Здрасти хора,

Понеже снимката с доматчето се получи много интересно, реших да направя едно клипче, в което да покажа как осветяването променя кадъра.

For the English-speaking fans - following my tomato picture, I decided to show how lighting changes the image. This video is in Bulgarian only but you can understand what's what from the video, I guess...

New Year, New Plans

Hey everyone! 

I know the blog has been dormant for quite some time BUT I promise to change things in 2020. 

This post should have appeared a month ago, but for objective reasons, the new year for me starts a month later. For starters, I would like to thank everyone for taking your time to be by my side throughout this difficult period. Thank you and for continuing to follow me on my journey in the world of photography!

Last year I started with some pretty serious plans and I have to admit that 2019 was packed with a lot of events (most of them were quite interesting, with one or two horrid exceptions). A lot of things happened (such as becoming a Master of Arts in the field of Photography and getting my degree in Cultural Studies), I visited many places (for some I have shared some info, for others - not yet). However, there were plans that could not move out of the drawing board (I am only one person, after all, and the day is only 24 hours).

So now is the time to share what I intend to do this year.

In 2019 Culture Crossroads was left in the background (not because I don't have something to share, but because I was pretty busy creating the images on location) so in 2020 I'll try to have more things to appear like on the page, and also on the blog and website of the project. About that, a little later.

The first and largest of the new things is my modification to the 365 day photo challenge. Since I doubt being able to take pictures absolutely every day in the new year, I invented something different.

There is another option of the photo challenge where one shot should be done every week, a total of 52 images. However, this was seemed too restricting to me, so I created the 52 week triple challenge.

The idea is that every week there will be three alternative topics and depending on my opportunity to shoot, there will be between one and three photos, depending on my mood and inspiration that week.

The list of topics can be downloaded from my website in case anyone wants to join :) I will announce the topics each Monday and whoever wishes can share their images in a comment under the post. Photos will also be posted on my blog as well as on Instagram.

Ironically, last year the challenge ended exactly in week 5 (because my busy schedule became even busier). Therefore, this year, we will start straight from week 5 :)

Another change is that more photos and videos will appear on the Culture Crossroads project page - both videos from the places and behind-the-scenes footage. However, to be able to see those in due time, you will have to follow the project page and my YouTube channel.

I have planned a series of videos for this page, this time for the fieldwork in travel photography, as this genre takes out a huge part of my time. As usual, there will be options in Bulgarian and English :) I hope you'll like it :) Generally, this was the plan last year, but obviously I will do this one so now's the time.

The second project is linked to Dmitry Glukhovsky's Subway Series (Metro 2033, Metro 2034 and Metro 2035, in case anyone is interested). More about that when the project starts. There will be lots of pictures again and a lot of work to be done.

The Title? Metro 2020 :)

Finally, I am currently developing a mini photo project that is directly linked to shooting places from old photos. The Target? Old Sofia. Whoever managed to visit my exhibition in may 2019 has already seen some of the images, but I plan to keep going. For the fans and followers of the page, I will start sharing the images I already have :) The project video presentation can be found here.

I wish all of you a 2020 filled with much success health and smiles!

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.