Jiří Skořepa born, December 22, 1954 in České Budějovice, professional artist, active as a scuba diver since 1992.

The first time I clicked a camera shutter was when I was six years old and wanted to capture a picture of my parents on our summer vacation. Back then, my father was trusting enough to let me use his beloved "Praktina" reflex camera after he had set the exposure and focused the camera. I can still recall how I felt, not only about the trust my father had in me; but also, about the exceptionally grainy and slightly magnified image I could see in the camera's viewfinder. It wasn't until several years later that I got the first simple camera of my own. My father used to say that the gadget (Russian made) was not worth wasting film on. Still, he used to give me a roll of film from time to time and develop the pictures after I had used up the film. Back then, I had no idea that photography would become my great life-long companion.

In 1992, after I completed a scuba diving course while vacationing on the island of Corsica, I immediately started to ponder about the idea of underwater photography. It wasn't long before I took my first couple of pictures using the plastic Ewa-Marine underwater camera housing. I will never forget the feeling of trepidation I had when I was inserting my beloved Nikon F4 with a flash into this protective housing. This was following by a test for stupidity as I attempted to take the camera down to a depth of fifty meters. Once at this depth, the water pressure made the plastic housing practically useless and the 'guardian angel' broke into a heavy sweat. After this experience, I had no choice but to get real underwater photography equipment. I started with one flash and soon ended up having two flashes and ports for different types of lenses. I was ready to set off on my trial and error path.

I knew from the very beginning that my ambition was not going to be to compete with my work or to publish my underwater images in the press. Because of my profession, I was much more interested in the idea of using my photographs as decorative elements in various types of interiors. The only problem was that chemically developed color prints will fade over time after being exposed to light. Therefore, I believed that this made photographs unsuitable for interior decoration. This changed after Epson introduced their photographic, large-format, pigment-based printing technology, which is guaranteed to maintain its color stability when exposed to light for at least 75 years. The lively appearance of the colors and the precision of these prints, not only comes up to the quality of traditional photographic imaging, but perhaps, even surpasses it. Thanks to this invention, my idea of transferring the magic of the underwater world on to the walls of interiors lost its primary inhibitor. Plus, with the current possibilities in the area of adjusting prints, I can easily transfer a piece of nature's beauty into different types of interiors. I create my prints in small numbered editions with sizes up to 60 x 100 cm.

I believe that with its artistic value, presented in the lightfast, pigment-ink print format, a theme as exceptional as the underwater world will find its place next to other art forms used in interior decoration.