Matej Vrenk is a traveler and photographer who prefers to travel around the corners of the world by bicycle. He is his own boss, lives simply and in harmony with nature, his passion is surfing or surfing the waves in pristine tropical places and hula hooping with friends.
He prepares an excellent dish for everyone in a Moroccan dish, called a tagine, with joy and love.
What got you excited about photography?
During my bicycle trips around the underdeveloped world, I always wanted to capture those special moments and photos and also present to others this different way of traveling (you travel with your own energy, you depend on yourself, you come and go, you stop where you want). Locals respect you and share what they have with you. After you've been on the bike for several hours, you wonder why I need it, but in the end, the only minus is a sore ass. Everything else is in the head.
You've been taking photos for quite a few years, but still, you must have some new photographic challenges?
I'm getting more and more into surfing photography and my biggest challenge is photographing from the water. That is, camera equipment in the case, fins on the legs... and when you swim among the waves without a surfboard - this is one of the most difficult things, reading the ocean, anticipating the surfer's movement and then getting away from him, and "surviving" (laughs). It's a tiring thing, but it opens up a whole new dimension of surf photography. This year I took my first so-called green room photo inside a wave or tube.
But how do you get a job at home, in Ljubljana, where there are no waves for surfing or photography?
A few years ago, I was attracted to the art of ring spinning or honking. We started with friends in the garden, just as a hobby, this year it grew into serious recreation. I attend Inergia courses with Ines Rutar, the first licensed humping instructor in Slovenia. I try to hum every day, on trips, in the rain, at home in the kitchen, during lunch, on work days and at midnight before bed. On warmer days, my friends and I meet in the park next to Gradaščica, under Barjanska Street.
As a representative of the male gender, are you in the minority at hula hooping?
I'm always the only guy at trainings, once so far it happened that a lady managed to bring her companion, whose return we are still waiting for. I don't mind that one bit. The satisfaction you get from spinning the hoop is beyond all, as I would say, taboo about who this sport is for.
Summer and holidays are just around the corner, are you planning a new trip?
I never make plans far in advance. In the summer, I will take photos again at the Ujusansa surf camp, because the day there goes according to my taste. Life in nature, a tent, the sea, sun and waves, a good atmosphere in the team and that exciting feeling you get when you capture the moment when a trainee rides a wave for the first time. What then, I'm still deciding.
If you could do anything, anywhere in the world, what would it be?
I would choose a place where there are no radiators in the houses, that is, somewhere warm by the ocean, where I would wait for the coconut to fall from the palm tree, surf and take pictures, every day, forever. Some say it's not for life, that is, until you get tired of it.
