After two decades of work, it was time to put some of it between covers and onto a shelf and, so unburdened, move on with all my knowledge and experiences.
Two hundred and fifty photographs have been chosen for this book to represent the essence of twenty years of work. Considering the fact that taking each of those photographs required just a two hundred and fiftieth part of one second, evil tongues might say that I have worked for only a second!
Maybe I have, but imagine the concentration and dedication required so that, during all those years, you do not miss not just one second, but not even its hundredth part, or miss them as less as possible. I leave that to your own judgment.
The profession of a photo reporter, one of the branches of journalism, is extremely tough. There are no working hours, you are always ‘on wheels’, exposed to different risks and stresses. But that has its charms!
In order to take a trip, an average person has to save money, or wait for a vacation and days off, while photo reporters are constantly on a trip—longer or shorter, mostly for a day, but frequently being absent from their homes, families, and friends for a longer period of time. Every voyage is like a brand new book and every man is a new novel.
As a photo reporter, you get to meet celebrities that people talk about in eagerness to meet them. You drink wine in privacy with a chief of the state, and then, a few days later, you have coffee with the leader of the opposition. That is why both sides look at you with caution. Great music stars write, at your request, dedications to your sisters and friends.
You have spent time with people whose names the majority do not dare to say out loud, as well as with those so infamous that you should not be seen with or around them. You have photographed many things and horrors that make your stomach churn and that you would be glad someone else had taken. Then again, it’s all part of the job. You have to see and endure all of it for the pleasure of doing what you love and what fulfills you.
You will never find such a luxury that a journalist can choose the subject on their own. There is always an editor sending you to do a task that will make you, to put it mildly, roll your eyes, or quite often, clash with your superiors about its relevance or necessity.
You have become an ‘adrenaline addict’ and addicted to constantly being informed and at the epicenter of attention.
So, if you ask me, after all that I have said, if I have any regrets about not having done something else in my life and whether I would have chosen the same profession in another life, my answers would be ‘no’ and ‘yes’. One thing only: I would always choose carefully the companies to work for, just as I have done so far.
For this monograph, I have chosen a fragment of my work that deserves it by some of the various criteria, from sheer documentary ones, some aesthetical, and some personal that only I can understand. That is how an author gives his personal touch that makes us all individuals and shows our diversity.
At the beginning, it seemed easy. You take some photographs and compile them into a book. However, when you have laid out your photo archive before you, a hundred questions emerge: in which order, what subjects, which ones to eliminate, which ones have to be included… Some of them are dear to you, but have no great documentary value for the community.
This is what it looks like when photo reporters in Serbia decide to publish a book. They rarely make that move, so the books are not thematic, but in the vast majority, jubilee monographs like this one, covering bits and pieces of a rich opus.
And in the end, what can I say? Photography is magic, a memory, a document… You can hide behind your camera, and draw it as a mighty weapon. It is a nice feeling and a privilege to look at the world, people, and events through its lens, knowing that you are recording history that will outlive you.
Darko Dozet
