Some of my earliest childhood memories involve looking through Cokin filters and seeing the world in different colors. My grandfather (Miloard Jojic Brko, EFIAP) was a professional and an art photographer, and growing up in Sarajevo, Bosnia I had ample opportunity to “play” with some of the gear. My photographic interests grew in my teenage years, and I remember asking grandpa to teach me how to take photographs and develop film at the age of 13. Soon, I found two school-related locations to develop my own film, and make photographic prints. I shot with borrowed Pentax Spotmatic and Rolleiflex 2.8. When I turned 18, I left for America, and photography stopped being a part of my life until almost 20 years later, when it was re-ignited with my growing interest in the digital art photography and camera club membership.
In 2015, in full swing with my digital Olympus OM-D E-M1, I decided to pick up the the old Spotmatic - which made its way with me to America, and stayed with me through all my adult life, boxed up for most part. I saw something in film, and in the film process, which I never could see in digital. It was harder, slower, imperfect, frustrating and it even smelled (at times) …and I realized that this was how it was always supposed to be for me. I quickly fell back into it: film cameras were now much more affordable, and there was still film! I still shoot digital, but - when I shoot film - I feel “a photographer” and enjoy my own work more.
There is a freedom that comes with photographing the street, landscape or travel scenes with a camera which has 2 or 3 settings - aperture, shutter speed and focus. There is joy that comes from seeing the negative after development. There is patience that grows from limited number of frames. There is contemplative intent in every shutter release. There is fun in sharing with likeminded people. I hope it never stops.