30Dec

I have been a photographer for quite a few years now and it has been a bumpy ride dealing with inspiration loss back home in Slovenia. However, I have spent the last few months here in Lisbon in the university lab developing film and learning the tricks behind good prints. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still miles away of mastering it, but nonetheless – the moment when you unroll the latest developed film roll for the first time or the feeling when prints begin to appear in that tray … That gives me the chills and makes wanting more of it. Digital has failed to do that for me for a while now, but I think that might have changed.

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I sincerely believe that the best camera is the one that is always with you. In my case that was always the tiny camera of my phone (which usually does the job, don’t get me wrong) but I often encounter scenarios where I wish I had my camera with me. I don’t carry my DSLR out so often for many reasons –  it’s heavy, I constantly worry about it and it attracts attention when it shouldn’t. Living in Lisbon means walking a lot and since its a multi-cultural city that means there are interesting sights around every corner. I love to walk around and observe people around me – that excites me as a photographer. But it is getting harder and harder to capture these pristine moments with the dslr, people sometimes get scared of it. For that reason I was thinking of buying a compact camera for quite some time now, but never had the money or the “click” in my head to just do it.

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I was reading an article from Eric Kim on shooting film the other day and in the end he starts talking about his Ricoh GR, the camera about which I read about a while back, but since I had no means of buying it, I forgot about it. After reading the article I checked the local online ad page out of curiosity and there was only one listed for sale in the whole country, luckily not even 500mts from my house. I never saw one in person or held it, so I sent the guy an email if we could meet and if I could test the camera 1st hand. I tried it the next day and I was super impressed by the touch and feel of it. After investigating more about it at home I had my mind set so I went ahead and bought it. And boy, the last 3 weeks were great.

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I’m not gonna write the technical specs of it, but in short, its an APS-C sized sensor tucked in the small body that fits your pocket, which was my main requirement. This means I have the capabilities of a DSLR in my pocket at all times. It’s super adjustable and programmable and offers infinite customization options to make things easier. Since the GR series exists for a while now, the recipe for the design has proven itself already – it fits the hand perfectly and securely and all the buttons are in the right place so I never have to dig into menus to find and change a setting. Overall it’s super fast and ready to shoot the next second you turn it on and the lens is excellent too.

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The most important thing about this camera is that its small, subtle and doesn’t attract attention while you have it in your hands. I guess it kinda makes you look like a tourist, but that is ok 🙂 I use the zone focusing to pre-set my focus distance and I can get sharp images while walking past the subjects. I think this feature alone sets this thing aside from the rest. I love it and I have never been more excited to go out of the house for a walk, because I always come home excited with a bunch of cools shots from the street. I love it for bringing back that excitement for shooting, none of the cameras that I had or tried before didn’t give me that. Anyway, high five for this one Ricoh!

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p.s I don’t usually write longer texts but this street-themed post felt like it needed some background explanation to it .. I hope it’s not boring (or even if it is, heh), but I wanted to share my excitement on this!:)

 

 

 

06Dec

Some shots from the trip to the Azores (Açores – Ilha do São Miguel) that we did with Katka. An amazing green island with oceanic climate in the middle of the Atlantic.. The best part of the island is that it is still “pure”, dedicated to farming and dairy production (note the cows all around) and the volcanic thermal water baths are an experience to remember! And lets not forget the views .. The one from the top of the ridge (Lagoa do Canario) where you can see the three lakes and Sete Cidades is unforgettable (below). And in case you are wondering – yes, it is that green for real!

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30Nov

Katka

 

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17Nov

This one is literally “fresh of the press”. An art zine project I just turned in today as a 2nd project in the design communication class. I had to create a name, concept, gather the content and – design it. The name is Artitude, which in the urban dictionary says something like this:

 

A description of a person becoming overly vehement over their particular artistic choice.
Art critic: How can you say picasso is the epitome of the cubist/surrealist movement. he holds not a candle to Dali you twit.

Pleb: Sure…

The content – most artwork and text are gathered from the web. There are lots of works by Slovenian photographers (interview – Katja Kremenić, reportages by Nat Geo photographer Ciril Jazbec), articles about JR, critical design and also new design and photography talents … Sadly, the zine won’t go any further (just one copy) and be sold or duplicated in any way. The the timeline to gather all the authors’ approval was impossible, so this is for academic purposes only.
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And some more shots of the design below.

12Nov

I was usually involved with bands through photography, but this time I did the album design for a local band in Novo mesto called El Kachon. They are a cool blues/rock band with a few released records already – listen to their music here. The album just came out, so support your local band! The photography was done by Jernej Kokol, check him out too!

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05Nov

A photobook with my photographs I have presented in the 1st semester of my masters as the final work for the photography class in the Academy of Fine Arts of Ljubljana. All analog photographs by me, printed by Luminus studio in Novo mesto. Thanks to Peter Koštrun for all the support with this one!

 

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05Nov

Some randomly arranged photographs from the most recent wedding I did – the lovely couple Simon & Tanja. The wedding took place in Novo mesto and the dinner took place in Zidanica Opara, Trebnje. I will publish some shots from the wedding book itself soon! Enjoy and all the best to the newly weds! You can check some more of the photos in the portfolio area soon.

Special thanks to Jan Rifelj for backing me up as an assistant for a few hours!

 

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29Okt

Two posters I came up with as a typography assignment on the IADE university in Lisbon, Portugal. I really like the band called Placebo and the “every me, every you” is one of my favourite songs. The first poster was a “sure thing” but after experimenting and evolving my concept, I came up with the second version of the poster, which has much more meaning incorporated into it than the first “trendy” version of it.

 

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29Sep

Interior shots of a wine bar called malamačka in Novo mesto, Slovenia that I did a few months ago. Stop by for a glass of great wine or a selection of artisanal craft beers surrounded with great ambient!

 

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29Avg

This is a poster that was made for my friend Sašo, for the needs of the MEi:CogSci Conference 2015. It is a science poster entitled “GDNF, Ibogaine and Addiction” – thats is why its flooded with text, but nevertheless, he managed to win a 2nd place overall with the poster. Really happy about that!

 

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