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Senad Dziho
@senad.dziho
Landscape photographer based in Italy
My name is Senad Dziho, 23 years old and of Bosnian origin. More specifically, I come from Mostar but I was born in Italy in a small town called Urbino. Nowadays I am an aspiring freelance photographer but above all travel and adventure video maker. Before, although I had always been interested in the world of photography and webmarketing, basketball was my true passion. Until a few years ago I wanted to become a professional basketball player and I was on my way to get there. My coach really believed in me and it seemed like nothing could go wrong. But it did.
"A severe car accident totally changed the future I had in mind - I never got back to what I used to be and could never become what I thought I would become."
"Fortunately, I am a very humble, sunny and curious person. I am always up for something new and keen to cross borders to the unknown - this truly helped me to find my way after the car accident."
As I always enjoyed photography it wasn’t surprising that I turned towards that direction. Instagram helped me a lot to understand what I wanted to do – when I started following artists who created fantastic works, videos and photos of the most remote places on the planet, I felt very inspired. At the beginning I did photography and video making just for fun, but I enjoyed it so much that I decided in 2017 to buy my first ‘camera’, a GoPro 6 black. I had so much fun with it! I remember well – it was winter and snow had been predicted. At the first half meter of snow I dived into the white surface with my GoPro together with friends – it was the first of a long series of adventures to come.
"Visiting waterfalls, canyons and mountains... I lived in a wonderful world with my GoPro."
"Nevertheless, the moment arrived that I felt like making a qualitative leap."
In 2018 I decided to buy my first reflex camera and a world opened up to me. I started making artistic portraits of people in the village and friends and I left to photograph Rome, one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. At the end of this trip I realized that cities are not for me. I had a need to be in nature, I wanted to photograph the most remote environments that our world has to offer. So I started traveling to photograph places where I had never been and to collect memories that will stay with me for my whole life.
"That's why photography and filmmaking drive me crazy; with every trip I got more enthusiastic to enter the world of visual creation."
"The most important in this journey have been the people I met - and I just started, imagine what can happen over the coming years!"
I believe it is very important to surround yourself with people who support you and what you do. Otherwise, the opportunities that are out there are hard to find because you first have to break through the obstacles that those unsupportive people you surround yourself with have put there for you. I carefully choose the people I want to be with, and this has allowed me to get where I find myself now. It stimulates creativity, it creates opportunities and let the energy flow. There would always be someone as eager as me to wake up at 4am or to hike up a mountain. Thanks to these contacts I made I was able to work for many events and parties in the area, and film for the National Epiphany day in Italy – which in turn brought me numerous other contacts and jobs.
"Still today I film for disco’s and some important events, it allows me to earn a little more and have some more stable income which is very convenient as a starter."
"When I started this path, I always asked myself “how will I find whom to work with?” “How am I going to earn anything?” But it all went so naturally."
I started to take photos to build a portfolio and practice. After a while, Instagram pages of the area, even the most famous ones, started reposting my work and from there I started to get a name and become more known around here. Then, one evening, a travel media agency sent me an email with the proposal to work together. Fantastic! I finally started earning something, I covered the costs of the trip to Morocco and even managed to bring my sister. A thrilling experience! Later I got another collaboration with Highlander Adventures. I was invited to Bosnia, to the land of my origins, on a 20 day trip to the mountains to film the most electrifying and crazy experience I had ever had. I could never have thought that a company would cover all the expenses for filming with them, and I could never have thought of letting my drone fly at 3000m high.
"It was all really amazing and it totally surprised me; I wasn't not even partly aware that these things could really be possible, for me."
"On that trip I also met one of my best friends, Kenan Catovic, as well as the owner of a Bosnia hiking company. Thanks to them, we were contacted by the central bank of Sarajevo to sell our footage and broadcast it on TV. Again, unbelievable."
But selling and making money on the side – this experiences helped me to understand that without mountains and nature, I can’t be. That is where I wanted to focus on. It also got me even closer to my country of origin and it feels good to document it and showcase Bosnia. My parents fled to Italy when they learned that the war would break out. Most of my relatives died in battle as war heroes and I couldn’t be more proud of it. It is not easy for us, nor for my relatives.
"The war has certainly not benefited the economy and tourism, making it drop in popularity, but I must admit that tourism in Bosnia grows year by year."
I’m amazed how the most famous content creators have not come to photograph the beauty of this land – the experience I had in Bosnia this year has been magnificent. I didn’t even know that my land had such a wide variety of landscapes. The territory can change from rocky mountains to lakes within less than a range of 10 km, which makes it unique. I would definitely recommend Bosnia to all landscape photographers; seeing the valley of mount Prenj with its wild horses, the prokosko lake, which is a wonder in all seasons especially for astrophotography, Skakavac, the waterfall 100m high, the old bridge in Mostar, Pocitelij, Sarajevo… Besides the geographical beauty, there is also a rich culture in terms of history, traditions and food (you should definitely try the Bosnian burek and the Syrian pita from the Prokosko lake, and taste our milk), and all comes with a smile and genuine hospitality.
"Visiting Bosnia would surely amaze the greatest creators. In my opinion, we are all too focused on the classic destinations, the most popular ones."
I also feel like going to the Dolomites and Lapland, but wasn’t it our job to stand out from the crowd and do something new? Be as creative in our adventures as we are with our photos? Personally, as soon as I see something cool, I film it. I continuously make mental films. This is what keeps me active; playing and traveling with the mind, wherever I am. Without creativity, without mental journeys, you cannot be successful I think. I am the kind of person who lives a lot in his head, one who is in his own world also in everyday life – I am one who makes imaginary films of every situation imaginable.
"That's the beauty of being creative, isn't it?"
"What I love most about photography and filmmaking is freedom, inspiration and diversification."
Nobody can be the same as you, nobody has the very same creativity as you do. The beauty is that I can share my point of view and turn it into video or a simple photo. Each video, each photo, has a different story and inspires others to do things they had never imagined – I’m highly passionate about that, I believe it is a wonderful contribution I can make. I would like people who watch my videos to say “wow!” I want to create that travel sensation simply by browsing my gallery – like you’re traveling while watching a screen at home. I want everything to flow perfectly and have an audio track that fits perfectly with the video because in my opinion, sound design and audio make up 80% of the video. I want the video to transport you to the place, take you away. The most beautiful compliment I ever received was from the mayor about the movie of the National Epiphany Day. He was too busy to enjoy the party, I worked hard on the video, and apparently I did a splendid editing: As soon as he saw it, he said:
“Amazing, I feel like I am at the party!” This made me really proud of myself and this is what I am aiming at with my visual creations."
"I have been growing gradually. I developed both myself and my work over time."
I never expected to be where I am now and I needed all the experiences to be able to get here, the good and the bad ones. I had to lose my drone in Tuscany. I had to come back home after a trip to Morocco with my images all underexposed. I had to travel to Istanbul alone and be cheated. I had to meet certain people and let go of others. Above all, I had to step out of my comfort zone again and again, hardly arriving in a new comfort zone. It is often difficult. But this has helped me to grow and enabled me to reach where I am today. And I couldn’t be happier with it!
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