We love expanding the Mistral community with good-doers, creatives, and the ones changing the status quo. The ones we can relate to.
We met Aida Redžepagić a while ago, and as our values go hand in hand – we immediately clicked. She is one of the key players in the creative industry in BiH, being one of the best photographers on the scene.
However, her creative mind and daily activities go beyond her career in photography. In the midst of pandemics, she achieved a lot. Amongst 2 600 photographers around the world – her work won first place in the Rovinj Photography competition.
Additionally, in times of uncertainty for our local small businesses, Aida offered her services pro-bono, as a thoughtful way of enhancing their visibility. For years, she has been organizing the School of photography, for photography enthusiasts. In her latest school of photography, she went a step further ensuring inclusivity for a student with hearing impairment.
When we heard all about it – we knew we wanted to participate and support Aida’s efforts in some way. Each year, Aida makes sure to get funding for students who cannot afford the school themselves. It was our pleasure to offer a scholarship for this year.
Embracing the New Normal: School of Photography with an Additional Gear
Being smart and creative as she is, led by the passion of her future students, Aida embraced the ‘new normal’. In no time, she organized her photography lessons.
Educators of all kinds are challenged with articulating visual concepts and abstract ideas through Zoom meetings. Explaining an artistic concept or analyzing a composition is no easy task, which is why Aida decided to organize the courses live, but with a bit of a twist.
All the students wore additional equipment and met in the wonderful space of Ters house, as well as her own studio that met the requirements of obligatory physical distance. She enriched her photography school sessions by bringing her friends – Gasha Miladinović, Adnan Bubalo, and Ines Selimović. They are all experts in their own line of work – fashion editorials, landscape photography, and food aesthetics. It was a really wholesome experience for all her students.
Another reason (not that we needed more) we love Aida’s manner of work is that her sessions are inclusive and adapted to all. For the first time, one of her students was a person with impaired hearing. This meant that the course needed to be translated to sign language. In no time, Alma Mujanović, one of the bravest and youngest activists working with people with disabilities, stepped in and made this happen.
The course was successfully completed by all students. Looking at a bigger picture, Aida’s photography school teaches more than the history of photography, different genres, technicalities of equipment, and making that perfect photograph. It connects new creative communities, giving people a great new hobby and often – a new way of making an additional cash flow, through their own photography business.
We salute that, wholeheartedly. To our favorite woman behind the lens, thank you.
Keep on making an impact! We’ll be cheering you on every step of the way.