A Slovenian man turned his love for adventures and his passion for the natural world into a career as a world-renowned photographer. The works of Arne Hodalič are now published in some of the world’s most prestigious magazines and have helped to introduce Slovenian photography to an international audience.
Born in 1955, Hodalič spent much of his childhood by the sea, and by the time he was a young man, he had become an accomplished diver. It quickly became apparent that he also had a latent for photography and filmmaking, and he began working with a small Slovenian advertising agency.
However, he was a restless spirit and spent much of the 1980s traveling around the world. In India, he captured the vibrant colors of that mysterious country, much of it from a boat on the Ganges. He later cruised down other great rivers on the world, and his photos were bought by international publishers who were eager to turn them into magazine articles and coffee table books. His work was also featured in several international exhibitions.
Hodalič was always concerned with human rights and suffering. In the 1990s, he traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina and briefly became a war photographer. After his return, however, he focused his talents on cave photography and authored documentary films about Slovenia’s cave systems. By now, his reputation extended far beyond Slovenia, and he received frequent commissions from foreign clients to travel the world and capture far-way people and places on film. He became a permanent contributor to international photo agencies such as Gamma and Corbis.
In 2006, Hodalič helped to launch the Slovenian edition of National Geographic and has worked on several major projects for the magazine. His photographic examination of archeological findings in the Ljubljanica River was even featured in the English-language edition of the magazine. In recent years, he has lectured at the University of Ljubljana and elsewhere – determined to pass on a love for both exploration and travel to the young.
Jaka Bartolj
