Jirka Parizek, 36, Czech Republic.
Cyclist, Photographer and Co-owner of graphic design studio based in Brno.
I was born in Brno, which is the second largest city of the Czech republic, right after its capital – Prague. It is situated in the Moravian region which is famous for its vineyards. The Moravian region takes about a half (southeast) of the entire Czech republic. The other one is Bohemia.
After graduation (Reproduction Graphic Designer), I somehow became a photographer. I started initially by taking photos for Czech and Austrian customers (2000–2005). One of my favourite jobs was shooting for the largest Czech Helicopter Rescue Service (2006–2014).
Three years ago, I decided to quit to pursue commercial photography and started enjoying and persuing my own personal interests. This included cycling photography and graphic design.
Pedal Power
When I was 5 years old, my dad bought me my first bike. It was BMX of course. At that time, there was not much choice for kid‘s bikes and it was really difficult to get one. This was a time of Communism, it was though to buy even fruit like bananas, so you can imagine how difficult it was to get a bike. Thanks to my older brother, I learnt how to ride a bike and I was fortunate enough to have BMX track next to our house. I started to enter a few competitions and I won a few as well.
After many years away from the track, I started to ride a bike again and this was mainly thanks to my girlfriend, who loved this sport at the time we met. However, I needed to start from scratch again. It was quite a long journey to make it to road cycling. When I was riding the moutnain bike I was inspired to take photographs of downhill biking. This gave me the opportunity to take pictures of the world championships in the Czech republic and Europe.
In 2009 I totally fell in love with road cycling and that has not changed to this day. The truth is I will never be a 100% roadie…I like changing bikes and, time to time, I go back to steep roads and tracks in the forests. I love when I do not need to just follow the road. The endless choice of where to ride makes biking so interesting.
Now go away from this computer and go cycling. If not, check out Jirka’s Instagram
