Model: Gabrijela Lovrinović
Dresses: Atelier Pronovias Barcelona, Vesna SPOSA Studio
Location: House of Croatian Defenders, Pula

Last weekend we were at a wedding fair in Pula, a city located at the bottom of the of the Istria peninsula. Istria is otherwise known as “Terra Magica”, and that name speaks for itself. After a fashion show with all the bridal dresses, Vanja got into talking with the great people from the Vesna SPOSA fashion shop. They were here showing the 2018 collection from Elie Saab and Atelier Pronovias, amongst others.
The wedding fair was located in the magnificent House of Croatian Defenders, and the location was perfect for a mini-campaign shoot.
The only problem was that we left our cameras in Zagreb, so we had the location, the models, the dresses, MUA, and a new client who wanted pictures – but no cameras. Not to worry though, while Marko was left guarding the booth, Vanja took out her trusted Samsung Galaxy A5 and went shooting.
While smartphones still can’t compare with Full Frame DSLRs we use at weddings, they can produce some really interesting results. There were even some unexpected bonuses, for example if you want to get the dress being slightly blurred by movement while the face is still sharp, it turns out that in a moderately lit room smartphone chooses exactly the right shutter duration for that kind of effect.
All the photographs were shot with the default Samsung camera app, and then edited on the phone using Snapseed.
The editing process in Snapseed was as follows:

• First thing after opening a photo is selecting “pop” in styles.
• Go to tools and tune the image – raise ambiance, lower highlights, lower shadows, raise warmth.
• Select grain film L03, lower the noise and lower style strength to +40.

While we wouldn’t necesarilly use these photos for billboard ads, they can be more than enough for something like an Instagram-based campaign. 🙂

 

 

Sljeme mountain is the place where everybody from Zagreb goes hiking on the weekends, and one of the more popular destinations on it is the Medvedgrad fortress. It’s over 700 years old, built to defend the people living in the area from invasions, which were quite common in this part of the world.
Today it’s the home to the “Altar of the homeland”, which is a monument to the soldiers who have died in the Croatian war for independence. And it’s a place with some rather fantastic views of Zagreb.

So of course we were really excited when Ivana and Leo said that they wanted to have their session up here. What we didn’t know was just how crazy they were. They wanted photos from the top of the tower, so we climbed up there.
When we got up, without hesitation they climbed on the wall at the top of the tower. In the dress and the suit, with a rather large way to fall down.
I (Marko) was somewhat shocked, but the only thing I could do was climb up myself. Vanja was handing me the camera with the lens I needed, everything else I had left on the ground.
My legs were still shaking hours after the photo shoot was, but these guys were crazy enough that they took our GoPro from Vanja while we were all up there, took a photo of me, and then a selfie!
Crazy, incredible people. 🙂

There’s a sanctuary in northern Croatia called Marija Bistrica. After burning in a big fire in 1880., the local church was rebuilt by Herman Bolle. You know, the same guy who built tons of buildings in Zagreb. And Split and Rijeka and Osijek. And Budapest and Ljubljana and Vienna. What’s interesting is that his typicall Austrian style is not that visible here. On the contrary, it remimded us of Italy. Does it have the same effect on you? 🙂

 

Is there a better way to connect with people than with a slice of a cake? One thing we’re unsuccesful at is keeping up with a diet plan. Cakes break the rules, and it’s good that they do. They’re also an essential part of every meeting we have with clients, and below you can find some of the cakes that we made.

 

 

One thing we absolutely *love* is when a couple say that we don’t have to do a session in their city, if we can all get in a car and drive somewhere. Travelling is always a great idea, especiallly when it’s to a place like Trakošćan castle. Trakošćan is a 13th century castle located in northern Croatia, not that far away from Zagreb. It’s kept in a fantastic shape, and surrounded by an amazing forest with a lake in the middle. You can even rent a gondola and take a ride on the lake – which is of course what we did. 🙂

Spring has come to Zagreb, and is there a better way to take advantage of it than photographing a beautiful couple in magnolia flowers? Their wedding is not until the summer, but we always do the engagement session whenever the bride & the groom want it to happen. We were more than happy to fulfill Antonia’s wish of having photos with her soon-to-be husband in some magnolias, and we had a special guest star on the shoot – Coco the dog. 🙂

Every time we get a chance to shoot a wedding at the seaside it’s something special for us. We’ll usually arrive at least a day before the wedding and just have some fun while shooting the place we’re at. It’s a different experience each time, but one thing that doesn’t change is Vanja shooting all the local cats. This time she even (unsuccessfuly) tried to smuggle one back to Zagreb.
We arrived to the beautiful island of Cres on Friday and stayed at the restaurant until late with Barbara & Vinko, helping to have everything just the way it should be for the big day. On Saturday we woke up at 5 AM and went outside to shoot some movie footage while the small seaside village was waking up. Of course we stayed until the end of the wedding (which meant Sunday morning) and then went back to Zagreb with getting no sleep whatsoever, and we didn’t even notice. 🙂

Željka & Toni told us they wanted a photo session in a place that’s different than anything else. We ended up shooting them at the local laundromat. Željka & Toni are two incredibly creative people who formed a band called Mangroove. They play neo soul funk, and they’ve been doing it since 2003. You can find them you Youtube and check them out. 🙂