Your work has focused largely on social and humanitarian issues. What was one photography experience that particularly stands out in your mind?
Something unforgettable for me is a photo I didn’t actually shoot.
It was on my last day of work in Gaza. Two other friends and I were in the northern part at the border, just after war. The houses were totally devastated, and you could see dead animals and so on.
There was a young Bedouin man, just over 20 years old, who was with us, drinking tea and smoking. We learned he had just been married before war, but during war he had lost his wife.
He slowly got quiet and took his prayer rug to go and pray. He went about 20m away, but the scenery was apocalyptic: he was in the first plane, behind him there was all this destruction, and behind that the sunset with this magic light. But in the sky was one of the biggest storms I’ve ever seen, brewing in the air, sending down lightning bolts.
This man was just there, totally separate from the place. Actually praying.
I thought to take a photo, but it felt too powerful, like I would be desecrating the whole thing.
I’ve never forgotten this photo I intentionally didn’t take.
Originally from Slovenia, you have been all over the world because of your work. How did you end up settling in Luxembourg? And are the assignments as interesting for you?
My first experience with Luxembourg was for an invitation for me to take part in an exhibition at Neumunster Abbey, along with a few other photographers. I attended the exhibition and then, by coincidence, my girlfriend got a job here, so we moved over together.
I felt it was a totally different place. At first I couldn’t find those triggers or impulses, but I slowly adjusted myself, and my way of thinking.
Sometimes I actually shoot conflict in Luxembourg as well, during a meeting or debate, and I honestly enjoy this. It looks very different, but there is still the conflict of power. Diplomacy is one of the things that most interests me.
I had been shooting similar things in Slovenia, but what I admire in Luxembourg is the professionalism of the people I shoot. Here I think it’s top level, or at least that’s the impression they give.
Is there any particular personal philosophy you try to adhere to in your photography?
I’m trying to do more but shoot less, really concentrating my ingredients. I want to find the antidote to all those visuals constantly bombarding us. My girlfriend is a photographer, her father a film critic, and she really kicks my ass when it comes to theoretical knowledge, and I love that. I always want to have a good answer of why I shot something the way I did. You can take photos, but you also need a narration, a story.