Jadranka Lacković, our painter with a great eye for photography
Curious, creative, hedonistic - those are the three main adjectives Jadranka Lackovic, a Croatian artist from Rijeka, uses to describe herself. Jadranka, whose true passion lies in the atelier ArtMašina, was invited to BIG BERRY last April to be a part of the BB Art Colony project, in which she participated by painting a house mural. 
She is also known as ojoMAGico (magic eye), the name she gave to her brand of products under which she creates unique jewelry, illustrations and murals. Jadranka had her first encounter with photography when she was just 10 years old: ‘When I was about 10 years old, my neighbor taught me how to use his analog camera... it was in the mid-90’s so everybody had only analog cameras, but I remember this one was special because it was really heavy and had a viewfinder on the top. I was confused but curious! And from that day on I was hooked’, said the artist.
Although her first contact with photography happened in friendly surroundings, Jadranka improved her photography skills when she was studying at the Academy of applied arts: ‘we had photography as one of the classes. During the first year, we were working only with analog cameras and 35mm film. I'm really grateful for all the knowledge the professor has passed on to us. Working in a dark room is still one of my favorite things to do’.
While she was at BIG BERRY, besides painting her great mural, she couldn’t resist looking through the lens of her camera and to express herself. Since she is so passionate about analog photos, she carries her ‘Canon eos 3000N, Olympus XA, and lots of rolls of film’ wherever she goes, she revealed to us.
Although Jadranka likes to emphasize she is not a professional photographer, there was a time in her life when she was around 18 years old and she traveled to take photos of music festivals for a Croatian music website. Nowadays, however, she works for some Croatian musicians, producing mostly photos for album covers or promo materials.
Because photography is one of her passions, she organizes great art exhibitions of her own work and manages many other projects at the same time. Jadranka believes that a good tip for new photographers to succeed in this career is to ‘respect yourself and your work’.
BIG BERRY team is already proud of the pictures she took during her stay at Kolpa River Resort, and it seems that she admires our brand as well. ‘I'm grateful for the opportunity to spend some time in Bela Krajina, in beautiful nature and surrounded by nice people. I was impressed by the hospitality of the BIG BERRY team’.