Nejc Urankar

 

Photography has been my passion for a number of years now. I am beyond grateful to live in Slovenia a beautiful small country in the middle of Europe. It’s among the greenest countries in the world with many different types of landscapes so it’s no surprise that everything connected to nature has always inspired me on my artistic path. With my 25 years I was already growing up in a digital age so my first camera was an DSLR that enabled me to capture beautiful moments in time during my “expeditions” in nature. At the beginning I was often disappointed with the results I got out of my camera but thru time when I figured out the settings and got some experience I was surprised with the positive feedback that I got from my audience. That motivated me to pursue my passion even more seriously. After secondary school I started my studies at Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana that had a big impact on me. I really widened my understanding of art thru meeting many different colleague artists that were equally enthusiastic about their work like me. Professors introduces us to other photographic techniques also more traditional ones that required handwork and use of the darkroom. To be honest I did not fall in love in the darkroom from the very beginning but from as far as I can remember I liked using my hands pursuing different crafts so the idea of traditional photographic techniques nestled somewhere in the back of my head. After three years the time has come to choose a topic for my Bachelor’s degree and without a second thought I went for Autochrome that I fell in love with because of its mysterious background and beautiful coloured mosaic structure. Little did I know that it was one of the hardest techniques to reproduce ever invented. I dived deep into the theory and after numerous failed attempts I managed to meet the deadline with working coloured image that was a composite of original autochrome coloured screen and commercial bw film. Deep inside I am a perfectionist so I didn’t allow myself to settle on something half finished. After three years of research I continue my journey of original autochrome to this day. Thru the process I am learning and also discovering other photographic techniques that keep me busy and motivated!