Anna Smutná takes pictures of the actors of the National Theater in the makeup shop – News

After a brief analysis, she managed to get into photography in a makeup shop and now exhibits some of her black-and-white photos in a wine bar on Prague’s Náplavní Street , who likes to host similar shows. It will be possible to see her there at least until the end of October.

The exhibition is called Where the spotlights don’t shine, and the images, taken since last March, can be seen not only on the walls of the wine bar, but also in a book made by Smutná from her own pictures and left for visitors to see.

“I arrived at the National Theater thanks to my contacts from professor Tomáš Rasl. First, for my graduation thesis, I had the opportunity to take pictures before the start of the concert directly in the auditorium, which was an interesting experience. I didn’t get another chance to return to the auditorium, but Tomáš Rasl contacted me with the head of the make-up shop. She found me very kind and I started following her with my camera. At first often, later once or twice a month,” said Smutná.

She said she chose and will choose the photo shoot dates based on when the makeup artists she already knows are on duty at the theater. Although it is still a partisan activity, many interesting pictures have already been taken.

“I always told actors, singers or ballet members who I was and why I wanted to photograph them. Most people had an understanding. Some of them made a little joke to themselves during the shoot, and with some I got the impression that the photo shoot flattered them a little. When I knew I would be able to do a show, I asked them if they would be interested in a show. Everyone was for that,” Smutná said with a smile.

She developed a friendly relationship with several artists while taking pictures in the makeup shop. The actors from the drama were said to be the most fun, according to her, the ballet “takes pictures by itself” and during the opera she had the most time to talk to the make-up artists .

Three thousand pictures were taken there in a year and a half. Smutná chose only a few of them for her exhibition, even with the sum of the pictures hanging on the walls of the wine bar and stored in the book that accompanies the exhibition.

“I believe my photo shoot in the National Theater make-up room will never end. I would like to return there, and if one day there is a bigger place to show other pictures, I would like to prepare a new exhibition,” said Smutná.

In her youth, she devoted herself to drawing. She even showed off her photos, but when she got her first camera at the age of fourteen, she never put it down.

She studied at the Higher Vocational School of Graphics and the Technical High School of Graphics in Prague and is now a student at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague at the Photography Department.