We simply love beautiful images of our city, especially when there’s a good story behind them. A few weeks ago, we noticed a great Instagram account, and we instantly wanted to find out more about the creators behind these breathtaking photographs. It turns out these Croatian brothers, Boris and Sandro Erceg, basically travel the world together. They also take amazing photos on their journeys, write interesting captions and share them with their 27.3 K followers.
So we went behind-the-scenes with @brotherside to learn more about their visit to Dubrovnik, their career, travels and how the capture a sense of magic in their photographs.
What’s your connection to Dubrovnik and Croatia?
We were born in Rijeka, Croatia, and lived there for the majority of our lives, before moving to Norway for PhD studies. As for Dubrovnik, except for visiting twice in the past we never had any particular connection to it. In our part of the country, Dubrovnik doesn’t come across often in conversations, and when we think about it, we haven’t met more than a handful of people from your city.
What do you like about Dubrovnik?
We’re not going to say anything revolutionary about the beauty of Dubrovnik. The position of the city, the way it was built, and its glorious history speak for themselves. The feeling is that every corner of the city tells a story worthy of discovering.
As Croats who spent more time traveling around the world than in their own country, Dubrovnik represents the most painful symbol of how little appreciation we had for what was under our nose the whole time.
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Is there something you don’t like?
During our few short visits to Dubrovnik, we were always annoyed by the traffic congestions and crowds in the old town, which are quite understandable given the layout of the city.
Of course, we can’t say that we liked the prices either, especially from a Croatian perspective. While on the one hand, as a world-class tourist destination, Dubrovnik is relatively inexpensive, on the other, it’s sad to see that an average Croat just can’t afford to spend their vacation in the most beautiful Croatian city.
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Your Instagram looks like a fairy-tale. What are some of the best memories from your journeys?
We are inspired to seek for visually attractive places and moments. That fact alone guarantees that our photos will always represent only a part of the reality of a certain place.
We have traveled together to more than 15 countries, and there are so many memories, that our brain storage has already started forgetting some.
Our dearest journey was certainly the one to Cuba, where we came expecting the happy utopian land, and a month later left heartbroken about the sad reality of everyday Cubans. Also, sleeping in a tiny Toyota Yaris for ten days straight during our trip to Norway was definitely a memorable experience, especially for our spines.
What does it take for a good photo?
For start, it takes knowledge, but surely not as much as people often think. The basics of photography are pretty simple, and one starts seeing results rather soon. Later on, building up the knowledge and developing own style is fun.
There are lots of elements that make a good photo: composition, light, and editing, to name a few. But most importantly, we would point out patience. Patience to try and fail and do that daily until you manage to get the point acrosss. Nonetheless, if you manage to capture the perfect moment, all the things mentioned become irrelevant.
You travel a lot. Can you give us some tips for taking great photos at a new place?
When we have limited time in a certain place, we always make sure to do good location scouting beforehand. Because we mostly shoot during the soft morning and evening light, we heavily rely on photography apps that show the sunrise/sunset time, cloud coverage, and sun position.
Also, when shooting famous landmarks (like Dubrovnik old town), being on the spot well before sunrise is the only way to avoid the crowds.
Of course, a great photo can be taken any time at any place, but for good cityscape photography, these are paramount.
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If you could photograph just one place for entire life what place would it be?
That is not a tempting proposal whatsoever, but if we had to choose, we’d go for some major world city like New York or Paris. Not necessarily because they are the most beautiful, but because the dynamics of such places continually ensures new photo opportunities.
Where to next?
A week more around Croatia and then back to work and simulating ship-ice interaction up in the Arctic waters… Until some spontaneous trip emerges.
