One of the easiest and hardest things to do at Falmouth, was to write that 'project proposal' that had to go with the application documents. At the time, I thought that 'projects' are for the famous photographers tom work on and didn't have a clue on how to create something on my own.
So I sat down and started thinking what I am good at and that is how I realised that I had been working on a project ever since 2015. That was the thing later to be named Culture Crossroads. It was an amazing idea and I started the MA full of enthusiasm that towards 2019 I would have a complete amazing travel photography project that would not only help me grow as a professional BUT also help spread the word of how amazing the Balkan peninsula is.
Hence, in the first module I handed in a really diverse portfolio (and as the tutors said, totally lacking coherence) . I wanted to show everything immediately BUT that MA taught me otherwise. To create what was deemed 'coherent portfolio', I needed to focus on one aspect. The problem in the whole idea was that my project was meant to be diverse as the Balkans have more than one facet. So I went for the middle ground and decided that each module onwards, I will be focusing on one of the six categories of my project which I created to bring some order to the chaos of the whole thing. Here they are:
- Remember the Past – historical sites
- Experience the Present – food, street photography
- Be Part of Culture – holidays, customs and historical reenactments
- See Nature – landscapes
- Admire Architecture - architecture, obviously
- Feel Religion - places of worship
Throughout the previous modules, I tried to focus on a particular aspect of my project, realizing that I cannot submit a coherent portfolio of only 20 images that would be able to cover all six categories.
However, the end of the MA got closer and what I needed to do was write an FMP proposal. The main problem was that by that time I had already realised that the grand project I had in mind will be nowhere near completion. Traveling costs money, even traveling within the country for a day can cost a lot, depending on where you want to go and what you want to do. It also takes time an planning. I have had cases when I need to visit a place three times to get the shot I wanted.
Popularisation of the project, especially if your budget goes from limited to non-existent and you need to do everything yourself can also be a problem, not to mention the incredible variety of places and things one would like to see, capture and write about. having talked to some colleagues about their ongoing projects taught me that the way I view mine is wrong. This is not a coursework or an MA thesis with a fixed deadline and length. On the contrary - it requires tremendous amount of time and effort to be completed (or even kept afloat - here I have in mind even something as simple as social media presence). Not to mention that I wanted to have videos, images and text and each of those three requires some time.
So, at the start of the FMP module I was already aware that Culture Crossroads may have started as a project proposal for Falmouth but it would be years before it draws to completion (and meets the ambitious goals I had in the beginning - goals that I am stubborn enough to keep pursuing till I reach them). Unfortunately, I had to admit that my tutors were right - you cannot have a coherent portfolio, covering 6 or even 3 different aspects of the project and have only 20 images to stand for it. Things do not go that way.
That much at least I understood for two years at Falmouth. If you want your images to tell a coherent story, they should have something in common - like the sentences in an essay.
Hence, for my FMP, I decided to go local since Culture Crossroads proved to be a tremendous amount of work and time, which will not end after the end of the MA.
Given the time of the year that comes around – winter – that meant I had to go really local and have 24/7 access to it. This is how I came with the project ‘Sofia - Between the Lions and the Eagles - echoes of a lost city’. More about it - in a follow-up post.
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