Welcome back to another interview beautiful people! Today’s inspired interview features the lovely and incredibly talented Jasmina (pronounced with a Y) Hasković. I met Jasmina through a mutual friend and she’s so inspiring. Not only is she a photographer but she is a self published author, who recently wrote a book of poetry. Let’s dive into this month’s interviews with inspired people, featuring Jasmina Hasković.
Interviews with Inspired People, featuring Jasmina Hasković
Tell us a little bit about yourself
My name is Jasmina, I moved to London 8 years ago from Slovenia. I am a photographer and trying to be a writer.
You recently published a book of poetry, congratulations! What got you into writing poetry?
Thank you! Yes, I have self-published a poetry book called “ask the butterfly” and it still feels unreal. To be completely honest I don’t know exactly. If you would ask me about my favourite books to read, I will say fiction and poetry. These two were and still are my getaways. Fiction, because it’s a story that I run to from my own daily life. Poetry, because when I read it, it takes me to a completely different place. Sort of a higher place, space between reality and mind. When I read poetry, I feel like I am in the mind of a writer, it’s a very personal space and it always blows my mind. I guess because poetry was one of my favourite things to read. It’s not a surprise that I will find it easier to express myself with it.
A book is a labour of love, where did you get the inspiration for the poems in your book?
The inspiration came from all around me, from my own experiences, my friend’s experiences and just from stories I heard. It is about love but most importantly love towards yourself first. We follow one girl’s journey who finds and becomes the woman she had always been before she somehow lost herself and forgot who she was. And this could be me or any girl to be honest because we have all been there. Each poem has a photo of the girl or woman, depending on your own experience of love and my poems.
What’s your favourite poem in the book?
I don’t have a favourite one because they are all so different and so important to me. But let me open the book randomly and see on which page the book will open. LOL. It’s “the moon”. I do love this one a lot. Also “show up” and “she was born with courage” and “one of them”, I think are very loud and represent how I see and believe how love towards yourself should be.
Switching gears, how did you get into photography?
That was completely random and by accident, when I was working as a journalist (writing about showbiz in small Slovenia) I was supposed to attend an event and it was usually a journalist and photographer who attended the events together. But last minute something more important came up and the editor decided that we needed a photographer there, but not to worry because they will sort out something. They sorted it out by giving me a professional camera and said, shoot on M, if it’s too dark move this into + and if it’s too bright move it to -. I went on my first event as a journalist and photographer. I don’t remember what was the event, it must have been something not that important if they trusted me, but I got back with the photos and since then they never gave me a photographer again. They must have liked my photos a lot or they were just cutting their costs low. Whatever it is, I ended up being a photographer.
What’s your favourite thing to shoot and why?
Definitely people. I love stories that come out when I take pictures of people. So many conversations that happen behind the photo that you can see at the end, it’s just remarkable. I am genuinely interested in people and their lives. I believe that we all met for a reason, and if that means that I never met you before be ready to talk because we need to catch up on all our lives. Just joking I am not an investigator. I believe that we are here to pass each other some information and to learn from each other. You never know who you will meet and what you will learn, it’s exciting no?
Who or what would be your dream client to photograph? Why?
A dream client for me is the person who let me be myself as a photographer.
What makes your heart sing?
In photography, when the job is finished and people still take the time to message me after to say thank you and we liked your work and we would like to do this next.
In writing, when I get a message from readers to say they can relate with something I wrote and I made them think, this is it, I have done my job.
If you had to create a mission statement for your life, what would it say?
Everything happens with the reason, for you not against you. This is where I get my power from. Even if sometimes I get distracted, I always end up here and then back again.
What do you want people to remember you for?
For showing up and being there, either with photography or writing. With photography being present in their life, documenting their precious life moments. And with writing I want them to remember me as someone who made them question things, someone who made them research beyond my writings and start thinking beyond what they thought before.
Bonus question: You get to invite 5 people (dead or alive) to dinner, who would you invite and why?
I would invite, Princess Diana, Oprah Winfrey, Emma Gannon, Victoria Beckham and Stephanie Yeboah. I think it would be the most interesting night of my life. All these women are and some of them still impact my life, I would be so interested to hear their opinion in loving yourself first.
That’s a great dinner guest list, don’t you think? I’d love to be at that dinner table for sure. Thanks to Jasmina for allowing me to interview her and sharing herself with my readers. If you’d like your very own copy of Jasmina’s book, you can purchase it here for £14.99.
What did you think of this month’s interviews with inspired people, featuring Jasmina Hasković? Let me know in the comments below and you can read the previous ones here and here. Until next time, be well! x
