Sorry for the big gap in posting these, but im coming back strong with a GREAT photographer! *lustforleica aka Igor!




Name (first or just dA name) and geographical location?

First name: Igor. I'm Serbia-based, but as you can see by my deviations, I travel a lot, and most of my stuff is taken in countries other than Serbia.


How long have you been shooting (in total) and when did you start shooting Street?

I'm a Film Directing major, so I've done quite a lot of shooting with a video camera, just about over a ten year's worth of kinda-sorta photo-related work, during which time I directed and observed cinematographers work the lights and composition, as well as serving as a cinematographer on several of my own shorts.

As far as still photography goes, I started dabbling with it in 1999, when a friend gifted me a Kool-Aid giveaway camera that used 110 film (or Leica format), to this date my favorite format. Unfortunately, that camera is currently MIA, but will forever be special in my heart. After a lengthy break, I made a more serious return to photography this January with a Nikon D80.


What inspired you to shoot street?

Mostly the spontaneity of it. Unlike most other forms of photography, in Street photography you're always shooting from the hip (so to speak), forced to be creative in split second situations. When doing Street, you have a very short window of time, sometimes barely a moment, to get in the best possible position, adjust the focal length, compose the image and click. It really is the most exciting, raw, liberating form of photography, without the sometimes bothersome and lengthy process of lighting and blocking a shot. Let me tell you, after making movies, mostly in a completely controlled, complexly lit environment, shooting Street is therapy.


What goes through your mind while you explore the streets?

Simple answer: Nothing. Complex answer: Everything. When out in the streets with a camera, I tend to get completely engrossed in the surroundings, almost consummately focusing on the big picture as well as the details, trying to capture something alive and real, while at the same time, as a composition purist, trying to frame and set up a photo as neatly as possible, and as a storyteller, trying to make it somehow dramatic. This is all, of course, by now purely an instinctive process.


At first did you feel comfortable shooting people?

I never feel too comfortable shooting people. But, on the other hand, street is a public place, and if somebody has a problem being caught doing something unbecoming, well, they shouldn't have been doing it in public anyway.

My answer to the general ethical question of photographing people mostly without their consent and in potentially questionable situations is always that I truly feel compassion for the less fortunate I capture, and understanding for the silly ones. In the end, I tend to capture them as they really are. If someone is adorable, or sweet, or hungry, or silly, or angry, or just plain a dick, I like to believe that my pictures captures them as such.


How did you overcome that fear (or) Do you have any advice for people looking to overcome that fear?

Actually, when I started, I didn't feel hesitant at all. That came later, as I became older and more aware of the fact that these are, in fact, real people with real emotions. In a way, a street photographer shouldn’t overcome that fear, it is that fear that keeps you in check, making sure you don’t snap something morally reprehensible, and firmly holding the line between Street and Paparazzo.


Can you show us your favorite street photograph (from your gallery) and explain why it is your

Since I get bored with my own stuff real quick, and given time I come to find flaws in pretty much everything I do, my favorite would have to be one of my latest, Street Crossing . I like how there's a lot going on, and am very satisfied with it as far as the composition goes. The sign, the little train, the girl with the suitcase, the group in the distance, the lines of the architecture and the manhole in the left corner, all come together in a way that to me almost makes the photo look planned. In my dreams, the group behind her would ideally be a slight bit to the left, but that very imperfection is, in the end, what makes Street photography special.


Can you show us your favorite street photograph (from ANY dA gallery) and explain why it is your

That honor has to go to 027 by ~harmonist , possibly my favorite deviation in all of dA. Reminiscent of Edward Hopper, this deviation quite simply, is what Street photography should be at its best. The photographer takes a spontaneous picture and contextualizes it by using composition, décor, available objects and light, captures the subject at an ideal moment and, in the end, exhibits an amazing eye for framing all these things into a complete story. Maybe I’m overselling it, but I just love it to smithereens.

Also, and this is a close second, The Catwalk by my brother *NowPictured It’a strange moment, wonderfully captured, full of mood and atmosphere. Just a stunning snap.


On the street, what is your favorite subject?

Everything. My Street stuff does mostly concern people, but also all sorts of interesting, intriguing details, such as street lights, public transportation vehicles, billboards, street signs, and so on. Traveling a lot, I’ve come to a fondness for all sorts of multinational intricacies as far as the visual symbols and their functionality within a singular culture. My goal, in the end, is to capture street life of a city, and inanimate objects are almost as much a part of it as its people.


What is the best tip you can give to others?

Learn all you can, and then stop thinking about it consciously. Trust your gut. Take pictures the way you feel like taking them, and not the way books tell you you should. Show the things you see, not the things that are self-evident. Most importantly, try to relax and take in the city yourself, not just through the camera. It shows.


Favorite photographer and why.

I don't think I have a favorite photographer. Most of the back-and-forth that leads to me taking better pictures naturally comes from my girlfriend *Adah-nue and my brother *NowPictured , both inspiring, amazing photographers with impeccable taste. As far as off-dA photographers, my faves would have to include Robert Doisneau and a lesser-known Czech photographer Jindrich Streit, who made an entire career out of rural photojournalism, capturing literally thousands of amazing and gorgeous village life scenes that are at turns humorous and sad, and at all times life-affirming and moving.

As far as dA photographers go, I have to say I always look forward to new deviations from ^rhapsouldize who would be in my watch even if she weren't a gallery director with some of the best journal features around, *crvena69, *hakanphotography, ~MagnusLabel with his hilarious Transformers stuff, and many, many others to be found in my friends list and favorites.




Thank you soooooooooo much for the interview