” category with the photo “Endangered King of the Oak Forest

The photo “Endangered king of the oak forest” won the Readers’ Award of People and Earth magazine

WildArt Photographer of the Year 2021- kategorie WET

Two photos received Highly Commended award (“Proboscis monkey” and “Noack’s Roundleaf bat“)

The photo “American crocodile” received a Commended award

Czech Nature Photo 2020

Winner of the category “Invertebrates” with the photo “Crusader on the hunt

Second place in the category “Invertebrates” with the photo “Night grasshopper

Third place in the category “Reptiles and amphibians” with the photo “In the treetops

Czech Nature Photo 2019

Winner of the “Nature in Prague” category with the photo “Hitchcock at the Charles Bridge

The photo of nutria “Ecologist’s bane, tourist’s delight” was nominated for 1st place in the same category

Czech Press Photo 2018

Nominated for 1st place in the ‘Issues of Today’ category with the photo ‘Oil Spill Selfie

In addition, the author’s series “Beasts for Sale” was presented as part of the final exhibition

Czech Nature Photo 2018

6 out of 10 submitted photos were selected for the final exhibition of the Czech Nature Photo competition

I AM | Nikon in nature 2017

1st place in a national competition organized by Nikon

Czech Press Photo 2017

As part of the Czech Press Photo journalistic competition, 3 photos from the author’s series “Punk is not dead” were included in the exhibition

Czech Nature Photo 2017

For the final exhibition of the zero year of the Czech Nature Photo competition, 8 of the 10 submitted macro photographs were selected

PUBLICATIONS

The author’s photographs regularly appear in various magazines or digital media, at exhibitions, but also in teaching materials of universities. If you are interested in any of the photos, please write to info@photolukas.cz