Photo © Dragan Lovrenovic
About
Midhat Poturovic is an award-winning Bosnian photojournalist. His work mainly focuses on stories in Southeast Europe. His interest in photography started during his student days and his initial interest was in documentary photography. In the following years, this curiosity and desire to depict the truth manifested themselves in his career. The influence to recognize photojournalism as a career was partly due to a childhood spent in besieged Sarajevo during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. The war dramatically changed the physical, economic and social environment. He had a need to document and show the changes in post-conflict society and surroundings, social topics, as well as daily events and everyday life. In particular, he places a special emphasis on human rights, social justice stories, life and emotions of the most vulnerable groups in society. Since 2020 he is based in Sweden.
For more than a decade he has been using photography to document and explore humanity, mark success and failure, as well as the achievements of society. Through his work, he is trying to highlight stories that raise awareness about important topics that can initiate positive changes in society in an effort to encourage the viewer to think, initiate empathy, inspire, or give hope.
His work has been recognized by the International Photography Awards (IPA), Pictures of the Year International (POYi), Balkan Photo Award, Swedish Picture of the Year, UNICEF, BETA's Photograph of the Year, Fokus Award and Photograph of the year in Bosnia and Herzegovina among others.
He is the founder and president of The Association of Photographers in Bosnia and Herzegovina BH FOTOGRAFI that launched in November 2018.
AWARDS / RECOGNITIONS
2021
•”Hrvoje Polan Photography Award”
- Winner
•”World Report Award | Documenting Humanity 2021”
- Shortlisted/ Future Generations Award
•”Swedish Picture of the Year”
- Nominated/ category Reportage of the Year
2020
•”International Photography Awards”
- 3rd place/ category Editorial/Press/Sports
•”Pictures of the Year International”
- 2nd place/ category Sports Picture Story
2019
•”Unicef Annual Award in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Winner/ category Internet
•”Focus on the Story”
- Judge's choice selection
2018
•”Fokus Award” International Photography Festival
- Winner
•„BETA's Photograph of the Year” competition for the best news photograph in southeast Europe.
- 1st Prize
•„Balkan Photo Award“
- Finalist/ Best 5 photos in category Sport
2017
•„BETA's Photograph of the Year” competition for the best news photograph in southeast Europe.
- Finalist/ Best photos of the competition
2016
•„Balkan Photo Award 2015“
- Finalist/ Best 5 stories in category Photo stories
2015
•“Photograph of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Finalist/ Best 10 photos in category Press
•„BETA's Photograph of the Year” competition for the best news photograph in southeast Europe.
- Finalist/ Best photos of the competition
2014
•“Photograph of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Finalist/ Best 10 photos in category City
2013
•“Photograph of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Winner/ Press category
- Finalist/ Best 10 photos in category Nature
•„BETA's Photograph of the Year” competition for the best news photograph in southeast Europe
- Finalist/ Best photos of the competition
2012
•“Photograph of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
- Grand Prix Award
- Winner/ Press category
- Finalist/ Best 10 photos in category City
- Finalist/ Best 10 photos in category People
2011
•"Photograph of the Year in Bosnia and Herzegovina"
- Finalist/ Best photos of the competition
Teaching Experience
• Guest speaker during the Summer school at the BTK Faculty of Arts and Design - University of Applied Sciences Europe
Berlin, Germany (2017)
• Workshop “About Photojournalism”, Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC)
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2016)
• Workshop “About Photojournalism”, Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC)
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2015)
• Workshop “Documentary Photography”, Pravo Ljudski - Human Rights Film Festival
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2012)
Photo Exhibitions
• "The Soul of Srebrenica", Endzio hub,
Belgrade, Serbia (2021)
• "The Soul of Srebrenica", Jeliceva Photo Gallery,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2020)
• "BALKAN’S DIVERSITY", GJON MILI PHOTOGRAPHY DAYS - 2nd Edition, Multifunctional center - Korca City Library
Korca, Albania (2019)
• "Retrospective exhibition No. 1 - Photographers of Bosnia and Herzegovina ", Jeliceva Photo Gallery,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019)
• "REFEST - Images & Words on Refugee Routes", Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2019)
• "Street Life Balkans", GJON MILI PHOTOGRAPHY DAYS, National Museum of Education,
Korca, Albania (2018)
• "FOKUS AWARD 2018", International Photography Festival,
Fier, Albania (2018)
• "REFEST - Images & Words on Refugee Routes", International Photography Festival Organ Vida, Izidor Krsnjavi Gallery,
Zagreb, Croatia (2018)
• "REFEST - Images & Words on Refugee Routes", Passaggi Festival,
Fano, Italy (2018)
• "Transitions", Congo International Film Festival,
Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2018)
• "Transitions", WARM Festival, Skenderija Bridge,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2017)
• "Transitions", World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates,
Bogota, Colombia (2017)
• "Transitions", 625 Studio Gallery,
Chicago, IL, United States (2016)
• "World Refugee Day - Together for the most vulnerable", Square of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2016)
• "Flooded areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina", Youth House,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2015)
• "My body: a war zone", WARM Festival, Children of Sarajevo Square,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2015)
• "My body: a war zone", Multiplex Ekran,
Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)
• "My body: a war zone", Youth Center,
Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)
• "My body: a war zone", Jazavac Cultural Theater,
Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)
• "My body: a war zone", Abrasevic Youth Cultural Center,
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014)
• "Sarajevo red line", Beyoglu Municipal Art Gallery,
Istanbul, Turkey (2014)
• "Objectively No.1", The Artget Gallery-Cultural Centre of Belgrade,
Belgrade, Serbia (2010)
• "Objectively No.1", Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2010)