Comrades, it feels so good to be sitting here in my favourite cafe writing to you after a couple of weeks away from this platform. So let’s jump straight into the photos that I took while I was away:
Day 1
The current wife and I flew to Zagreb to celebrate my sister in law’s wedding; I offered to document their celebration and loved every single minute of it, especially doing their portraits in this abandoned hospital in the outskirts of Zagreb:
The wedding was small, intimate and very emotional. I was very happy to see everyone smiling and enjoying themselves. Like in most families, there’s been some drama but on that day there was nothing but tears of joy, I might even have shed a tear or two on one eye while framing with the other.
Day 2
The day after the wedding my creative senses started tingling and I tried to go out to get some snaps around the city centre which is packed with colourful modernist architecture. I say tried because it was pouring down with rain so after getting soaked, I only the snap you see below, had a coffee to catch up on socials and decided to abort photography. On days like these I’d choose comfort over likes!
A note on my personal work: I like to shoot colour mostly in bright, sunny days. I like the look of harsh light and heavy contrast. In dull, overcast days, I prefer to work in monochrome. For those who like to get technical, my settings are always at ISO1000 or ISO1600 at f/8 or f/11. The only thing I vary is the exposure time depending on what I want to create.
Day 3
The following day, I headed out at sunrise, camera in hand, towards my favourite part of the city for urban exploration: Novi-Zagreb. The southern part of the city which is not in any tourist guides and which you will hear very little about given its socialist history but that I find to be the most fascinating area full of brutalist, functional and post modern wonders:
Novi-Zagreb is huge, it streteches across several neighborhoods so it’s worth spending a few days to explore it. This time I only had about half a day to explore around the most northwestern part which is the closest to the city centre where my inl-laws live but managed to get some interesting shots:
In 2020 a massive earthquake hit the city and many of these concrete structures were heavily damaged so they’re not looking their best; efforts are being made to renovate their structural integrity, public places like universities and museums are getting a renovation but some of the privately owned buildings are not very well looked after and some are abandoned.
In between architectural jewels, I like to stop and observe urban spaces and features that catch my attention. Ideally without people in them because, well… this is not street photography!
And if there’s nature around, I like to retouch this in a made-up Aerochrome film simulation that I created in Adobe Camera Raw; This is a new thing for me that I discovered by accident. I simply LOVE the way the infrared wavelength of the simulation turns the greens of grass, trees and bushes into an alien-looking landscape.
Call me weird but the clocks like the one above are one of my favourite features of the city. Doing some research I’m just fnding out that these are made in Zagreb by a family of watchmakers who have been looking after them since the 50’s. I must pay a visit to the workshop next time I’m in Zagreb!
Day 4
The following day the sun shone again, we had several social appointments with friends and family but I managed to escape for a couple of hours to visit my 2 favourite parts of Zagreb for people watching:
Ban Jelacic Square (above) which I find it to be the nicest main square I’ve visited in Europe for observing the local behaviour. It’s busy but not mad busy like say, Barcelona or London. And Dolac Market (below) because of the buzz of a central, open-air market. Breakfast anywhere around the market on spring or autumn is simply one of the best experiences you can have in the city.
In between, I made a few more shots while waiting for the current wife to do her shopping:
Day 5
In the morning we drove for 30 minutes across the border to Slovenia to buy some medicines. Apparently they’re way cheaper over there. It was freezing cold so we had coffee there and bought some really nice pastries for the ride back.
In the afternoon, my sister in law and her now first-husband took us back to the abandoned hospital to explore and take some pictures… I exposed for the Aerochrome simulation:
I will do a photo-essay on this location in a couple of weeks, for now, this single photo will have to do.
Zagreb has a very special place in my heart, I lived there for a few months, I got married there, everyone has been incredibly nice to me and it reminds me a lot of Mexico City in the late 80s when it wasn’t as wild and busy as it is now. I love exploring the streets, finding urban features to photograph and just observing how the city changes every time I visit.
If you’d like to visit and need recommendations, hit me up and I’ll be more than happy to help.
Please comment, chritique and ask any questions about my work or the city. Let’s get the communication flowing.
Until next time!
Lovely to know a city through someone else's lens :). Great shots, and the infrared trick looks awesome.
Also, the term "the current wife" somehow caught my attention xD
Nice photos in a very interesting place. 👏