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Ivan Alerić
@__aleric
Landscape photographer based in Croatia
Since I can remember, I have wanted to create anything and let my creativity be seen. First, it was little drawings, then some animations and videos, and a little later even short films. However, for a long time, I stagnated, neglecting what I loved doing. All those little creative activities that I did as a kid pointed me towards visual creation, but I couldn’t figure things out.
Eventually, this interest started getting back to me. I would regularly play video games and sometimes enter spectator mode; a mode where you can go anywhere on the map and record videos and take pictures in-game. In some games, you can even change focal length, aperture, etc. Think of it as if you had countless cameras and drones to capture a live event – it’s a ton of fun and I learned a lot from it. So, I would capture everything in-game and make a short cinematic video out of it afterward. I guess, even though I neglected it, my urge for creativity had to burst out somewhere.
"This helped me realize how much I really enjoy making any kind of visual content."
I always preferred video over photos, although over the past few months my passion for photography sparkled. I’ve been doing it a lot more than I used to; I think I just want to learn every aspect of visual arts. In the end, it is all about the desire to create something. I am still not sure what point I am at, or where I go, but I know I’m on the right path and I’m more active than ever before. It is never too late to start, so I appreciate where I am now, just at the beginning. As long as I am on my path, it’s good. I am here to create and learn.
I like to think of myself as a visual artist because I love creating anything; mainly videos, photos, or graphics. I never go to a spot I planned in advance and only photograph upon arrival. I make content on the run, everywhere I go, and that way I realized that the best camera is the one you have with you.
I can say that my biggest “problem’’ is that I want to capture everything – when I’m paddle boarding, mountain biking, hiking… That being said, there is no other way for me to create content than run and shoot. It teaches me to be ready and prepared to capture every amazing moment I would otherwise miss. I like the dynamic of it. I enjoy the process so much; traveling, exploring, finding new places and spots, the excitement that I get from visiting beautiful places, and the impatient feeling to finally edit all the content I obtained… It is a special experience, and what is fulfilling for me is when I see the final product, the piece I created.
"That feeling of watching the result and saying, yes! That’s it! That’s exactly what I wanted and I want everyone to see it! – The satisfaction of creating is beautiful and encouraging."
Every good piece of art, photo, or video inspires me. Out of the famous names, I could say James Cameron blows my mind. His perfectionism, innovative and groundbreaking creations always inspire me. Visually speaking, his films have amazed me since I can remember. The Terminator melting down in 1984, Titanic breaking apart in 1997 and the complete revolution of 3D and CGI movies in 2009, Avatar. To be able to create something like that from the scratch seems unbelievable to me, yet so motivational.
It happens almost every day that I see an amazing piece of content that motivates me to create something as good as that. Instagram is full of all kinds of creators, it’s hard to stand out and it’s the people who keep creating even when they don’t get too much from it that inspire me the most. That shows they genuinely love what they’re doing, and nothing can stop them.
Not so long ago, I shared a video about the challenges I have been facing (and with me, perhaps many others) when it comes to visual creation, showcasing our work among a huge online audience and growth. The moment I started to get back at visual creation after a year of silence, I made an Instagram account and said, Ok I will post here, it will be fun, I will take trips on the weekends, take some shots, and edit them later. As I work 9-5, I edited photos and videos for a few hours once I got home, and went to bed to repeat the next day. As much as I derive joy from creating, I did get tired of this. Now I have learned to take breaks. With that said, it’s not just “doing what you love” and living happily ever after – It takes a lot of time, hard work, and money.
That said, photography is an expensive hobby and I don’t have any professional gear. I have an older camera; it is not even a DSLR. It’s kind of a bridge camera with a single lens, but it works well for me. The image quality may not be the best, but it’s very versatile. With some right editing, you can get the most of it (as long as you shoot in bright times of the day, I don’t even try low-light photos anymore). Later I decided to buy a drone, as I thought it would help me get some epic views for my photos and obtain growth as a visual creator. I bought the DJI MINI2 for €500, and for that price, I’ve been nothing but super happy with it; it’s a little beast.
"I started to shoot a lot of aerial photos and videos, and a lot of new possibilities opened up. I made all kinds of content and I was very hyped about it. However, the results I needed weren't there."
I kept taking trips, shooting, editing, posting, but I still wasn’t good enough and received little to no feedback on my work. I was still new to all of this, but I knew I needed to improve. The amount of work I’ve done in the field taking photos as well as in editing and learning is absurd and at the same time inspiring to me – never in my life have I been so committed to something.
Then the summer came and in summer I enjoy doing a lot of paddling and mountain biking. So I decided to buy a GoPro to be ready to capture everything, wherever I’d go, as the surroundings are always very beautiful and worth capturing. And I did, but nothing changed. Anything that I did was still unnoticed; little to no reach, no engagement… I started to wonder: Am I bad at this? Why did I buy all this gear? Why did I spend so much of my money on photography when I get nothing from it? I felt frustrated.
"It was time to take a break. I had to change something and so I decided to not try, capture, and share everything for the purpose of growth and visibility, but just enjoy it instead, do it for myself, and not worry about social media."
Why should I even worry about how Instagram or any other platform rates or values my work? I realized that I was being creative with visuals before those trends and I would keep doing it after too. So, I picked up the positive energy and did my thing, creating, and I enjoyed it more than ever. I only posted from time to time if I felt like it.
After some time, a reporter from Croatian national tv sent me an email: Hey you’re great, I love your work. You could send us a story, and maybe we put it in our show about tourism. A great surprise and I decided to do it. They liked what I delivered and it got me on national tv; a whole story about my work, about what I love doing the most.
"Just out of nowhere, when I didn't hope for anything but just tried to be me and do what I like."
"This was eye-opening. It doesn't matter how many people follow you or like your content because, at the end of the day, you do it for yourself."
You do what you enjoy doing because you gain pleasure and satisfaction from it, not because the rest of the world should. This moved me so much that I had to turn this insight into a video and share it. Shortly after that, a few local newspapers also wanted to put up a story about my work. For me, that’s proof you just have to stick to what you love doing and the rest will come when the time is ripe. Staying true to yourself, not letting what is temporarily popular permanently change you, is key in being able to leverage your uniqueness. Originality is rare but it’s the only thing that can single you out.
"Now, I dare to believe in myself. It's important to know your strengths and use them."
It needs time and reflection to discover those, though. I think that my strength is the cinematic approach. I’ve always liked cinematography, even though I’m not even close to being a cinematographer I try to give my photos a cinematic look and my videos a movie-like feeling. I try to make a place/scene seem epic, otherworldly, and unfamiliar. Just recently I noticed people asking me about the places I visit and who are then realizing they have already been there but they never got that feeling and those results from the same place. That is the proof that keeps me going and working hard on my photography style.
"Over the past months, Croatia has been for me a sea of opportunities to really develop, improve, and showcase my work."
One particular project played a huge role in the realization that visual creation is not there to remain a hobby for me. I went with a crew of a Croatian ship Marco Polo, for a three-day trip to Italy to film a documentary about Croatian sailors.
I spent three days with the crew on that ship, filming, documenting, learning, listening to stories, seeing and experiencing things I would never see as a regular passenger… Being there as a photographer from the beginning at the navigational bridge from where the ship is manned by the officer, watching and filming the departure and arrival of the ship, to capturing the everyday life of the people who were doing this for a big part of their life… All this was just an amazing experience and seeing how such experiences enrich my life made me realize that photography definitely is what I want to do.
Croatia is so diverse and so photogenic it’s unbelievable. Even though it’s a small country with only under 4m people (as of 2021), you can travel all over Croatia and take photos as if you have been to a whole lot of different countries. From the coasts of Dalmatia and Istria where there are a thousand Islands, turquoise beaches, many historical and ancient sites, and cities in the heart of the Mediterranean to the more central European-like cities of Zagreb and northern Croatia to the mountains of Lika and Gorski Kotar and the plains and fields of Slavonia region. Croatia is so unique and rich, that at this moment I only want to explore my homeland even more.
"There are so many things that I have yet to see here before I go to other countries."
For me, the most photogenic spots in Croatia (considering how popular Croatia is) are the ones with little to no hype, the ones that get overlooked. For example, inland Dalmatia, where you can find canyons, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, and it’s all next to the Adriatic sea. Recently, I enjoyed exploring the mountain region of Croatia, Gorski Kotar. The ultimate goal for me would be to promote a country as beautiful as Croatia, and I’m on that mission. This will take nothing but hard work and staying true to myself. I will keep exploring, searching, photographing, and filming, location after location. My ideas and visions can only help me, they are flashing through my head all day. Half of them I can’t remember but the good ones I write down and work toward them. I will keep up the hard work and who knows – One photo or video can change everything.
Nevertheless, as I spoke about earlier, no photo is better than the one you enjoy taking the most. To give an example, my favorite shot would be a top-down drone shot of me lying on a SUP, on a small, beautiful beach I visited often. Just by looking at it, it brings me back to this amazing place, a wild cove carved in rocks. It makes me miss summer so much, and that’s what I want with my photos, to take you somewhere, someplace you would like to be.
In the summer I’m obsessed with riding a SUP. The pristine feeling of flowing through the sea, exploring all the little hidden beaches with crystal clear water and no people around brings me peace. At some point, I got the idea of buying a waterproof bag so I could carry my drone with me. Besides, I had my GoPro tied to my head to be ready to capture whatever I’d encounter. Stand-up paddling doesn’t offer anything new to photography but amazing moments worth capturing. It helped me to capture a lot of epic things, like the one when I accidentally dropped my go pro into the sea to find it only two hours later and it recorded all the fish swimming around the camera and wondering who the new neighbor was. Also all the epic beaches I wouldn’t have ever discovered if it weren’t for SUP, all the crazy underwater shots, and the peaceful sceneries.
"Stand-up paddling, or any paddling, is something that I would recommend to everyone."
Every moment spent in nature, exploring and doing what my soul, my whole self, is craving to do, is a special moment for me. This energizes me, gives me purpose…and that is the feeling or state of being I believe everyone should pursue.
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