Those who do not know astronomy will be interested in everything that is in our sky. Those who like beautiful places in nature will find out about some locations that may be unknown to them, but which they will definitely want to visit. And they will want to enjoy these locations at night too.
And those who have not yet experienced the night sky will want to find dark corners for new experiences.
We hope that this project will encourage the public to influence those responsible for public lighting as actively as possible. To understand how necessary it is to replace bad public lighting with more environmentally friendly lighting. And how unnecessary it is for public lighting to shine throughout the night, thus negatively affecting our natural environment and animal life.
Finally, endless lighting has a negative effect on a person who needs real darkness for quality sleep. And the sky with as little light pollution as possible for a true experience of nature.
This exceptional project, with all its beauty, has the potential to activate a lot of positive things in people, in their consciousness, in their views and in their relationship and dealings with the natural environment.
(From a review by Ante Radonić, popularizer of astronomy)


As I’m scrolling through this imposing book of terrestrial and space views, I’m looking at the photos that Branko selected from his travels to share with us, and I can’t get one title out of my mind. Our first astronomical book “Our Sky”, authored by Oton Kučera, the first Croatian written delight of the night sky.
This monograph is a tribute to our Oton Kučera and all the old masters who contemplated and celebrated the starry sky in art and philosophy.
Oton and Branko call us to go outside and admire the night sky, to gather courage and face the infinite. Unfortunately, that night sky of theirs, is just disappearing, it is suffocated by the passion for modernity, the passion for power over nature, the passion for a completely controlled world. Our life is moving towards the world of “steel caves”.
Branko went outside for all of us. He went looking for corners of Croatia where fireflies and moths still live, and in their company he recorded and painted the remains of “our sky” with old photons.
Let’s enjoy those nightscapes of the disappearing night sky and think about how important it is to get out of that technological cocoon of ours, look at the sky and face a few infinities. The infinite universe, but also infinite human arrogance, which does everything to extinguish our gaze into the night sky, so that the light bearer wins.
This monograph is a spite of an individual who does not agree to that, the one who does not accept that the greatness of a man is measured in megawatts and lux, but by reason and passion of the heart.
(From a review by Korado Korlević, astronomer and head of the Višnjan Observatory)


Branko’s astrophotographs are exceptional. In today’s fast-paced, labelled and materialized age, the age in which people connect with various devices, networks and applications, we often actually witness the superficiality and shallowness of such forms of supposed connection. However, looking at Branko’s works, it is impossible not to admire them. His photographs of the night sky have and call for a kind of depth of existence and connection.
The experience of the galactic expanse of our Milky Way, composed in the darkness of untouched parts of nature, together with, for example, a small stone chapel that has resisted transience for centuries, reveals the notes of the symphony of eternity. To combine billions of stars, numerous star systems with associated hidden planets and moons, and one human temporal creation, created on the third pebble of our star, as a result of sweat, shortness of breath and blisters, into one message – leaves one speechless. Having an eye for something like that, and the ability to immortalize it, is Branko’s gift. It is a gift of the Universe to him, and then through him, it is also a cosmic gift to all of us. Being part of it, through enjoying and sharing Branko’s work, is truly something special and inspiring.
(From a review by Saša Zavrtnik, Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Zagreb)


The first glance through this photo-monograph reminded me of the words of the famous American poet and philosopher R.W. Emerson: The sky is the ultimate art gallery right above us. Indeed, Branko Nađ’s photographs help us to see and perceive what would otherwise be difficult for most of us to access. Just like the impressionist painters who tried to capture the changes in the quality of light throughout the day, Branko, while stoically sacrifices his nights, skillfully captures the stars patiently courting the North Star like tireless suitors, leaving breathtaking trails in their wake.
(From a review by Ives Vodanović Lukić, geographer and art historian, Institute for Tourism)