Photography - an escape, a friend, an acomplishment. My story of how photography makes my life better.

Photography has given me so much that it would be a pity not to lay out my gratitude to it.
Ever since I was little I was finding photography amazing. My first moments with a camera in my hands were when I was 7-8 years old. I was going around the house when I'm alone and checking all the drawers and cabinets looking for cool old stuff and just going around of curiosity. My grandfather was a photographer along with being an engineer and playing the violin( an amazing person). He passed when I was 4 years old so not much memories I have with him. Neither could he explain to me in person about photography. However his film cameras and tons of negatives and diapositives were all in different cabinets around the house. When I was getting to them I was stopping the home exploration adventure and dipping deeply in to another one. I remember spending hours with the cameras and lenses. Dusting them off, opening them, changing lenses to see how they change what you see and fiddling with the bodies. Then I wold go to see pictures he took. Prague, Rome, Moscow, Serbia and many others. I was seeing the world. I was traveling around it from my window where I was looking trough countless films. I was amazed. Don't know if you can imagine being a young child from a shitty town in a down the drain country seeing some of the most beautiful landscapes, architecture and places of the world. It was mind-blowing then and it is still mind-blowing almost 15 years later.
From that moment on I really wanted to shoot. I wanted a camera really bad. I wanted to capture what I, as a child, saw as amazing and shotworthy.
I was given an old point and shoot film camera when I was around 3rd grade or something. One of those super basic ones. But I didn't care. this was all I wanted. I was taking it with me to school, I was taking it on school trips and when I was playing around the block too. When I was home I was just holding it and enjoying the fact that I have it.
Years later I got a present from my uncle - one of these first camera focused sony ericsons that shot 2.3 Mp shots. My uncle also started taking me camping by the beach for the season by that time.
There was my first class of photography. I remember it like it was yesterday. Our caravan was next to the one of a photography and film-making university teacher. I saw the opportunity and went to her one day to talk about shooting. It was such a big deal for me that I remember being a bit shaky even. She asked to see some of the pictures I made with the phone and this was the first one I showed
Just a boring lo-fi photo of a sunrise at the best place I've been up to that moment. However this is a milestone for my photography. After seeing it she took me to the water, where the sand is wet, and she started drawing lines. The first thing she showed me was the rule of thirds and told me to keep my horizon flat. She also told me to take many pictures and show them to her each day so that she can give me tips. And so I did for some time. I also improved the initial shot Ihave only (prints cause the hard drive I had them on died)
This is when I started giving attention to composition for the first time.
After that summer, when we got back from camping I received a pretty good point and shoot. A canon ixus 950 or something like that. With it were my first trips aimed only to photo taking.
The first time I went to such a trip I was all by myself. It was a really cold and snowy winter and everything was covered with a white blanket. I wanted to go someplace where people don't go often and so I did. I took the camera and ventured on my first photography quest.
I went of an empty field above the city. It was super cold and the snow was really deep. I was so exited that none of this mattered and all I wanted was to take a photos. I took many but there was only one that I liked a lot and luckily I printed that one as well
This was the first time I felt it. I felt that awesome feeling of tranquillity and joy from going somewhere on your own and roaming around to find the thing you want to shoot. The place, the object and the time. You hit the shutter and bang! You took the photo you wanted at the moment you wanted and now it's there forever ( if you manage your shots well :D).
From there I started experimenting. Different places, people, sports (I was skating then so many skate shots were done as well) and basically snapping as much as I want.
Years later I still had only this camera and photography was something to do from time to time. When I started university I got my first DSLR and then is when I really got hooked on shooting. I started researching different artists and different techniques that they use. I started step by step creating a style of my own.
I started shooting a lot of architecture. I have always had interest in man made structures and where I live there is an abundance of industrial architecture. Its a boring old industrial town with not much going on. The thing that made it interesting was its broken and rusty cityscape. I started going out to shoot when ever I wasn't doing anything else. I started going to abandoned places, old buildings and industrial sites. Often times I were kicked out by security and often times I felt scared of hobos and junkies at some of the places. There was this rush of being alone in such places that was driving me to do it more and more
basically everywhere I could get the creeps I was going. I had this period for a long time. I checked every place I had around and shot it.. Everytime I was alone I was going to out to shoot and everytime I was down this helped me feel better. every time I felt good it also made me feel better. I knew I have my camera and I could go shoot and this would make everything better.
As we are moving to the present moment I still shoot regularly. I have it as something that can take me away from all other thoughts and slow me down in a calm and relaxing way. Not only that but it also gets me to places I wouldn't know of otherwise. I recently shoot a lot of long exposures and night photography and find that as an experience to be one of the most meditative and enjoyable ways of shooting. I go someplace with the car, listen to music all the way, then I find my location and go out. I get my equipment and light a ciggie and the I roam and shoot. And as the camera soaks up the light I soak up the place. I then see something that my eyes couldn't and this wows me every time I make a successful shot.


Photography has always been there for me. I always found comfort and calmness in doing it. Soo many trips and places I would not have seen if it wasn't for it. It has been a friend when there was none and a place to go where there was none. Along with that it has helped me memorise the best of times with the best of friends and have the moments at the best places forever. Its the thing that ill always have with me.
Now I have the a favourite person to share this whole experience with and that not only makes me endlessly happy but also has effect upon my art. My lovely and amazing beyond words lady @misskatee I'm not making this cheesy but imagine there are eyes on the universe that make your own explode every time you see them. Eyes that shine above a smile that turns your world. Imagine that a person in the world makes your own world bigger better and far more beautiful. A muse. An inspiration and a source of unending energy. Would you want the eyes of that person see the most beauty out of every moment possible? Wouldn't you want to make those eyes shine of excitement when they see your work?
Not only this but some of my best shots were taken with her by my side at places I wouldn't be if it weren't for her. Some of the long exposures have a kiss hidden behind the camera while we are together waiting for the right time to expose. And on the shots I've done without her she is still with me in my thoughts, giving me motivation and the power to believe in myself. She says she is my biggest fan! Truth is that she is my biggest inspiration.