Exclusive GNEWS interview with Jan Saudek, a world-renowned photographer - Part II: There are two approaches to life. Either it is bad and dirty, or it is beautiful and endless.

You married your fourth wife in Beijing. How did China as a country affect you?

I claim it was in Shanghai because it sounds better, but it was in Beijing. I must admit that the wedding ultimately cost three times as much as it would have in Prague. As for China, let me tell you a story. I had friends from France here and took them up Mount Říp. At its summit, near the Rotunda of Saints George and Wenceslaus, I told them – this is a thousand years old. Then they invited me to France, we visited the city of Arles, and they led me to the Arena and told me – this is two thousand years old. Well, the Chinese have a culture that is four thousand years old. That is a very ancient nation and extraordinarily smart people.

Is there anything in your past that you would like to change?

You cannot change the past. But I would not let myself be cheated by mistresses anymore. I bought them cars as gifts, and they were still very harsh. I cannot regret it, however, because that is how I did it. I got rid of my assets when the singer Pavel Sedláček sued me for saying that we had had sex. He wanted ten million crowns from me. I had them, but giving them to him just because I said somewhere that Mr. Sedláček was a great lover was too much. So I transferred everything to a huge apartment block I built for my former girlfriend, and she ran away with it. I cannot blame anyone for having me robbed by a woman.

How do you see the future? Is there anything you would like to prove yet?

I have not stopped working, but I do it now only for money, because I pay child support, yet life is still wonderful.

What would you say to your twenty-year-old self today?

Don't be silly and devote yourself properly to photography. Even so, I have made several photographs that, in my opinion, were worth it. It does not matter that I am not famous or that people do not recognize me; it is about whether the author, that is me, is satisfied with the photo. There are two approaches to life. Either it is bad and dirty, or it is wonderful and infinite. I was lucky. I lied my whole life. I lied to my wives; eventually, it always came out. Now I do not want to lie anymore. I have nothing to say, I am just deeply convinced that we must respect women.

In Africa, they supposedly do not respect them, and that is a mistake. Yes, they are treacherous, they are extraordinarily smart, but that is nothing against the fact that we owe them our lives. I was at the birth of my children twice. It is the greatest thing you can see, and it cannot be photographed. It is the strongest experience in the world. It is the most and cannot be depicted. No one has ever photographed it. People naturally photograph births, but that is foolishness. They are such naturalistic photos. Birth cannot be depicted. It cannot be photographed, yet people try to do so, and that is correct. I have seen people die, but seeing a child born is the strongest thing in the world.

Do you have a life creed?

Keep going, do not stop. Jan Saudek: People are unteachable

Prepared by: Jan Vojtěch