Adolf Zika (born 21 July 1972) is a Czech photographer. Early life Zika was born in Prachatice, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) in 1972. He graduated from secondary pedagogical school, and in 1988 became a member of the Center for Elite Sports in Prague. He won the title of Junior Champion of the country in judo, and earned a bronze medal in the European Junior Tournament in Vienna. In 1990, he traveled to Budo University in Katsura, Japan, where he trained under the best judo fighters in the world. On his return, he quit his judo career without any official explanation. In the following years, Zika composed music, toured and organized various projects. In 1993, he was the guitarist and songwriter for the hardcore band Serious Music. Career Zika took up photography in 1994, and a year later won first place in the sports category of the Czech Press Photo Contest. In 1996, he worked for a German travel agency in Cologne. Following this, the fashion label Pietro Filipi selected him as their main photographer. In the spring of 1997, Zika opened his own studio in Prague, began shooting fashion and commercial photography, and received his first large commissions. He began working on catalogs for fashion, creating calendars and working on commissions in Australia, Barbados, Hawaii, the Dominican Republic and other locations. He worked regularly for Playboy, where he photographed many of their covers. In 1999, he formed the film and production company ZIPO film. In autumn 2000, he was selected among six photographers to represent the Leica Camera brand at photokina 2000 in Cologne, and was included in their worldwide calendar. He was the author of the largest printed project of 2000, involving the cooperation of 120 photographers from the Czech Republic and four other countries. The result was The Last Book of the Century, One Day in the Life of the Czech Republic. A year later, Zika was included in the book of personalities for Czech commercial and fashion photography. Since 2001, he has directed over two dozen television commercials, and worked on a feature-length film as a producer. In the same year, he began long-term cooperation with the mobile operator Orange SA. For Orange Slovakia, he created their entire re-branding campaign in South Africa. In 2002, he was among the bestselling Czech artists at Paris Photo in the Louvre, where he represented the Leica Gallery Prague. He also