# Damir Hoyka

Damir Hoyka (born 23 April 1967) is a Croatian fine art and advertising photographer. The focus of his work are portraits and creative personal projects, and lately his educational project Fotosofia where he shares his knowledge and experience with photography talents. He has won several awards.

## Early life

Hoyka was born in Brežice, Slovenia to Croatian parents. Three days later he was in his parents' house in Zagreb where he grew up. His enthusiasm for visual expression showed up during the summer 1981 when he started drawing comics. He finished high school in Zagreb – first two years he studied at MIOC (Mathematical Informational Educational Center), and second two years at CEZAKUM (Center for Culture and Arts). During high school years he continued to draw until photography caught his attention.

## Photography career

His first photographs were published in 1985. In 1988 he studied German at the Goethe Institute in Munich in order to be able to study in German-speaking area. In 1989 he enrolled at the Faculty for Applied Arts in Vienna (Prof. Eva Choung-Fux) as a guest student. In 1991 he obtained the status of professional artist (HZSU, Zagreb). In 1995 he lectured on photography at the photo-workshop of the Croatian Photographic Association. In 1996 he published the essay Fotosofia, a collection of personal insights in photography. In the essay he is presenting one of the possible ways of observing, understanding, explaining and "using" the photographic medium. In 1998 invited by the authorities of the city of Mainz, he participated in the international artists' project Art in the City. In 1999, invited by the organizing committee of the 5th International Project for Fine Arts, in Graz, Austria, he participated in the project "If I don't get it, I'll give you no peace". In 2003 he published the photo book Metal Dreams in collaboration with the Austrian artist Thelma Herzl. In 2004 he published the photo book Celebrity Fair. In the same year he launched a cycle of art events called Art4All, encouraging the audience to take a more active role in art communication. In 2005 he was a guest actor in the RTL TV novel Forbidden love (Zabranjena ljubav). In 2006 he started annual seminar named after his essay Fotosofia. For each seminar he selects 15 participants by the contest. The strongholds of the seminar are photo education, creativity, networking, photographer's real-life situation experience, networking and promotion of seminarist's work and personality. In 2008 he founded the photo portal www.fotosofia.info with the goal to connect all photo admirers – photographers and photo audience. In 2008 from Photo Club Zagreb he received Tošo Dabac prize for achievements in the fields of photographic art, and the developing and promotion of photographic culture. In 2008 he was a member of the Croatia's Top Model jury. In 2009 he published the SF novel Xavia. In 2013. he took part in the show Dancing with the Stars. To date he has published in the mass media thousands of fine art and applied-art photographs, exhibited at a numerous solo and collective shows, put on a number of multimedia projects, and has been a member and president of numerous photo juries. Hoyka has won several prizes for his work.

## Selected books

* 1996. Essay Fotosofia, ISBN 953609214X, Studio grafičkih ideja, Zagreb
* 2003. Photo book Metal Dreams with Thelma Herzl, ISBN 3-85498-265-8, Christian Brandstaetter Verlagsgesellschaft, Wien
* 2004. Photo book Celebrity Fair, ISBN 953-196-288-X, Mozaik knjiga, Zagreb
* 2009. SF novel Xavia, ISBN 9789533040264, VBZ, Zagreb

## Fotosofia

On the base of the essay Fotosofia, in 1996 Hoyka started the Fotosofia annual seven-day photo seminar, sharing the ideas from the essay with fifteen seminarists he chooses via contest. The seminar is conceived as a combination of photo theory and photo praxis, including photo shootings of different genres and guest lecturers from disciplines directly and indirectly connected with photography. On the base of the seminar, in 2008 he founded the photo portal www.fotosofia.info