Places Transformed
We present a compelling gallery of comparison photographs from places where history was made. Archival images from the 1945 events in Cheb, preserved by aviation historian Luděk Matějíček, served as the basis for photographer Jan Langer. He revisited selected locations, captured their present-day atmosphere, and created a symbolic return in time – offering a glimpse of familiar places transformed over eight decades.
Jan Langer
A photographer specializing in documentary, reportage, landscape, and panoramic photography. He is the author of several successful photo books and a recipient of the Prague Photo Award 2012. He has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the Czech Republic and abroad. In the field of comparative photography, he is the author of the internationally renowned series Czechs of the Century.
For several years, he worked at Czech Television as a photo editor for the ČT24 news website, where he initiated and designed the framework for a dedicated photo gallery concept and created, among other things, interactive photographic content with a journalistic and documentary focus. As a photojournalist for the news website Aktuálně.cz, he produced hundreds of comprehensive photo essays on social, environmental, and current political and public issues both in the Czech Republic and abroad.
Since the late 1990s, he has collaborated with various agencies, media, and institutions in both domestic and international contexts. As a photography lecturer, he has participated in several development projects around the world in cooperation with non-profit organizations. In Myanmar, he led an underground photography workshop for opposition journalists; in Kenya, he taught documentary photography to children from the slums of Nairobi; and in Cuba, he trained descendants of dissidents.