I was born in 1976 in Zagreb, Croatia. I developed an interest in photography since I was a teenager, but it was much later that I got more serious about it. I got my diploma on the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Zagreb, graduating with my final thesis at the Department of Photography.
The first camera I called my own even before I was a teenager was an Agfamatic Pocket (Google it!) that used 110 film. The first “real” camera I bought was a second hand Canon AE-1 SLR sometime at the turn of the century. Unfortunately it broke down pretty soon, so in the early 2000’s I got a Nikon F80.
I like to use various camera types, both digital and analog, but I still prefer taking photos on film, both 35 mm and medium format. I enjoy using all sorts of cameras just for the sake of using them – let’s say as “gadgets”, but of course I equally enjoy photography as an art. For me, those two things complement each other and I find myself thinking about photography subjects and finding inspiration differently when I’m using different camera types. Often my interest shifts from continuously using a certain camera or pursuing a photography theme (fancy wording for “I get fed up by doing same shit”), so different gear keeps me interested. My other interest is amateur astronomy so of course I combine the two and have been doing astrophotography for a long time.
The cameras I owned and used include: Canon AE-1, Nikon FM, FM2n and F80, Rolleiflex MX and 3.5F, Contax T2, Yashica Electro 35 GSN, Olympus 35 SP, Lomo LC-A, Supersampler, Lomo Fisheye, Holga 120 GFN, Diana F+, Wista Field 4×5, Mamiya Super 23, Pentax 645 NII, Pentax 6×7, Olympus Camedia C3020 (my first digital camera!), Canon 20D, Fuji X70, various Nikon DSLRs – D700, D600, D5100, D5500 and Nikon Z6. I’m using a Nikon Coolscan 4000 ED and Epson V700 to scan my films. My most used cameras are Contax T2, Rolleiflex 3.5F, Nikon F80 and Nikon Z6.
Sometimes I entirely loose inspiration or even the will to do photography, so I just stop. And that’s OK. We change jobs, we change our taste in music, we change friends… and we change. So it’s OK to change a hobby, completely or just for a while. Photography as an art is more creative and fun when you are not pressured to do it.
I had a few individual exhibitions and my photos were chosen for some group exhibitions and festival. It’s great to have the ability to show your photos to the “world”, but I’m not a very social person and it’s hard for me to find the energy to promote myself. Still, I am firmly convinced that to fully enjoy photography, the photos should be properly printed and experienced in first person.
Individual exhibitions:
- 2009. – “Zagrebačke šetnje”, Galerija Kupola, Zagreb
- 2013. – “Beli Zagreb grad”, pub “Pod starim krovovima”, Zagreb
- 2013. – Concert photography, Rock klub Ribnjak
- 2015. – “Crno bijeli Zagreb”, Prečko library
- 2017. – “Crno-bijeli Zagreb”, pivnica Pinta
Group exhibitions – Fotoklub Zagreb, Zagreb salon, salon Osijek, Salon Vinkovci, festival Organ vida, Tehnički muzej u Zagrebu, Galerija Cinkuš, libraries in Zagreb, Ogulin, Split…
Magazine “Poezija” (“Poetry”) published at the beginning of 2010 was illustrated mostly with my photos take a look at the cover photo). Many single photos were individually published in magazines like the croatian version of National Geographic, Fotomag, Digital foto, even New Zealand Geographic and one was published as Astronomy Picture of the Day.
