Now, in the autumn of 2017, it is easy to say a word or two about Darko Dozet, currently a photo reporter at Večernje novosti, and previously at Dnevnik and the Tanjug news agency.
His name is certainly one of the most prominent in the world of photography in our region. There is hardly a domestic or foreign newspaper or agency that has not, on various occasions, published Darko’s work—from scenes in scorching fields to everyday themes captured with remarkable brilliance.
The road to becoming a top newspaper photographer is far from easy. Unlike journalists, who need columns upon columns to cover a subject, a newspaper photographer must say everything in one or two images. This demands the ability to reach the very essence of an event.
In Darko’s work, we find life scenes, sports, official events, and various catastrophes—subjects he is consistently ready to capture and deliver with immediacy. His work stands at the very top of the quality scale.
Darko’s true magnitude lies in one essential fact: he gives everything for a good photograph, sparing neither himself, his equipment, nor the conditions around him.
After completing his formal education, Darko went through the old, proven school of newspaper photography in the photography department of Dnevnik in Novi Sad. He matured alongside legends such as Jovo Vajdl, Steva Lazukić, Gavra Grujić, and others—masters who would surely, even today, look with pride upon Darko’s photographic opus.
There was much to learn from them, in a time when celluloid film and chemical processes dominated, and when only a few “Japanese” devices assisted with light measurement—leaving photographers largely reliant on their own skill and intuition. At the end of the process, they would wait by the large photo-cylinder dryer, where everything previously done was finally “verified.”
Even now, I can picture Darko—tall as he is—standing by the canvas strip of the dryer, placing photographs onto it to see them develop as quickly as possible, absorbing knowledge by carefully listening to the well-meaning advice of more experienced colleagues.
Today, everything is different. Yet, despite technology now offering hundreds of “Japanese” solutions in pixels, a good frame remains a good frame.
Darko generously shares that knowledge with audiences and with younger colleagues who are just beginning their careers.
Jaroslav Pap
Photo Editor at Novi Sad
daily newspaper “Dnevnik”
(1994 -2000)
