Sea views - Happy Saint Nicolas day!

The story behind the shot:
This shot is one of my favorite examples of why one shoudl take pictures until the last second available. There are people who have a specific shot of mind, shoot it and then put the camera away. I'm not like that. In my opinion, pictures are taken all the time, until there is virtually no way to do it. Until the last possible moment, because a you never knows what's waiting a few meters away. Now that's a wonderful example.

This shot is the last of a very long series. And captures the last rays of sun of a very long day. We got up early so we can go to Chora Sfakion (the biggest town in a pretty remote area of Crete) and be able to see the Samaria Gorge. The didn't see gorge, unfortunately, but I almost ran out of memory cards. Simply because the views were amazing. So at the end of the long day, with dying batteries and a pretty full memory card, I had already quite tired.

This shot was created shortly after the ferry sailed back to the port and we disembarked. Then I just couldn't help but take a few pics of the sunset. I have a whole series, of course, but this one is maybe one of the most interesting shots I made that day.

So don't put the camera away when you decide you've found the shot you need. You never know what you'll find just round the corner.

And to all who celebrate today - happy name day :)

More information about the place - on the Culture Crossroads project page.

Djavola varos

Silent witnesses

The Devil's city (Djavola varos), Serbia

The story behind the shot:

The Devil's city is one of the popular places for a trip in the country of our western neighbors. The place is about 300 kilometers from Sofia and looks quite like Melnik or the Stob pyramids phenomenons.

The Serbians have taken care of the visitors and you can find almost anything in place - from a toilet (don't laugh, this is something you cannot find at each and every rock formation you visit) to cafes and small chapel. The walk to the place is also quite pleasant. The rock phenomenon itself is not particularly big, but it is worth it. The catch? That it's not quite easy to shoot. For the sole reason that there are not many opportunities to shoot the place from more than one angle. If you don't want to break your neck, that is. Otherwise, people made trails and places to relax, made the place safe for even very young children, basically did their best.

The place itself is known for its poisonous water. I'm not kidding, the concentration of heavy metals in it is so big, that it is not potable, nor fit for washing and kills everything in its path. Even the trees around her are very strange, like enchanted monsters. The place looks like an haunted forest, indeed. 

The Legend of the place invented by the locals is also not to be missed. Followers from Bulgaria can see it in the video (I decided to play the tour guide, so it's better to hear it from me). English-speaking fans can read it on the Culture Crossroads project page. 

Photoadvice:

Wear sturdy shoes (I almost always say it, but there is no way to avoid this now). As for lenses - I always say it again, but the wider, the better. Otherwise, this place can be shot with almost anything. This is one of the few shots from the place that is interesting to me. The other will go at some other time.

More about the place itself, the rock phenomenon and few links and tourist information, on the page of the Culture Crossroads project.

Postojnska jama / Postojna cave train ride

Week 4 - themes

Here are the topics for week 4 - all of them exciting:
a) the colour BLUE
b) city lights
c) from a high angle

Week 3 - result

What does a photographer do when there's a bunch of stuff to write? Right, stupid things - in my case, it's editing the photos from week 3.

I chose two topics - bottoms up and guilty pleasure and here are the results.

"Bottoms up" is a still life of empty cups, and "guilty pleasure" ( I was tempted to publish only one pic - the one with the cups) is the eating of dried sausages, famous all over the Balkans with the name 'lukanka' or 'lukanika'. It is made out of various types of meat and spices and then put to dry and eaten as a side dish with bread and alcoholic beverages such as 'rakiya'. I love lukanka. A lot. So I decided to make a tasty shot of my favorite appetizer.

Week 3 - topics

Due to brutally awful Internet connection these days (of which fans from Bulgaria are already aware and had the chance to laugh a lot), I can upload the topics for this week only now.

Week 3:
a) the colour RED
b) drink up
c) guilty pleasure

The pictures from last week - later today.

Week 2 - result

I'm starting with the photos from the second (the week before the last, i.e. week 2 of the challenge) - I had awful connection problems within the past three weeks.

Because of that, the fans from Bulgaria were able to enjoy some funny texts about me being without Internet connection AND the whole story with the technicians. This, on the other hand, gave rise to a collection of really short funny stories BUT that is a topic for a different post.


Contrary to my desire to do more than one shot a week, it turned out that it wouldn't word and that's why the only topic that worked was the morning one.


This is the sunrise I see from my window.

Week 2 - themes

Week 2 of the challenge is live and here are the themes :)

a) Morning

b) Made with love

c) Clouds

I don't know about you but this sounds a lot easier than the previous topics.

Looking forward to seeing your amazing images.

Wishing you a week full of inspiration.

Week 1 - result

As I guessed, I couldn't create a decent photo of myself (guess that's the curse of being a photographer), I settled for option C - a new beginning. Didn't exactly have a clear idea but my first association was a blank page, a new chapter on the book. Hence I created this simple still life. It is a cliche, I know BUT since I am a writer too (no, seriously here - writing fan fiction and blog posts also counts) to me the beginning of any text is something almost magical - you need a lot of inspiration and it is wonderful to see how the blank page is filled with letters that form a story, a new world for those who would read it.

Of course, I don't write on paper now (people have invented Microsoft Office, after all) but when I was younger, I used to do so.

12 myths about photography myth 12

There we came to the last episode of the 12 myths about photography series. It tackles a tricky topic - the photographic guild and how unwelcoming they arctually are.



If you want to be a professional, you have to earn your place there, to be acknowledged as equal by the others.



This is the last video from the series BUT don't worry - I have another series set up to launch shortly - you saw some of them already. This time we will talk about the stories behind the shot and some rules in travel photography (what I do most of the time).



In the meantime, some videos from the Culture Crossroads project will launch soon so stay tuned :)

52 week triple challenge explained

The video presentation of my 52-week challenge is now live!

2019 in plans

Here is the video presentation for the lazy ones :) 

Week 1 topics

Hello everyone!

Here is the first set of topics for week 1. Are you excited? I am. 

So, here they are: 

a) Who are you? Self-portrait. 

b) Resolution 

c) New beginning

Choose any of the topics and share the pictures with me. I'll be glad to have a chat with you and will share my own results in subsequent posts :) 

Wishing you a wonderful week :) 

2019 plans

Hello, hello everyone!
I promised an explanation post and here it is:

The beginning of the new year is a perfect moment to share my plans for the next 12 months to come.

2019 seems to be full of emotions and new projects that I will share with you when the time comes. Naturally Culture Crossroads continues to gain momentum and through the new 2019 there will be many new images and more videos. About that, a little later.

The first and biggest of the new projects I am undertaking is my own modification of the 365-Day Photography Challenge. Since I doubt I can take pictures absolutely every single day of the new year, I did something different.

There is another option of the photo challenge where you should take one pic per week, a total of 52. However, this has seen too little, so I created 52-week triple challenge.

The idea is that every week there will be three alternative topics and depending on my shedule there will be between one and three photos per week (concerning that challenge, I mean).

The list of topics can be downloaded from my website, in case anyone wants to join :) (will let you know when the content is live on my site and blog) and at the beginning of every week I will announce the topics here so whoever wishes to can share their images in a comment under the post. Photos will also be published on my blog and Instagram.

Another change is that on the Culture Crossroads project page there will be more photos and videos - both videos from places I visited and behind-the-scenes footage. To keep track of that, however, you will have to follow the project page and my YouTube channel.

This page there will also be loaded with a new series of videos, this time for the fieldwork in travel photography, as this genre takes a huge part of my time hence I claim to have some expertise there. As usual, there videos in both Bulgarian and English :) I hope you'll like it :)

The second project is linked to the subway series of Dmitry Glukhovsky (Metro 2033, Metro 2034 and Metro 2035, in case anyone is interested). But for when it starts. There will be a lot of pictures again and a lot of fieldwork.

Finally, I am currently developing a mini photo project that is directly linked to shooting places from old photos. The Target? Old Sofia. Expect video presentation of the project as soon as possible!

I wish all of you a 2019 filled with much success health and smiles!

52-week triple challenge

Hello, hello everyone!
The new year is already here and for starters I would like to thank everyone for continuing to follow me on my journey in the world of photography!
Don't worry, this blog is far from dead! I will revive it within the upcoming weeks, I promise :)
I have some exciting new plans for 2019 (that will be in a follow-up post, though). This one is for another purpose. 

Welcome to my own modification of the 365-Day Photography Challenge! 

The idea is that every week there will be three alternative topics and depending on my schedule there will be between one and three photos per week. Created this since I thought that the 365-day photo challenge will be too tough whereas the simple 52-week challenge will be too easy. Hence

The list of topics can be downloaded as a PDF file, in case anyone wants to join :) (will let you know when the content is live on my site and blog) and at the beginning of every week I will announce the topics here so whoever wishes to can share their images in a comment under the post. Photos will also be published on my blog and Instagram.

Interested and want to give it a try?

Then go to the dedicated page (link for convenience) to download the list :) 

Will keep you updated about the progress both here and on my social media accounts :) so stay tuned :) 

Wishing you a wonderful New 2019!