Mario Tomic

Soulmates, travel, forever…

// April 1st, 2008 // 4 Comments » // b&w, people, portrait

This is Dragana. A close friend of Ana..my friend too (though sometimes I believe she loves my camera more). She’s one of those girls that won’t comment Sweeney Todd as a movie with too much blood :D That’s why we like her company :) But, this is not a story of her…I don’t have that much time today :P This is a story of new friendships, people that deserve their name to be remembered, written or mentioned later.

Although I consider myself to be a lone wolf, running without a pack, occasionally I do feel very emotional about people I meet.

Last night I took a Belgrade – Vienna train. I was getting off at Novi Sad. Two hour ride from Belgrade. I shared compartment with a Peruvian woman Isabella, her, I believe, husband Kelly from States and Australian guy with Italian ancestry and Italian name which I forgot (edit: could be Salvatore). Entering compartment I prepared my headphones planning to plunge into the world of music, but I got so much carried away talking with them, that those 2 hours passed like a minute. We talked about cultures, traveling, politics, conspiracies, families, hobbies, plans, …

When I left the train I felt a bit sad…we’ll never meet again, they will not know I talked to you about them now. They left with a part of me..that little piece of soul that travel with people we meet, with people we like and with people we love. And if you ask me where have I been, I can tell you I haven’t seen much of this world, but my soul will keep on traveling long after I’m gone.

HERESY IN DISGUISE

// February 4th, 2006 // 9 Comments » // portrait

This week’s PF challenge is “Disguise”.

I captured this moment while Ana was applying mascara :) Obviously.
Making up, a sort of covering things we’re not very confident of up. Ana never wears much makeup. I guess that mother Nature makes some things perfect..just the way they are. That’s why I had to disguise the subject in PS :)

INSPIRED

// April 22nd, 2005 // 6 Comments » // light, portfolio, portrait, studio

The other day I was in doubt which photo to upload first. The one you already might’ve seen or this one. Now I’m in doubt whether to post this one or the one rotated 90° CW. I’ll stick to this one.
For this time I chose to share with you my love story. I’m proud of it, and you might find it interesting.
All my girlfriends? I’ll start alphabetically..heading to the letter Z. There was Yvonne..then Zelda..then.. :) It’s Benny Hill’s gag :)

I’ve “met” Ana in a chat room in summer 2001. That day I’ve met several other people (read: girls) as well, and while conversation with them followed an expected pattern (a/s/l, blah..music..blah..movies..) the one with Ana went an unexpected way. For instance, we talked about wedding rings :lol We kept meeting at chat, then stared e-mail converstaion and finally mobile text messaging. We phoned each other not very often, but we definitely made it up by sending hundreds of text messages each day. That was one of the key points of our relationship. We learned to talk..to talk things out..to overcome every problem with conversation.
Even writting this excites me :) Our first meeting (live) took place almost six months after we met on the chat. I’ll never forget that afternoon. She was waiting for me at previously arranged spot, feeling the same emotions..the same bitter sweet insecurity I felt rushing there with a rose in my hand. Yes, it’s a cliche, but this time I was starring :)
We started visiting each other more often and often..but even present rhythm of one day a week (mind the holidays and vacations) is not far enough. Yup..we’ve become slaves to the distant relationship. And we’re enjoying every single second of it! The good thing of that kind of relationship is that whatever bad happens during the week is going to be healed over the weekend :) One bad side, on the other hand, is that time takes by much much faster, as our minds are warping through the week eagerly waiting for the weekend to come.
Do I sound confusing? Like I’m in love? Well.. :)

Both pictures (this one and the last one) are taken spontaniously and both are symbols of mutual state of mind when together. Weekends bring us mental rest (apart from phisical exhaustion..even when we behave) and calmness, peace of mind..and her gaze at the previous one depicts our absence from this world when we’re together. We’re there, but we don’t interact with it..observers from above..like those two angels from Wenders’ Der Himmel über Berlin. There’s a whole new world around us..just for us.

Techical data:
Camera/Lens: Nikon D70 / Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G
Date: 16.04.2005 11:22:28 AM
Exposure: 1/60
Exposure bias: 0.0 EV
Exposure program: Shutter priority
Aperture: f4.5
White balance: Manual /Cloudy/
Focal length: 70 mm
ISO: 800
Flash: Built in + Nikon SB600 /bounced/
Original name: DSC_3278

GEOMETRY OF HARMONY

// April 18th, 2005 // 5 Comments » // people, portrait, sepia, studio

As an intro I’ll say I’m sorry to all of you who visited this site looking for update and found status quo. Besides some minor (I hope so) health issues I’ve been going through some other personal..thingies :) which are now behind me. Also, my laptop charger exploded leaving me practically without laptop and I didn’t felt like making my working environment at desktop once again. But there are some people it’s all worth doing for.
During those rainy days of personal struggle I relised, once again, how much I love this girl above :) It’s been more than three years ago since we met and fell in love (though it was the other way round)..one could think that the chemistry between us should evaporate by now..but, no. It seems that there’s some stronger bonding :)

Why am I writting this you might ask. I see it as a milestone..you can see it as an sweet not-everyday story :)

More to come…

Techical data:
Camera/Lens: Nikon D70 / Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G
Date: 16.04.2005 11:26:42 AM
Exposure: 1/200
Exposure bias: 0.0 EV
Exposure program: Shutter priority
Aperture: f4.5
White balance: Manual /Cloudy/
Focal length: 62 mm
ISO: 800
Flash: Built in + Nikon SB600 /bounced/
Original name: DSC_3285

DOGGY BEAR

// January 19th, 2005 // 6 Comments » // b&w, light, portrait

This one, like several previous photos, is taken on a lovely Saturday walk with Ana. We past probably most famous street in Novi Sad called Zmaj Jovina and turned in Dunavska street, called after Danube river. There is a nice little gift shop specialized in manufacturing products from leather so we stopped by to check out it’s shop window. All set-up was brightly lit and under all of those glittering watches and leather wallets and accessories there was this doll with sobby look in it’s eyes. At the first look I thought it’s a teddy bear, to see it’s a puppy a while later, but it’s so cute nontheless.

Techical data:
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G
Date: 08.01.2005 15:06:44 PM
Exposure: 1/60s
Exposure bias: 0.0 EV
Exposure program: Aperture priority
Aperture: f4.5
White balance: Manual /cloudy/
Focal length: 70mm
Flash: No
ISO: 200
Cropped: No
Original file name: DSC_2144

STREET CANTATOR

// January 14th, 2005 // 13 Comments » // b&w, people, portrait, street

This is a man people call Bracika (Bruh-tzee-kuh)..I don’t know much about him..moreover, all I know about him is that he likes to sing aloud in the streets, amusing people. Once he told me that he used to sing in an opera house. He often comes under the windows of a girls’ boarding school singing “O sole mio” and some other songs. Poor guy..he definitely lost one of his marbles. But who didn’t.

I like noticing details at people..especially at the photos. Bracika’s long nail at his right arm’s little finger, his watch glittering from his sleeve, his clumsy sewed left coat pocket..it seems I cannot be just a mute spectator. People have a soul and a spirit..and photography captures it.

Techical data:
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G
Date: 08.01.2005 14:59:49 PM
Exposure: 1/500s
Exposure bias: 0.0 EV
Exposure program: Aperture priority
Aperture: f4.5
White balance: Manual /cloudy/
Focal length: 70mm
Flash: No
ISO: 200
Cropped: Yes
Original file name: DSC_2143

TALES OF DARK

// November 15th, 2004 // 1 Comment » // light, people, portrait

Last night I was at “Hit202 – Belgrade 202″ concert where Tales of Dark, Apocalypse and some other bands played. Actually, the concert was organised by Radio Belgrade 202 and was a live broadcast from the scene of the concert, as the concert visitors voted live in the program for the best song of the week. My favorite was Nightwish, but I wasn’t around till the very end to see who won the semifinals :)

This is the only photo of some 200 taken and 130 and something saved that is worth of sharing (unless you’re a relative or a friend of band members or a keen metal fan). All the others are nothing special, so to say. Even this one is nothing special, but it took me a while to shoot it right. First it was overexposed, then underexposed, then full of motion haze.. I was very satisfied with it when I finaly managed to capture it the way I wanted. the only dillema was weather to put it up in color or as an b’n'w :) I go for color, as it makes it a bit more interesting.

P.S. The girl at the photo is a female singer of the band called Tales of Dark.

P.P.S. I know that the picture is not as sharp as it should be, but that was the best one could do with built-in flash at 1/25 holding a camera with one hand and embracing a large 300W subwoofer with the other :)

Techical data:
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G
Date: 2004:11:14 20:29:30
Exposure: 1/25s
Exposure bias: -1.7
Exposure program: Aperture priority
Aperture: f4.5
Metering mode: Matrix
White balance: Auto
Focal length: 62 mm
Flash: On
ISO: 800
Quality: JPG Fine
Cropped: No

e-motion

// September 16th, 2004 // 2 Comments » // portfolio, portrait, sepia

Ok..whether you call her a Spirit of Ecstasy, Rolls’ Lady or Flying Lady, you’ve got to admit that it’s one of the most elegant and most lightsome statues in the world.

Personally, I cannot separate emotion from motion..because emotion always gets me into the motion..hence the title.

One says that the Rolls-Royce cars are made to last forever.

I would just add..some things are ment to be forever.

To my girlfriend Ana.

Technical data:
Camera: Pentax Optio 33WR
Exposure: 1/100s
Aperture: f9
Focal length: 13.3mm
Flash: Off
ISO: 50
Cropped: No
Ppcessed: Yes (sepia)