© 2020 Nomadict. All rights reserved.
Lara Kamnik
Travel and lifestyle photographer
Lara Kamnik, otherwise known as @your_passport, believes “adventure is worthwhile.” It urges people to be bold, to be brave enough to let go of the things that hold them back, and inspires them to set out on the adventure themselves.
She and Uros, @your_passage, are a traveling couple whose support and respect for each other is vital to their success in their career. They may not always get along, but they complement each other well. And she is grateful to be able to work alongside her partner as they travel the world, creating inspiring content.
She says, “sharing my passion for exploring the world is equally matched with my desire to inspire others to not just scroll through beautiful images of the world but actually get out there and travel themselves.”
One of her favorite quotes is by Clifton Fadiman, who said: “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you feel comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” It’s a reminder to respect other cultures, no matter the differences; it’s a reminder that we should embrace the differences and learn from them.
Welcome Lara! What motivated you to pick a camera in the first place and what is driving you nowadays?
I can still remember when we have first started our IG pages! It was all out of hobby and our first pictures were nothing you would want to see, hehe! But we have quickly fallen in love with travel photography and as traveling was something we would both want to make a living off we were eager to learn about the opportunities. We decided to take a year off (and saved up from previous jobs to be able to afford it) to just learn, travel and practice every day. We were watching YouTube tutorials, and as the months were passing by, we kept progressing and every time we looked back we could see the improvements. We knew if we keep working hard, it will all pay off. And so it did! We were loving what we were doing and for some reason people were loving it, too, and decided to follow and support our work, so we kept growing numbers-wise. After a while we were offered our first projects! Pretty exciting! What motivates us nowadays is still our love for travel photography, wanting to celebrate and show off our world to others and trying to make people feel inspired when they look at our work. In the beginning I’d say the biggest motivation was to create the life worth living!
You and your partner travel extensively together. What is the dynamic like for you both when you travel or road trip?
Uros, @your_passage, is my travel companion. He’s amazing! There’s never a dull moment with him and I am a firm believer that he is the reason I actually never disliked any of the destinations we have traveled to so far.
We are lucky because we complement each other perfectly and are both stubborn in different essential components of our work (because big part of our travels is work). For example, Uros (@your_passage) obsesses about post-processing, and I am the one complicating more about the composition and shooting process. We both have different strengths /weaknesses /interests in the same field and we allow each other to be the boss of our own areas. For example, while I am typing out a blog, he edits our photos. So, mainly, it’s knowing that our business goes far only because of what we are able to create and achieve together. Basically, it’s all about the teamwork and knowing that the opportunities that we are able to achieve it’s only because we work together.
Obviously, we do get on each other’s nerves sometimes! But not most of the time haha. We do criticize each other’s work a lot, and it can be hard to take in sometimes, so I’d say patience is the key.
We keep learning from and improving each other, giving each other space when working, too, and always respect each other’s opinion.
"We appreciate and love what we have and what we are able to create together. So gratefulness, every day."
On your Instagram page, you state in your bio that “adventure is worthwhile.” What does that mean to you?
Sharing my passion for exploring the world is equally matched with my desire to inspire others to not just scroll through beautiful images of the world but actually get out there and travel themselves. This is where this quote comes in. It urges people to be bold, to be brave enough to let go of the things that hold them back, and inspires them to set out on the adventure themselves – even if adventure can come in many forms, and can mean many things to different people.
Warm and colorful tones clearly dominate your feed. How did you develop your current artist style?
Our feed is actually something we obsess about! In order to achieve that cohesive look where all photos look like “one,” we are mostly trying to use the same couple of presets that we have created over time and that curate the style and lighting we like best. We’re also always making sure that we shoot in the best and plenty of light. Lighting is crucial, as well as shooting during the so-called golden hour. We are also trying to go by the rule of the flag with three colors – choosing our fav[orite] tones and sticking to it plus planning ahead where and what to shoot. Before posting we use the Preview App (free to download) to look at the grid, mix and match, and make sure it works well with the rest of our recent feed.
We haven’t always had the warm tones though – for example, it differs from the places we travel to (our Bali images have lots of dark greens, while Santorini has blues and whites, and then UAE posts has lots of orange desert tones), and it differs from time of day and the season (winter differs from summer etc).
In my opinion, you are an excellent visual storyteller. Especially when it comes to convey emotions such as freedom for instance. What is necessary to tell a great story visually?
Well, thank you!
The key is: Don’t tell your audience something if you can make them see it. When crafting a visual story, invest heavily in good first impression – it should “hook” them and grab their attention. Create emotions, inspire, make them feel.
Imagine yourself at the beginning of your professional career as a photographer. What four pieces of advice would you give to yourself?
This is a really good question. Best piece of advice I could ever give to the upcoming bloggers and influencers is to start when you’re not ready & be persistent.
"Work, save, travel, rinse, repeat."
Not an easy task to do. Basically, write down your goals and find ways to make them happen, explore and learn endlessly, create great content and stand out from the crowd (be original), and never give up. It’s not always glamorous and it’s a thorough, long work, but it’s the best job you could ever have.
Your Instagram feed is just a small part of your life. At a first glance, one would say that you only travel with your partner. We were wondering, do you also find time to travel ‘solo’? Is it ‘solo’ travel an interest of yours?
Solo-travelista is not really an interest of mine at all! At this stage I can’t imagine going anywhere without Uros, hehe! I used to do quite a lot of it in the past though, back when I was a flight attendant.
"Some might not call it solo traveling, but I found myself solo in cities I knew nothing about multiple times and I’m telling you – it’s wayyyy more fun DUO, hehe!"
"Write down your goals and find ways to make them happen, explore and learn endlessly, create great content and stand out from the crowd (be original), and never give up."
You are living the life you want, and traveling seems to be an important part of it. To what extent is important for you to keep traveling and why?
At the moment not traveling is not an option. We do it most of our time and it’s what our business/income/future is all about. And anyways, when we get home every once in a while, we might stay for a week, but then our feet quickly start to itch. We’re not only loving to travel to the new, unfamiliar places, but we love returning to the old ones just as much. It’s something about feeling free and wild. I think we were born with it. If you’re asking when we’ll stop – probably when we set foot on all 7 continents, hehe.
What are the three most valuable personal lessons you have learned traveling?
– When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. Clifton Fadiman – One of my favorites quotes which always reminds me we have to respect other cultures, no matter the differences, no matter if something is acceptable for us or not. To remember there is no home comforts when we travel, to not get upset, to embrace the differences and to learn from them. To be patient.
– I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. –Mark Twain
Truly no better way to find out if you’re meant to be with someone – travel will bring all sorts of unexpected events where you’ll see their true personality, what level of material comfort they require (or are they willing to give up), their philisophy on life, whether you can solve problems together, how adventurous you both are, etc. It’s a real test for relathionship!
– Gratitude – Traveling means meeting all sorts of people. Poor countries make me realize how much I actually have and how little other people have and how happy they are with so little. Living in a world full of abundance and wealth, it’s easy to forget how lucky we are and not fully appreciate what we’ve been given!
What is the most beautiful thing that travel has allowed you to do?
Besides meeting new people and visiting new places, broadening my mind so much, letting me be who I am, teaching me what really matters and life in general. But most importantly, allowing me to be able to do what I love the most together with the person I love the most and basically making a living out of our hobby! That’s the most beautiful thing, for sure!
Are there any artists/photographers who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
Through my work I’ve been most inspired by Jay Alvarrez as videographer & influencer, Jenna Kutcher as a marketing entrepreneur, and Peter McKinnon as photographer.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
We have SO MUCH exciting coming up and next up will be non-stop travels for few months! Lots of it will be planned on the-go, which is mostly how we are — living day-by-day, enjoying life, appreciating what it has given us. We will reveal the upcoming destination soon, so stay tuned on @your_passport & @your_passage! 🙂
