Miroslav Tornjanski was born in Bečej on June 19, 1921. After completing elementary school and three years of high school, he enrolled in a vocational school for photographers. He began his photography apprenticeship in 1939 with Steva Jovanović in Belgrade. He passed his journeyman exam in 1942 and worked as an assistant in Belgrade and Pančevo for a total of three years.
He passed his master’s exam in Zrenjanin in 1946, and in the same year, he opened his own photography studio in Melenci under the name Foto “Mira.” After a short stay in Melenci, he moved his studio to Novi Bečej and opened a photo studio at the corner of Marshal Tito and Vuk Karadžić Streets (in Maletić’s house), at number 11, where a tailor’s workshop used to be, and where today a flower shop is located. In the early 1950s, he also worked part-time at Narodna Tehnika in the photography section, where he met Geza Sakač, and together they worked on photo boards, signing them together. They also photographed for the then Tourist Organization, which published postcards with their images. There was significant professional rivalry between Tornjanski and Sakač. In the early 1950s, the Foto “Mira” studio changed location and moved to 20 Marshal Tito Street, in the former house of the Krka Majin family, later Dubravka Nešović, and today the Požunić family home. It is not known for certain whether Tornjanski had assistants or taught future photographers, but it can be assumed with a high degree of certainty, as he was considered an excellent photographer.
Miroslav Tornjanski exhibited his photographs at an exhibition in Belgrade in 1951. In the late 1950s, he moved to West Germany, where he obtained citizenship in 1963. He spent the rest of his life in Germany, where he was also buried.
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