Lucie Drliková

Lucie Drliková is an award-winning underwater photographer, originally from the Czech Republic, currently living in the beautiful city of Prague, after twenty years of living in different parts of the world (USA, Russia, Austria, New Zealand).    She started diving at the age of twenty-two and has never stopped. Later in life she quit her job and decided to follow her dreams through photography and diving; her desire to create memories and to know her life had not been wasted.

 

 

 

 

 

Using her many talents, each image is the result of a vision, a note, a drawing, a memory followed by a complex process of creating her own costumes and props, make-up, drawing, and painting her own backgrounds. During photography, she coordinates with large teams above and below the water. Her work is very well known publicly, as she cooperates with many Czech celebrities.

 

Photography is in a way only a very small part of the entire creative process, of which Lucie is intensely involved in every aspect with the same energy and passion. Her work is a beautiful mix of fantasy, wonder, and perfectly executed concepts. She makes a lot of the set pieces, props, and outfits herself – and combined with her crisp clean postproduction, her underwater images really come to life.

 

 

 

My story

 

Lucie grew up exposed to art and culture through the passion of her dad’s darkroom and her mom’s fairy tales and storybooks. Fostering her vivid imagination and a love for reading and painting, Lucie still followed a different professional path and landed a job in a corporate environment. She started diving at the age of twenty-two and has never stopped. To show her mom that the underwater world was a safe one, she purchased her first little point-and-shoot camera to bring back images to share.

 

Convinced that being an artist was not supposed to be a job but only a hobby, Lucie never thought she would one day become an underwater photographer as a profession. She continued to pursue this as a passion combined with her love for scuba diving. However, when in the last few years of her growing career her health became affected by the high-stress levels, Lucie decided to change something in her life. She finally quit her job in 2013 and decided to follow her dreams through photography and diving, her desire to create memories and to know her life had not been wasted.

 

Leaping into an unknown environment she started to create images with the help and support of her friends happy to be either in the water in front of her lens or behind the scenes assisting with anything needed to be done. It was a natural step for Lucie to connect being in the water to express her fantasies through photography. Underwater it was easier to create landscapes where people could fly and worlds could be upside down. Persistent through her work, she specialized in underwater portraits but continued to feed her creative soul with her personal projects.

 

 

 

 

Artist statement

 

I believe that everyone has a small child inside, whatever age we are.  Very often we forget this and push it away. I would like for the people watching my images to be in a magical Waterland, where gravity and rules do not exist. I would like to take them back for a moment to their childhood dreams, forgetting the hard reality of life and for a second to believe in magic again.

 

 

Awards

 

2019 - MIFA / Moscow International Foto Awards Honorable mention

2018 - Through Your Lens XIV, 2nd place, Conceptual

2018 - IPA - international photography awards - Honorable mention

2017 - MFPF, Slovakia, Golden medal in Creative photography, International

2016 - Ocean Art Contest - Bronze medal in category Pool, Conceptual, International

2016 Our World Underwater - Golden medal in category Commercial, Conceptual & Fashion, International

2016 TIFA /Tokyo International Foto Awards, Silver medal in Fine Art category, International

2016 - UnderwaterPhotography.com - annual contest, Golden medal in Underwater Fashion Photography, International

2016 - PAF Tachov, Golden medal in Creative Pool photography, International

2015 - UnderwaterPhotography.com - annual contest, Golden medal in Underwater Fashion Photography, International

2014 - Ocean Art Contest - Golden medal in category Divers / Fashion, International

2014 - UnderwaterPhotography.com - annual contest, Golden medal in Underwater Fashion Photography, International

 

Exhibitions

 

2017 - MFF VMO, Hluboka nad Vltavou, Czech rep. – solo exhibition

2017 - Community centre, Veseli nad Moravou, Czech rep. – solo exhibition

2017 - Aquapalace, Prague, Czech republic – solo exhibition

2016 - Marianska Gallery, Ceske Budejovice, Czech rep. – solo exhibition

2015 - Brisky Gallery, Miami, FL, USA – group exhibition

2015 - Havana Coffee House, Miami, FL, USA – solo exhibition

2014 - Miami River Art Fair, Miami,FL, USA – group exhibition

2012 - Dive Expo, Prague, Czech republic – solo exhibition

 

 

Are you interested in a commission artwork made by Lucie just for you?