3x the Coast of Croatia

I see myself as a documentary photographer, trying to be objective in telling the stories I do, and strive to have a deeper understanding of what I photograph.

In my previous post, I wrote about the trap of exoticism in photography, and failure to see interesting subjects close to home.

Exotic locations, as much as they may be inspiring, are also difficult to photograph because no matter how hard we try, we just cannot give them justice. It should not prevent us from making photos, that’s for sure, but I myself find it hard to create a meaningful body of work in such locations. Of course, I do my research beforehand – but still – for me it is not enough.

Whenever I go on a family holiday abroad, I struggle with photography. Suddenly, I am limited by my lack of language skills, I don’t know the culture well enough to even attempt documenting something with care and respect it deserves, and I don’t have time, that’s for sure.

I mentioned family holidays specifically, because for me this is the only way to go somewhere abroad with my camera. I am not a professional reporter sent on assignment (I wish). I cannot wait at a location for the perfect light, because the rest of the family is already on their way to the beach or to get their fifteenth scoop of ice-cream that day. On such occasions my personal photography is relegated to the back seat, and I only have short time slots for my hobby, in between vacationing and taking family photos.

Still, being in an inspiring location begs for photos to be made. However, I no longer treat these as documentary photography, but more as a photographic diary, a notebook. I am aware of my limitations. I don’t know if the things I photograph have any special meaning to the locals that I am not aware of. I don’t go to places that only a fixer would take me to, and I never claim to have captured the “spirit of the place”. These photos are as subjective as they can be. I photograph whatever catches my eye, and sometimes something interesting emerges as a side effect of all these struggles.

The title of this post says 3x the Coast of Croatia, because the photos here were taken in recent years in several places along the Croatian coast, where I spend summer vacation with my family. On our first visit I focused on family photos, and snapped only a few such “curiosities” in passing, as well as some landscape photos. On the next two visits I had a less vague idea of what to expect, and came prepared to take more photos just for me. I also planned for some more “me time” including shorter and longer solo hikes to some places the family wasn’t even remotely interested in seeing. I had more of a project approach, still being completely aware that whatever I photograph will have no universal documentary value. Interestingly, I learned more about the way I see and what attracts me photographically when I was on a foreign land than when at home, which later led me to pursue similar themes in my local projects.

In three years of our visits, we drove along the entire coast of Croatia, covering thousands of kilometres, and visiting a whole lot of interesting places. This is not to say, that I have somehow become an expert in Croatia, far from that, but rather that I was able to photograph similar motives throughout the country, and came up with a solid selection of images.

I rarely say anything positive about my own photography – the curse of a perfectionist – but I have to confess that I am really happy with at least some of these photos.

Having material spanning three years let me look at these photos from a different perspective, and find interesting frames among what would be outtakes or second picks. I had fun sequencing the entire project, and some picks were made because the photos worked better as part of a series, even though there were seemingly better alternatives that worked as singles. I also added some photos of my family that I found fitting, but sparsely.

A finished product with your photos like a book or a zine gives you a much stronger sense of achievement, even if only a single copy exists. So if there is any takeaway from this post, it is that I urge you to print your images, sequence them, and put them in complete series.

Till the next one!

Jakub