How I got into photography :)
Hello again! :)
Today I will talk to you about something personal. My start. Why I chose to do photography, how I got into it, what keeps me going, and how is this one of the the first things in my life that I didn’t give up on haha.
As some of you might know, before I got into Photography University in Berlin, I studied Architecture back in Belgrade. I wanted to study Interior Design since I was quite young, I always loved interiors. My plan was to move to Milano after high school and start studying there, but as plans never happen as they were planned haha, this also didn’t happen. Now, I do think it was a good thing. I was way too young to move to a foreign country. Since studying interior design wasn’t really possible in Belgrade at the time, at least not in the way it was in Milano. I guess it’s still not possible to have similar interior design studies as the ones on Politecnico di Milano. So then at the beginning of my last year in high school I decided to go to architecture, and then do the masters in interior design. Well, obviously, this plan also didn’t happen ahaha. I had some ideas to do PhD in airplane interior design hahah.
Anyway, in my first semester I was really into architecture, but not really into 2 specific courses, that are kind of the base of architecture. By the end of the first semester I knew this is not something I want to do in life. I loooove architecture, I still read about it, I still have good knowledge on the subject. And to be honest, whenever I talk to my friend Andrea, who is an architect, about some projects or architectural topics, I always ask myself if I made the right decision. But then I remember how I only like the idea of me being an architect, and not really the work.
However, I have already had my DSLR camera at the time (got it for my 18th bday to take nice holiday pics hahah, little did I know). I decided to start taking my camera with me to uni and to take photos of people, of the architectural models we were building, of details, of whatever I found interesting. I was also bringing my camera on dog-walks with my mom. I was photographing from our kitchen window (we lived on the 17th floor at the time, right next to the river, with an amazing view, will insert a photo). I was taking photos of EVERYTHING. I didn’t know much about anything, was still using my camera on manual setting haha. I guess I got quite the feeling of composition and details while studying architecture and having a 1 year long preparation for the uni. I was photographing every day, and never even thought that this might be my path, that this might be something I am supposed to do. Then one day, a friend that I found as one of the most artistic people I knew at the time, said something about how I should go and study photography. How I am clearly not happy in architecture uni, and how photography is my path. She said my photographs were really good. Of course, I’ve never thought my work was really good, even when I got good grades and good feedback, okay to be honest I still don’t think my work is too special haha. I always assume that anyone can do what I do, but then when I say this people look at me as if I am crazy and well.. haha
So after she mentioned this, I started researching photography schools or courses. Again, studying photography in Belgrade doesn’t exist the way I studied in Berlin. The only thing I found that I was really interested in was a 3 months long course. And I took it. What I did not expect was the very good feedback I got from our professor. The more time I spent learning about photography the more I liked it. Then one of the girls that was in the course became one of my closest friends, and we started taking photographs around the city almost every day. We were volunteering for sooo many events, organizations. I kind of stopped going to uni regularly at the time and she was taking a break so we had lots of time. For the next year I managed to build a portfolio with a very nice variety of the photographs. Even when I look at it now, I still think those photos were really strong. Of course now I see some details that I would fix that I didn’t see then, but overall, for someone who was super new to this photo game, they were strong.
Less then a year after I finished the course, I started researching for universities abroad. Milano, London and Berlin. From these three Berlin maybe made the least sense. I speak Italian and I already had friends in Milano. I knew Italian culture, probably better than my own, so blending in would not be a problem. Also, some people say I look Italian so yeah that is great hahah. The only problem was, I couldn’t find the right course. London, well, I’ve been obsessed with London and England since I was 3 years old (although I did think that London was the capital of USA, I was 3,4 okay? hahah) London is definitely the most expensive of these three, getting the visa for UK would be a big question mark, and London would be a bit too much for me at the time. London is still a bit too much for me even now. I would definitely love to live there at some point, but maybe when I’m older. And then Berlin.. I had some friends here. It is the city of art, photography, filmography, design, music. It is the city that is the most similar to Belgrade (some very optimistic people love to say that Belgrade is the new Berlin, it is not really). It is the most “chilled” city from these three. So there it was, I found a uni, found a course, went to an open day, cried in the bathroom because I finally felt like I belong here, then cried because I thought I would never get in (also I’m not the person that cries, so for me to express these kind of emotions where someone could potentially see me was a sign). And then I applied and then I had an interview and then I got in.
And that is the story how I got here :)
This blog post is already really long, so the rest of the story, of how I got to the point where I am now, will come in a few days. So keep checking for part 2.
Best,
Ena
/ photo on the cover by: Ana Ćirilović; Belgrade, 2015
