Jiří Kolbaba

A globetrotter with a camera (czech version)

Copy of the article of Karel Čech from inflite magazine ČSA REVIEW Nr. 2/2002

As the age of 45, Jiri Kolbaba is one of the best-travelled men in the Czech Republic. This is because he has set foot on all six continents – even including the Antarctica, in other words.

Kolbaba first went abroad thanks to athletics – as a young man, he used to run three-kilometres hurdle races and, as the country's champion in this discipline, took part in events outside the Czech Republic. Then 24 years ago he crossed the European borders to visit his father, who had been working as a geologist in Mongolia. The atmosphere in this country, so different to what he had seen so far, thrilled him so much that he started dreaming over maps about how, one day, he would make a journey around the world.

Kolbaba could only make his dream come true once the Iron Curtain had been torn down. This former graphic artist became a globetrotter in the early 1990s and has visited a grand total of 90 countries over the past decade. During his longest trip to date, as the turn of 2000, he and his girlfriend went around the entire planet in one go. It took them 101 days, in other words exactly three weeks longer than the 80 days needed by Phileas Fogg, from the famous book by Jules Verne. Kolbaba, who sets out on his journeys without travel agencies' itineraries and avoids luxury hotels, doesn't rush things when travelling, wanting to get as close as possible to locals.

Still, his original profession is evident to this day since, during his trips, he collects works of art that are typical of the respective region – in particular, statuettes and carvings. The greatest number are Indonesian, especially from Bali, which he has already visited nine times and considers to be one of his favourite places on earth.

As an artist, Kolbaba also turned to photograph while he travelled around the world. He started modestly, with an ordinary compact camera, but soon worked his way up became a professional. The vast majority of the 40 000 photos in his archive are natural portraits. In his environment he searches for – and, what's more, finds – interesting details and compositions. Rather surprisingly, Kolbaba considers the seemingly monotonous world of deserts to be exceptionally inspirational, claiming this is where one can come across the most photogenic views and works of art in weird shapes created by nature. In addition to landscapes, his photographs also portray faces. Travelling exhibitions of his works have been held not only in Brno, the city where he was born, but also in dozens of other places both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Jiri Kolbaba spends approximately half the year wandering round the world. During the other six months, he writes about his travels, speaks on the radio and television, holds lectures and prepares new projects.

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