Besnik Mehmeti

Born: 1971

Birthplace: Skopje, Northern Macedonia

Living and working in London, UK

Published work:

1990 Kosova conflict

Evening Standard

Scotsman

Irish times

Die welt

Top Hotel

2016 Iraq War

Documentary

AlJazeera

Selected Exhibitions:

2018 Bromley Library, London UK

Bromley Camera Club annual exhibition

2019 Bromley Library London UK

Bromley Camera Club annual exhibition

2019 Ross Cup 2019 Award winners exhibition

Kent County Photographic Association, UK

2019 O.S.D. London UK

2020 Award winners Landscape Photographer of the Year’ UK Tour

2023 Dulwich Artist Open House

2023 Under the Rainbow, Blue water

2024 Landmark Art Centre

2024 Reporters House

I'm a London-based photographer with a career spanning over two decades. My journey in photography began in the nineties when I moved from the Balkans to London. A few years later, in 1999, driven by a passion for photography, I embarked on a mission to document the war in Kosova. I was completely unprepared—lacking accreditation, a press pass, formal training in hostile environments, and equipped with only a few rolls of film and a cheap amateur camera. It was just me and my madness. Despite these challenges, I managed to document the war. Twenty-five years later, I’am about to publish Kosova 1999, a photography book about the Kosova war.

This experience led me into the news industry, where I worked for various broadcasters as a video editor, camera operator, and edit producer. My career included roles with BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) in Prishtina, the UN, Alsat TV, Al Jazeera English in the UK and Qatar, BBC, and numerous independent productions in the UK.

Sixteen years after the Kosova war, in 2016, I was invited by Claudio von Planta to join him in Northern Iraq as an editor for a documentary on the ISIS-Kurdish conflict. This reignited a long-suppressed urge to be on the front lines. Being so close, I couldn’t resist so I took the opportunity visit the front lines and capture few images of the Kurdish army. Those images were only used to document the trip and for me to keep the beast under control.

Photography has always been my passion. In 2020, I was honoured with the title of Landscape Photographer of the Year UK for my image “Silent Covid Morning,” which won the special category ‘My Isolation Landscape’. Covid marked another crossroads in my photography. As life returned to the city, my work began evolving in a more abstract and experimental direction. I’ve started experimenting with new printing techniques and materials, focusing on mood and fading memories.

Where my journey will lead next, I’m not certain, but I’ll continue to take it one step at a time.