The origins of the series of black and white analog and digital photographs, vapor(wave), date back to 2015, and the series gained additional momentum in response to the quarantine period of the global pandemic in early 2020. From classic analog and digital photographic techniques, the series, in which the photographer observes and documents the characteristics of water in its borderline manifestations, has developed into interactive multimedia computer-based installations. Through photographs of abstractly framed natural phenomena that are directly related to water, internal feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and transience are reflected. Using his own software, which is powered by microcomputers and responds to human presence through connected sensors and cameras, the author adds interactivity to these photographs, which serves as a reflection of human impact on his natural environment in the era of climate change.
The word play vapor(wave), which forms the name of this series of photographs, refers to water in various forms and patterns captured in the photographs; clouds as vapor and ice "waves" frozen in time. The message of the series is at its core tied to the musical micro-genre and aesthetic movement “vaporwave”, which emerged on the Internet around 2010 and satirically addresses and nostalgically revives images of consumer capitalism, pop culture and technology from the 1980s and 1990s. It reflects the fundamental uncertainty of a generation that (un)consciously faces "lost futures", erased by constant economic, existential and environmental crises.
Tomaž Zajelšnik was born in 1988 in Ljubljana. He began his photographic career and education in 2003 by participating in a photography club at his high school. There, he learned classic analog photography techniques in the darkroom and participated in various ex tempores around Slovenia.
After graduating from high school, his focus became photojournalism, and in photography workshops in Novo mesto in 2010 and 2011, his mentors were world-renowned photographers Jocelyn Bain Hogg and Ed Ou. He continued his photography and artistic-theoretical education at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, under the mentorship of Prof. Darko Slavec.
Between 2011 and 2013, he worked as a full-time photojournalist for the newspaper Dnevnik, covering daily and long-term social and political stories.
Between 2016 and 2018, he worked as a cameraman on various documentary and student film projects.
He is currently creating long-term photography series with a focus on nature photography.