He was born and raised in England but he certainly tells his own story about the Croatian Coast and beautiful Dubrovnik. Timotej Gošev is a great photographer and his inspiration is the Adriatic Coast. We are in love with his beautiful photos and this is his story about photography and his link with Dubrovnik.
“My parents came here to study back in the 80’s and then got jobs. Most of my extended family lives in Germany, USA and Australia, so every summer everyone gets together at the seaside in Croatia and enjoys, ” said Timotej. “As a small kid, I also spent a few years living with my grandparents in Croatia. However there’s nothing like spending the summer in Croatia, and I like to spend as much time as possible every year. I’ve sold the country to all my close friends and we just love driving there from England every year and exploring the most beautiful coast”.
Photography isn’t his job. Many people encourage him to make the career out of it, but at this point in life, he’s not sure. “It’s something I love to do, it’s my hobby. Some boys are spending thousands on cars. If I get a hold of thousands in money, I will buy cameras. I love cameras. I got this one from my grandpa. Since I was a kid, I’ve owned and played around with all sorts of cameras. Right now, my drone gives me the greatest joy. It lets you make pictures of places you could only dream about. I love landscapes. I love natural, untouched landscapes. Croatia has plenty of them. My style? I love capturing raw natural beauty”.
I visited Dubrovnik for the first time as a kid. Then, a few more times when I got older. It’s such a beautiful place. There is nothing like it in this world.
He told us about his favourite places for taking photos in Dubrovnik and he himself also enjoys all that beauty from behind his camera. “Take the cable car to the top of the Srđ Hill and you can’t go wrong with a picture of the entire city from above. Šulić beach is also stunning. Again, the idea is to try getting a high vantage point and take the picture from there, facing the beach. There are also plenty of places along the fortress walls for taking beautiful pictures. I don’t plan on taking a good photo. I always have my camera with me, and I just sense the perfect moment and everything my eyes see is just so beautiful; I have no choice but to photograph it”.
Timotej is from London, and he thinks there are some similarities between these two beautiful cities. Or not? “The main similarity is that there are a lot of tourists! 🙂 But you can’t really compare these two cities. London is the greatest city in the world. But it lacks the seaside, which gives Dubrovnik its charm. The weather is different. The culture is different – a much slower pace of life in Dubrovnik, and here I’m drinking a lot more coffee than in London. I don’t live in Dubrovnik so it’s difficult to comment. The difference between being somewhere on holiday and living is vast”.
When he made his Instagram profile he thought it would be stupid to make a clone of his Facebook. “That’s what people do right?” joked Timotej and continued his story: “You post the same pictures that you post on Facebook to the same people, plus some strangers for those extra likes. Social media is messing up the world, and creating the need for self gratification. Your happiness is fuelled by the number of likes you get. I didn’t want this to define me, so I asked myself what should I post, and my holiday pictures came to mind. Finally, Instagram became a platform to showcase all those pictures I was taking every summer while in Croatia during vacation. Most of the people I grew up with have no idea what or where Croatia is.”
All my friends spent their summer holidays in Spain or Greece. I wanted to show them my country. I lived in England, and then in The States for college, and when my friends from there see my pictures, they are stunned!
“They had no idea it was this beautiful. I’ve convinced over 500 friends to come and spend the summer in Croatia. They come once, and then every summer again and again. Everyone agrees, it’s the best sea in Europe”.
There were lots of people from the UK this summer – but why did they come here? What do they know about Dubrovnik and Croatia? “Londoners know Croatia for one reason: football” emphasized Timotej. “They know we are a strong football nation that produces great players. Luka Modrić is loved by all fans in England. They also know that Goran won Wimbledon. That’s the good part. The bad part is the majority think Croatia is in the middle East, next to Afghanistan. You might be shocked, but it’s true. They link it because of the war.”
“As a Croatian kid in London, it was normal to get bullied in school. Only recently the British are starting to holiday in Croatia. People are still sceptical. It doesn’t have much coverage in the media. When we finish high school, traditionally classes make a trip to Greece or Spain. When I suggested Croatia, people laughed and said, we don’t want to spend our holidays in a war-zone”.
Remember we have around 60 million people in England. I’d say maybe a million know what Croatia really is, and the rest see it as a war stricken country with lots of racism (thanks to some football fans).
“There are many Croatian communities in England. Luka Modrić probably doesn’t know it, but his success on the field while playing for England, made life better for Croatians in the UK. He was the first real world class player from Croatia. So now, in this football-mad country, when you say you’re from Croatia in the pub, you finally get positive remarks. Still, more people need to visit Croatia, and when they do, they will regret not coming sooner. I brought one of my black friends to Croatia. He was nervous about going there, but by the end of the trip he wanted to move there! People were so friendly and nice. Old people stopped us to take pictures. He felt better treated than in England. I hope my pictures will encourage more people to come to Croatia.”
This interesting guy from London has a message for you: “You can stay in one place every summer, or see different places. Our family always went for the second option and I live this by philosophy to this day. Every summer, we gather a group of friends, and drive down with our cars. We plan to revisit our favourite places, and also explore some new ones. We’ll try to go to a different beach every day, find some new places for sea jumping. Meet some cool people. Follow me on Instagram and you will see many of these beautiful places I mentioned… I bet you will agree with me”.
