MAXIMA IN MINIMIS : macro photography – Miro...

How to begin a book, like this one, is an eternal question—especially before you turn the pages and discover the photographs I present to you. How original and responsible can one truly be today—especially when attempting to merge two thoughtful acts: writing and photography?

I use a computer for writing and a digital camera for photography—nothing unusual there—but I still want to emphasize that the thought process is above all technical tools, no matter what they are called. This is an attempt to blend poetry, prose, history, geography, photography, nature, religion, painting, music, the schizophrenia of our time, daily obligations, deliveries, a trip to the supermarket, traffic frustrations, countless interactions with people, endless phone calls and emails, a passion for watches and fountain pens. Someone might say it’s too much, but I keep coming back to the idea that everything mentioned is a product of the human mind—it’s only a question of which direction it will flow in the sea of life.

Taking photographs and making a photo book may seem like similar processes, but they are essentially very different. A photograph is a moment described through composition, aesthetics, colors, and shapes. A photo book, on the other hand, is a journey in which the photographs are just waypoints along the path, helping us grasp the grandeur of life—and I emphasize the word grandeur, as I can find no better term for something given to us, something for which we should be deeply grateful. The pursuit of technical perfection is akin to the pursuit of the absolute (for which artificial intelligence is often used), so I readily accept relativism and all it entails.

Simply put, a photo book is a memory of everything that will never happen again—enough to fill one peaceful Sunday afternoon in June and mark the beginning of a book.

Just as every book has its context, we too will embark on this brief journey with the help of macrophotography (along with close-up photography, just to avoid any definitional confusion). Welcoming you into the book is a green frog (Pelophylax kl. Esculenta) from Lake Bruje, located on the western side of Fruška Gora.

All who believe in nature are eternal. Everything that exists is found in nature—along with our identity.

Miroslav Radmilović