An interview with Bojan Nikolic AKA Chibsterr
 

copyright Bojan Nikolic

Planning

RH: What attracted and inspired you to your current documentary project?

BN: Most of the photos I take are in London. I moved here from Sarajevo when I was 8 years old and it felt natural to develop a long term project about the city and my relationship to it.  

RH:  Can you talk us through the planning stage for your project?

BN: I don’t plan a lot in regards to the specifics of what I’m shooting. I shoot what I feel generally and then I will gather the images together and certain connections or narratives will arise from that. 

RH: Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

BN: Not really, just to shoot whenever and wherever possible.

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

Implementation and Completion

RH: How have you dealt with any challenges and difficulties within your project?

BN: Just to have my camera with me as much as possible. I think moments are happening everywhere and all the time,  the street,  the beach, at home, in the sea, the toilet, a blacked out room. I think its possible anywhere, for me the word “street” just means the reality or life around us. I just enjoy collaborating with it in real time.

RH: How long do your projects tend to take from start to finish?   

BN: However long it takes.

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

Editing and Sequencing

RH: Do have several images to edit of one fleeting moment or do you have one well-constructed precise image that you have captured? 

BN: I try to take a stand alone single image first then connect it later. Or just something I find interesting and might work later when put with other images.

RH: Within the editing stages, have you felt the project has taken on a different narrative than first envisaged?

BN: I think it can change a lot  and hopefully for the better.

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

Tips and hints 

RH:  What would you recommend for people starting their own photographic project?

BN: Shoot what you care about, whether it is specific or not.

RH:  Does the camera really matter?  

BN: Only in the sense that you’re comfortable in using it.

RH: Any books you would recommend reading to get the creativity started?

BN: There are lots, but here are some that come to mind:

The Tyranny of Words by Stuart Chase

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott MCcloud

Violence by James Gilligan

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Mate

Anything by:

Carl Sagan

Bertrand Russell

George Orwell

Vladimir Nabokov

Anthony Burges

Aldous Huxley

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

RH:  Would you recommend attending photography workshops?

BN: I guess good ones can give you new ways of working and inspiration.

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

copyright Bojan Nikolic
 

copyright Bojan Nikolic