FMP - final - the exhibition - change of printing plans the last possible moment

When I started taking pics for the exhibition, my initial idea was to go classic - have the images side by side (or one atop of another, as it later proved to be). And so I did, producing 14 panes like this one: 

That was a relatively OK approach but then I started making the exhibition poster. Then I realized that i need something that would wow people and that would make me proud that I have created it. Something that no one else has done. So I created this pic, thinking that it would serve as the exhibition poster. 

This image shows the biggest change in the urban landscape – it is the monument of a national hero and saint – Vasil Levski – and is located on the [place Levski was hanged 140 years ago. When the first image was created – in the 1910s – that place was almost outside of town. Nowadays this is one of the busiest urban areas and is deemed “downtown”. 

I loved the outcome, as it made people stop and think and created a few more of these. The total number of double panes, as I call them is 4 (since not all images were prone to looking like that or being collaged). 

In my double panes, I partially used Rigaud’s technique – creating a blend between old and new, as he did. Instead of blending the old image into the new one, I went for something a little different – dividing the image into old and new along a vertical axis thus showing the change in urban landscape (similar to the image above). I left the monuments unchanged, unlike what Rigaud did – hence half of the monument was left in the old image and the other half was in the new one. From what I saw at the opening, the “double” panes were along the most popular and photographed ones in the exhibition. 

 Some of the panes before the publication 

Problem was that I came up with this idea literally 5 days before the exhibition start and I managed to order the panes three days prior to start. The Orthodox Easter did not help either but in the end I managed to get the last panes on the opening day.

looking at the the exhibition now, I think it was a great idea that I did those panes since those were one of the most popular posts during the opening :)

WIP development - when the place is unrecogniseable

I have always been a fan of places that have changed a lot over time. You simply walk into the place and see that it has been quite different from what you see now. That was one of the drives behind my idea to do a re-photography project - to show how different places were a few decades (or in my case - a century) ago. 

Naturally, one of the first images that I selected for my FMP were the ones that are unrecognizeable - the ones that make you gape and say "wow". I love such images because they make people stop and think. So I started looking for images that made me stop and think. 

One of the first ones I selected saw this one - of Lavov most, now one of the busiest crossrads in Sofia. The pic is taken directly after the Liberation. 

Source: http://www.lostbulgaria.com/?p=2891

I tried to re-do the shot and it was a disaster (not because the shot does not work BUT because the place looks totally different and I cannot re-create the same angle. I love the old image and the totally different reality is shows and I wanted to juxtapose it to the modern landscape. 

The work I produced though, taught me two things -  that the first thing you need to look for in an image to rephotograph is the angle you use. If it is taken from a weird angle, chances are that you will not be able to recreate it. As it was in my case. 

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I was really eager to create that image since the place is really famous and the original image makes your jaw drop. However, once I went there it turned out that the angle I am looking for is not exactly possible since the photographer 140 years ago climbed atop a roof of a house nearby. A really clever technique, I must admit. However, nowadays the bride is surrounded by the police headquarters (I cannot get access to the roof or the insides in any way since it is a restricted building) and a brothel (I am not joking, it is a real brothel (and as you can quess I was not exactly keen on getting inside). 

This was one image but the other one that was totally inappropriate. The central railway station in Sofia that existed up till the 1970 when it was demolished to make way for the new, bigger one. My father remembers the old railway station and even today regrets that it got demolished.  

I really wanted to re-create the place since I was curious how the place looked like before that Communist nonsense was created ( I am being judgemental but there is not other way to name a ton of concrete and steel with no design whatsoever). And so I found a picture. The one below: 

Source - http://www.lostbulgaria.com/?p=76

This picture was taken in the 1930s when the railway station was relatively new. The place was built by Viennese architects and was really fashionable when it was created. And it looks really old and interesting. However, in the 1970s, during a weird drive for innovation and modernization of the totalitarian regime wanted to expand the lines and create 4 new ones (the old station was not designed for the new train traffic). They could have done a ton of things but instead what they did was to demolish the old building and build a new one - more "modern" and spacious. The new design (see below) was mostly inspired by the "Socialist realism" so the place to me looks totally grotesque:  

To me, everything about that place is ridiculous. The design, the "monument" which makes no sense and the passage that is littered with beggars and criminals. Most towns in Bulgaria have kept their old railway stations as a token of their long history. Not Sofia though. That new "thing" is much more like a joke. You can see for yourself. 

I can talk a lot about this place and how the architectural heritage was destroyed to build something politically appealing but otherwise total rubbish. The main problem here was that even though I wanted to raise awareness with this image, the place was unrecognizable and the angle could not be re-created. Unfortunately for me. To top it all, the railway station is at a very busy road so you cannot step back and just take a shot.

There were other locations like that that I simply could not use for this reason. After all, the point of re-photography is to have something that is in common. 

FMP - final - angle changes and motivation

As I mentioned in the introduction, some of the angles are different from those in the original images. The reasons for that vary.  At some places, it was simply impossible to re-create the old image since there was real danger for me doing so. Even though, I tried and here is the result:

The original image was taken in 1910 when the road must have been relatively peaceful. However, now this is one of the busiest roads in the country. I took quite the risk standing in the middle of it - even at red lights - to take the re-photographed shot. When the lights changed to green, however, things were dangerous. Bulgarian drivers are not the most tolerant ones, I'd say. hence, this is closest I could get to the original (and I really loved the old image because of the tram). Unfortunately, the old angle used is to be in the middle of the street (which would be directly in the cars' way) so i could not do that. 

At other cases – like the monument of Vasil Levski shown in another section – I decided to shift the angle a bit to show something that is important to the culture of Bulgaria.

I shifted the angle to show Vasil Levski’s portrait in the background since this way the composition speaks volumes to the Bulgarian observer (who was my target audience for the exhibition). In this case I decided to shift the angle for the sake of recognition and for the sake of impact.

In other case (when I needed to photograph Saint Alexander Nevski cathedral), I decided not to cut the building in half to show its magnificence. The original image was taken in 1910 when the cathedral was under construction - it is one of the very few images of the place at that stage and I was fascinated by it so I totally wanted to include it in the project since it it unique. When I got on location, however, the scale of the original image did not fit what I saw. If I wanted to do an exact copy of the old image, I needed to cut out half of the church and I wanted to show the splendour of the place. Hence I changed the scale and showed the whole church in the final image to show how bit the church has got since then. 

Another case was when I needed to photograph the monument of Sofia – there, to capture the whole of it (it is a very tall one), I needed to change the scale (since the old monument of Lenin that used to be there was much smaller). Unfortunately, the scale change was necessary to show the new monument.

The case with the National Theater was different - it has not changed much though its surroundings have. The theater has not changed much, but its surroundings have - if I had to recreate the original shot, I needed to be in the middle of a cafe full of tourists and which blocks like 70% of the view. Hence I changed the angle to be able to shoot the actual image and not the cafe in front of it.

FMP - final - the exhibition - what happens

I don't know if it is just me, but when I do something, I always want it to be perfect and aim for the best possible outcome - no matter what the thing is. This exhibition, being the culmination of two years of hard work and a lot of nerves, travels and texts written, was not exception, of course. 

Hence, after I selected the venue, I immediately knew that I would need some really good promotion and a lot of loyal friends to have around to support me. Luckily, I found some support but as a perfectionist, not everything went according to plan. 

As the Murphy law goes, if anything can go wrong, it will definitely go wrong at the wort possible time. The opening date of the exhibition was May 1st (as both me and the venue owner, a friend of mine, deemed it as great to start at the first day of the month). Another motivation is that the date is a bank holiday in Bulgaria so there would be no excuses that someone has been held up at work. So I went for that as I was quite tight on the deadline for submission here. 

The Orthodox Easter (that took place just the previous week) also posed a problem since my prints were delayed due to that. Luckily the print shop, the courier firm and myself managed to pull it off just the morning before the opening. That posed another near-heart attack situation since I needed to hang images only 8 hours before the start. 

Hanging is always a problem in any exhibition - at least so my previous experience shows. When I needed to curate this exhibition (done by the Bulgarian UNESCO club I worked for at the time) hanging the images proved to be the most time-consuming activity of all. 

Hence, I didn't expect anything less and I was right - hanging the images round (without damaging the walls of the venue, as we had agreed) proved to be a test for my inventiveness. Luckily, things went out great and my exhibition harmonizes with the interior of the cafe. 

The video below shows the exhibition opening (and me, speaking to those who came) and the images as they are arranged for showcase. It is in Bulgarian only since it made no sense to make subtitles of the 5 phrases I actually said there. Throughout the evening, I was acting as the tour guide, explaining to people what was in front of them, giving instructions on how to scan the QR code, ect. 

From what I saw at the opening, the images do provoke some response and thinking in the guests. We'll see how things go since the opening of the cafe is scheduled for the third week of May when the media is expected to come, as well as many other guests. I will also be there since this will be sort of a second opening and another opportunity to stand in front of people and talk about my work. 

 

FMP - final - historical significance part 1

When I started my FMP, one of my main motivations was to actually provide good and interesting-looking images. The initial ides of "Sofia - grows but never ages" was to present the viewer with beautiful re-photographed places. Later on, however, it dawned on me that the places I usually select are much more than just beautiful buildings that have stood the test of time. 

Actually, most of the buildings that have been included in the project, have a controversial story to tell. Sometimes, the story is so controversial, that even Bulgarians have some trouble understanding it. 

This place - the monument of Vasil Levski - proved to be one of the most spectacular images in the whole project. Apart from the obvious change in landscape - in the 1910s it was at the very outskirts of town whereas it is in the ideal center - this place is one of the most significant ones in modern Bulgarian history and a special landmark within the city. No matter how much the urban landscape changed throughout the years, no one has ever thought of removing this monument. 

Here is why - the year was 1871 and a young man tried to defy the mighty Ottoman empire. At the time, the empire was declining BUT still holding its firm grip on the people on the Balkans. This one man, born in Karlovo town, in Stara planina mountain, decided to rally the peasants to a large-scale national rebellion. To do this, he started visiting village after village, talking to the people and explaining to them what needs to be done. Whenever he went, a revolutionary committee was founded. The purpose of the committee was to collect money, weapons and new enlists who would rise as one on the day of the great rebellion. It took the young man two years to visit almost every place where Bulgarians lived and to create a committee there. Almost each and every village in Bulgaria has a story of this man visiting and how he tricked the Ottoman posse. He was a real James Bond of his time and a master in disguise - once we has a cattle herder, the other in interpreter to some pasha. His name? Vasil Ivanov Kuntchev or as he remained in Bulgarian history - Vasil Levski (the nickname was supposedly given to him because of his long "lion-like" leap while he was in training for one of the first-ever organized attempts to liberate Bulgaria from the Ottomans, back in 1868). 

As the organization grew bigger, too many people were involved in it and not all for a good reason. O failed attempt to rob the local Ottoman garrison of their salaries led to the capturing of some important organization leaders who, in turn, shared the names of the organization leaders. Levski rushed to Teteven (a town in central Bulgaria) to retrieve the archives of the organization which basically contained the names, addresses and connections of everyone within it, as well as the ledger books. So he did, but was captured close to Teteven. Then he was sent to Sofia for interrogations. 

Throughout the interrogations and torture he said no names (his famous phrase being "There are no others, I am alone.") and was sentenced to death. He was hanged in 1873 in the outskirts of Sofia - the date being 19 of February. His body was supposedly then buried somewhere around Sofia by a gypsy man who passed nearby. The theories are many. 

What is certain is that Levski was a visionary well beyond his time. What he tried to do was something novel and revolutionary - Bulgarians love to speculate what would have happened should he had lived to accomplish his deed. He is a canonized saint and a Bulgarian national hero - the epitome of someone who would sacrifice everything for the homeland. 

This monument was erected shortly after Bulgaria was liberated (that was in 1878, only 5 years after Levski was hanged) at the place which was believed to be the one where he had been hanged, Each year, on the 19th of February, it is a place of mourning and a really important landmark. There is no Bulgarian who does not know what this is and why it stands there. 

The monument of the Tsar-liberator situated on the homonymous boulevard is one of the most controversial places in Sofia. Mainly because that 'tsar-liberator' on top of the horse that now stands just across the National Assembly building is not Bulgarian. He is Nickolas II of Russia, the Russian emperor that initiated (and somewhat managed to win) the war of 1877-1878 which remained in Bulgarian history as the "Russo-Turkish Liberation" war.

Immediately after the Liberation, the monument was built - in the new city center, flanked by new, Viennese and Parisian style buildings. At the time it seemed appropriate to honour the country that helped with the liberation. However, as years passed, moods swung and I have heard many claims such as - having the monument removed and placing a statue of a Bulgarian khan in its place. 

That monument remains one of the symbols of Sofia despite all that and one of the most easily-recognizable symbols of Bulgaria as a whole. 

Just like the monument in the previous image, this one is of exceptional significance and quite the controversial one. The Saint Alexander Nevski cathedral is one of the landmarks of Sofia and currently (until the Romanians finish their church in Bucharest) the biggest Christian Orthodox church on the Balkan peninsula. It's style is peculiar - a crossbreed of traditional Orthodox style and that of Saint Sophia in Istanbul and its golden domes can be seen from virtually any part of the city even today. At the time when it was built, it was a massive construction, funded and owned entirely by the Russian empire (it was supposed to be a gift for the new state). The construction took several years and after that the building was donated to the Bulgarian state. 

What caused the problem was the actual patron saint of the church as Saint Alexander Nevski is a purely Russian saint (not honoured at all in Bulgaria) and one of the first Russian rulers (he was a kiaz - warlord - of the Vladimir region in the 13th century). He is of particular significance to Russian history BUT has nothing to do with Bulgaria. Hence, there had been several attempts to re-name the church but public opinion prevailed and the church retained its Russian patron saint. 

A curious fact is that when renovation activities took place 15 years ago, all of the gold (several kilograms) were donated by Russia for the restoration of the signature golden domes. Those same domes brought trouble to the city center during WWII as the pilots were instructed to target them. Miraculously though, the church remained intact. 

These days, there is a new drive to rename the church but only the test of time will prove if this the attempt will succeed. 

FMP - final - historical significance part 2

In the previous post I talked about the historical significance of the buildings I photographed and here is the second part of the story (the first one was too long so I decided to split the posts). 

The oldest university in Bulgaria, Sofia University, was founded in 1888. The founders were two brothers, Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi, who donated six million golden leva (which is a huge sum of money even today). The two had become rich from scratch and had a successful trading business with cotton and wool (legend has it that during the war in the US, the whole cotton produce of the South was bought by them and then re-sold in Europe). Another legend has it that the two grew rich through speculations but the popular story tells a different tale. 

Towards the end of their lives, the two wanted to leave something meaningful behind. Hence they decided that the most important thing for their homeland was education. Hence, they bought a plot of land and donated the money to the state. The idea was to create a university campus, following the example of the old universities in Europe, where the auditoriums and the students' quarters are in one and the same place. 

It took several decades for the building to be opened (and a lot of bureaucracy to be overcome) and by the time the state finally decided that it needs an "alma mater" most of the donated money were already gone. Hence, the building that was created was much smaller than the initial plans and there were no money for students' quarters either. 

Still, the Rectorate building (above) is an architectural masterpiece. In the 1930s (when the picture above is said to have been taken) - it was a relatively small building. Today, the Rectorate building of Sofia University is one of the biggest in Sofia - up till the 1970s it was built and rebuilt and now this one (called "the central building") is the smallest part of the complex. Each wing of the building is interconnected with the two only at ground floor level (all other floors can be accessed only though the wing itself) and the whole plan is very complicated (which gave the building its nickname among the students "Hogwards" because you can always find a new door on an unknown corridor here and there). 

Most people nowadays do not realise that the huge building in the centre of Sofia was once a tiny one (and that it exists not because of the state but of two people who thought of the future). 

The story of this place is one of the saddest in the crop. This is the palace of the Bulgarian Tsar as seen in the 1920s. Back then the place in front of the palace was a huge square where the crowds would gather to meet their sovereign. The palace was surrounded by a huge wall and gardens where the royal family would walk safely. 

That building in itself was an architectural masterpiece too. It was built in the place of the old Turkish municipal building by Viennese architects - I usually compare the gates of the palace in Sofia to the gate of Belvedere palace in Vienna because the two look so alike (to some extent). 

The sad story of the building starts with the death of the Bulgarian tsar Boris III in 1943. He left the country to his son, Simeon (then only 6 years old). A regency was set while the country was amidst the turmoil of WWII. The country was plunging in a civil war in the meantime and in 1944 the Communists took over the government. The three regents were shot and the widow of the tsar with her children was put under house arrest. There were plans to kill the royal family, the same way the Bolsheviks did with the Romanovs in Russia. What stopped the Communists from doing so was the public love for the tsaritsa and her children. Ioanna was known for her charity work and saw genuinely popular among the crowds. Her son (the infant tsar) was the country's favourite so the new regime wisely deduced that if they kill the royals, the country will plunge into another civil war. 

Hence, the tsaritsa was given practically a few hours to leave the country with only the clothes on her back. The exiled royals were forbidden to enter Bulgaria ever again and the palace was plundered. Everything that was worth anything was plundered and torn from the walls. The beautiful wall around the palace was demolished. There were plans to demolish the whole building too but as the revolution drive receded, there were way more pressing matters to deal with. So the building, or the shell of the building, survived. Now its sad bare walls house the national gallery. 

This bridge, Lions' bridge. also has a sad story to tell. 

This is one of the most iconic places in Sofia - mostly because of the 4 bronze lions that flank the bridge and guard the entrance to the downtown area. The 4 lions are there for a reason. In the 1800s (full story in another post) 4 book makers of Bulgarian dissent were accused of revolutionary activities (their true guilt being only that they were all men of authority within the Bulgarian community) and brutally killed in front of their families, then their dead bodies were hanged to rot in front of their shops. To commemorate them, the lions now stand at the bridge, so that they should never be forgotten. 

FMP - final - promotion of the exhibition

Promoting the exhibition was one of the crucial things I needed to do before I actually opened and my main medium for that were the social networks. I decided to spend 0 money on advertising whatsoever since if anyone wanted to come, they will surely find a way. Plus, even if I had the money for leaflets etc, this would not necessarily equal more visitors. 

Hence, I decided to rally friends and friends of friends via Facebook (easy enough a task since I have around 1400 followers on my photo page around that much friends on my personal profile). That, combined with the multiple shares of friends and colleagues led to a fairly good totally organic reach (see the screen grab below). 

The main target for the exhibition was the Bulgarian audience, particularly the residents of Sofia who would mainly be able to come. Hence, the event text is in Bulgarian only (I was counting to Facebook's "auto translate" function for foreign followers). The event is on the following link :) 

https://www.facebook.com/events/336460533917160/

As Facebook did not allow me to do a one month event (for some reason, the maximum duration is only 2 weeks), I will need to do a second event once those two weeks are over (or edit the current one, if possible).

I have prepared teaser images and two teaser videos for the exhibition as well. They are to be uploaded on my YouTube channel, Instagram accounts and multiple pages to attract more audience.  One of them (which launched with the sole purpose of attracting visitors) can be seen below: 

Throughout the month I will keep sharing some interesting things and teaser images in the hope of engaging more people.

For those who go to the exhibition, I prepared a website (it can be accessed from the event OR from the QR codes on each exhibition pane). Unlike the event, the site is in English only, aimed mainly at the foreign visitors who may not know what they are seeing. I am assuming that the Bulgarian audience is in the know what these landmarks are and has a vague idea of how this place has developed.

The website can be found here: 

https://bistrastoimenova.wixsite.com/sofia

FMP - final - venue

After the initial failure to connect to a gallery that would not let me showcase for only three days and at the same time would not cost an arm and a leg, I decided to change the strategy and aim for a cafe or a restaurant instead. Hence, I contacted my friends and acquaintances on Facebook, asking for assistance.

That is how I came across my venue, the newly opened-to-be restaurant of a friend of mine. She is an amazing cook, and entrepreneur and an amazing person I met while participating in a project 4 years ago. The project, aimed at connecting the education and business, put together a lot of young people passionate to instill change. Blazhka (my friend) was one of them. At the time she was just a young woman who had just completed her certification courses for a baker, full of amazing and tasty recipes and big dreams of owning her own restaurant one day.

Throughout the years, I had seen her progress and change - her ideas of cooking home-made baked goods turned into her quest for zero waste (and the founding of an NGO of her own) and a successful catering business -  Blagichka - zero waste. I was delighted that she finally reached the point to have a place of her own and that my exhibition would be the very first event hosted there. As an entrepreneur she aims at helping young people (artists mainly) to popularize their works and my work sounded just right for the opening since I had and exhibition to showcase and she had a couple of empty walls to fill in with something. 

The duration of the exhibition would be 1 month (no rent wanted and I was totally thrilled to be allowed this long) and the start date would be May 1st (even before the opening of the cafe) since we both liked to start the month with something new.

What is more, Blazhka agreed to do the catering, so I'll be having a real formal opening with some guests and wine. Can't wait for it to happen. 

FMP - final - Contacting galleries

From the very start of my education at Falmouth, I knew that I want to have an exhibition - the reasons ranging from wanting to be like the "famous" photographers to having my work showcased. At first, it didn't look like a hard thing to do - you have a collection of images, have them printed out and find a place to showcase them. 

The reality, however, proved to be way different from that. Problem one was caused by the actual images. When I started studying at Falmouth, I had an exact idea of what I want to showcase - and that was my travel images I took throughout these two years while I was pursuing my MA. I have some really interesting and appealing image in my archive which, however, proved to be "inconsistent" and not connected to one another enough to form a "coherent body of work" as my favourite phrase of each and every WIP brief goes. I love those images and I will certainly have an exhibition of them alone BUT not for Falmouth, it seems. 

One of the images I love deemed "banal" by my tutors. It may be banal, I don't deny that, since it is a simple sunrise at the sea BUT to me it is really important (and one of the rare occasions when I managed to capture a sunrise). 

Hence, I needed to compile a whole new lot of images for my FMP - mainly because I am not entirely pleased with the ones I did for the previous modules. In each WIP there are a few images I really love but there are also the others which are not that good (or not that appealing) and I would not want to have printed and showcased as samples of my work outside the Falmouth grading system. 

Besides, for an exhibition to be successful in Bulgaria, it has to somewhat comply to the Bulgarian standards of what is beautiful. I have mentioned it countless times here in the CRJ that what British people think is beautiful is deemed "plain" and "uninteresting" in Eastern Europe - this may be an overgeneralization but it is really close to the truth. 

So at the beginning of the FMP module I needed something that would be novel, interesting ans challenging to me to shoot, interesting for the viewer and above all "a coherent body of work". That is how I came up with the re-photography idea. 

The task seemed quite easy at first glance, but after a few attempts to do things right, it dawned on me that things will not go as quick as I would like them to do so. That led to problem two - how to find a gallery. 

There are quite a lot of galleries in Sofia - both big and small - but the main problem with that is that most of the they are over-occupied since practically anyone in Bulgaria would love to have their work showcased in the capital. I understand that, it is quite logical, but it makes life (and professional career) of photographers born and living in the capital a struggle. 

There are a few famous and good galleries in Sofia that everyone who's anyone uses. Problem with them was with the money. As much as I wanted to have my work showcased there, there was the rent case since almost all of those galleries wanted quite the high rent due to high demand of that exhibition space. Plus, getting that prime spot requires not only money but the right connections, which I, at 27. didn't exactly have. Some colleagues advised me to check dates in advance as I may be able to showcase free of charge, in between the big paid exhibitions. However, the amount of time it took me to create the final images and the "exhibition season" (most photographers in Bulgaria, for some reason I don't understand, have their exhibitions opened in spring) prevented me from doing so. Had I agreed, I would have had only three days of exhibition and I thought that this is too little for all that effort I took. 

The galleries that were OK with a longer period of showcasing my work, wanted a rent I was a bit reluctant to pay (after all, this is my first exhibition and I don't really have a huge budget for it, at least not as huge as I would love to). 

FRM - final - editing style

Apart from what the famous re-photographers had done, I knew from the very beginning that I would go for colour instead of black and white. The reasons were various - the main one being that I don't really work in black and white and cannot "see" things without the colours. 

Besides, if I put a black and white image of the place today, it would not contrast a lot with the vintage one. What I aimed at was contrast and I needed to show it in some way. That is why I aimed at couloured images - the photographers 100 years ago had worked with what they had at their disposal hence I would do so too. The popular way of shooting things is in colour so that would be one of the levels of contrast in the images. 

As for editing, I aimed for minimal editing in the images, to mimic the documentary style. People back then couldn't manipulate the images a lot so I decided that I would also not manipulate mine. 

As for the "double panes" (like the one below), here I incorporated some of  Rigaud’s approach. What he did was to put the old image of the place into the new one and create a blend between old and new. I didn't really want to copy paste his approach in my work but loved the way he showed change. So when I needed to do my final poster, I decided that I can show how the places I have photographed have remained the same and how their surroundings have changed - hence I created panes where the dividing line goes in the middle of the place in question and it is 50% in the past and 50% in the present, showing how much the place has changed. 

Luckily for me, the thing worked (I have never done something like this so it was quite the challenge to make the panes look the way I want them to). I left part of the monuments/buildings I rephotographed in the old image and then put the other half of the subject in the new one to create the most striking contrast - when the place has not changed and the surroundings are unrecognizable (see below - this one is maybe the most striking example). 

FMP - final - exhibition alignment motivation

The main idea behind the exhibition alignment was to have the images in some logical fashion - the first idea was to group images of places that are near each other geographically (as the images below which are next to each other in the city centre). 

Since 90% of the panes were vertical, I grouped the horizontal ones in such a way that each horizontal one was flanked by two vertical ones (one of which was always the one that contains the information of the images in the "double" pane). 

The cafe owner forbade me to put nails on the walls to hang things (the place has just been renovated so I understand her drive on protecting her walls an furniture) so I needed to go creative. 

All panes are hanging on cord which is tied to the nearest shelf (that required all my inventiveness and engineering skills but in the end it worked quite well). The panes hang midair and thank God the cord is not visible. The "double panes" are placed in such a way that they draw the viewer's attention from the door - the pic below shows what is positioned directly opposite the door. The idea was to capture the viewer's attention immediately and have them think "wow, this is interesting, let's try and see what is going on" and to have them actually read what I have written in the website. 

FMP - WIP development - when the nailing actual angles are not as easy as you think

My main motivation in selecting the initial crop of old photographs to work with was the way the image looked in the old photograph rather than the way I intended to shoot it now. I simply wanted to make the viewer wonder and marvel at the picture and "scratch their head" as the Bulgarian expression goes. 

Hence, I selected images that made my jaw drop not thinking at all about how I was going to recreate them, having to shoot in the contemporary urban environment. And I was wrong. It turned out that nailing the exact same angle is not as easy as I thought it was. 

The university rectorate building (above) has always been among my top choice of images. One of the reasons behind that is that now this place is one of the biggest buildings in Sofia, with two huge winds full of auditoriums and a central building with twisting corridors and doors leading nowhere. I spent 8 years there (doing two BAs and one MA) and I have a certain soft spot for that place (the history of it, in another post). The students who study there call it Hogwards (by the name of the school Harry Potter went to) because there always seems to be a new corridor or a room that you haven't seen. You can easily get lost inside, even if you have a map. That neo-classicist style building is one of the urban "monsters" in modern Sofia. However, in the 1930s when the rectorate central building was first open to the public, it was way smaller (see above). 

I really wanted to show this change. The urban environment, however, took the upper hand. The university once stood in the middle of its own park complex. Nowadays it is just next to one of the busiest crossroads in Sofia. To make matters worse, there is a huge park (with threes that almost completely hide the building) on one side, and an underground passage to the homonymous underground station (just below the busy crossroads) on the other. 

It was this angle I wanted to re-photograph. The reality showed that to do that, I would need to hang off a railing above that underground passage (estimated height, at least 4 meters to the floor) to get the exact angle. Hence, I needed to give up the idea since I needed an assistant (to make sure I don't fall off, as I am afraid of heights). 

The other image I really wanted to photograph was the royal palace (the former royal palace, that is, now it houses the National gallery - why, in another post). Hence I selected the image below which shows how much the place has changed since that time. 

This is a rare glimpse of the royal palace building without the cheering crowds or the international delegations in front of it. It was taken in the beginning of the 20th century and was used as a postcard at the time. It shows the palace (built by Viennese architects) at its most spectacular - with the now non-existent front garden and the gates. I really wanted to contrast this with the modern view of the place but that is when urban environment interfered again. 

I have no idea how the photographer back then took the image. One is certain - it is taken from a viewpoint that is above human eye level. Maybe the photographer climbed atop any of the buildings that used to be around the palace but I cannot tell which one since after WWII most of them were demolished.

There is one building that stands roughly at the same spot, but unlucky for me - it is the council of ministers building that houses half of the government. Entrance is restricted and one can be allowed in only after lengthy procedure and quite a lot of bureaucracy. Besides, there is virtually no way they were going to let me take pics out of their windows (if I was let in at all) and doing an MA in photography would totally not count. 

Hence, I needed to abandon this exact image, as it was totally impossible to re-photograph it. 

Project information - twin YouTube channels

When I started studying at Falmouth, I already had a YouTube channel - this one: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW6zs91Ov6p6gp0ibKpW0g

My personal photo channel where I upload all my Culture Crossroads and educational videos - address on the link above

Hence when I had to upload my first video presentation I was not exactly willing to display it on the channel I posted my other videos. Somehow that academic idea did not go well with my idea to have another channel for the academic videos only. I guess it is a bit late to clarify this BUT the Culture Crossroads videos do NOT go to the Falmouth YouTube channel (where the WIP videos and the Oral presentation videos are uploaded). 

My academic YouTube channel is almost empty because of the twin channels. I wanted to have only the Falmouth stuff in there and not to have my subscribers listen to my lame presentations, honestly speaking. 

The academic channel is available on this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1JQ9oobLg74FWGO6hjajQ

The two channels have different cover pages too, to keep them looking separate: 

My academic YouTube channel with all the Falmouth videos. 

So, if you would like to see how is my project going and what kind of videos I post, the first channel (which actually has subscribers) is the one you're looking for. 

FMP - lecturing on my work - an account of Foto Forum Fest 2018

Teaching, they say, is a calling. A calling I don't have (tried teaching, don't have the nerves for it, frankly speaking). Lecturing, however, is quite another matter and I've always been willing to stand up in front of a crowd and have a chat. Love talking, that is. 

In June 2018 there was this opportunity to lecture the student photography club of Sofia University. Well, that failed (since very few people actually came) but I turned the presentation of the '12 myths about photography' into a wonderful 12-video series for my YouTube channel which worked really well. 

Here is a link to the full album with the videos. That was a wonderful series and at the time, when I wanted to lecture the students, I had a backup plan in case they are much more into photography than I thought. Hence I had another presentation entitled 'stories behind the lens - the field work in travel photography'. It was an amazing idea and I loved compiling the presentation BUT never really got to use it.

Until I got an email from the organisers of Foto Forum Fest that they needed lecturers. And I was delighted to participate. Photo Forum (or Foto Forum as it is spelled in English) is the biggest and most prestigious Bulgarian photography website. It is something similar to the guild of photographers (even though there is none in Bulgaria, yet) and being a member of the community is a sign of prestige. I've been with them ever since 2013 but only recently (in 2016, that is) started attending their meetings. 

Foto Forum Fest is the annual gathering of Bulgarian photographers. People come from all over the country to be part of this event - which is usually one week long always held at a different location each year. The organisers provide cheap accommodation and half-board as well as a photo studio with all the equipment one could wish for, a printing center to test the newest printers and two models to get creative. Apart from that, there are lectures and workshops for those who would like to learn from the best of the best. 

You can test cameras and lenses and have a chat with people in the field. The evenings are usually party time but overall it is an amazing experience and when asked if I would like to be a lecturer, I was totally into it.

My lecture was scheduled for noon, just before the lunch break and me being not one of the most famous photographers (alongside which I was to present) I thought that very few people would actually turn up. However, there were a lot of people willing to hear my funny stories - and how else would my stories be since I started talking about what you should and what you shouldn't do on location and what weird things had happened to me, as well as the story behind each shot I was showing.  

We had a lot of fun then - later people saying to the organisers that I had been funny and interesting (or so they told me).

Me lecturing - that image used to stand for that you take pictures till the end and never give up since you have no idea when the most amazing shot will appear. 

Judging from the faces of the people in that pic, I must have said something funny then...

 This lecture led me to another idea - to turn that presentation in another video series, this time about the things a travel photographer should and should not do on location. These, however, will be out in the summer since I need some time to compile them.

FMP - project development - narrowing down scope (when your initial project is too broad)

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. 

FMP - research - the art of re-photography - part 2

As good as Levere and Maciejewski’s projects were in terms of scope and angling ect., they looked too traditional and something was missing for me. Maciejewski and Levere made me understand what re-photography is about and to get a glimpse of how it should be done – same angle and preferably same post-processing used – but I work in colour, not black and white and wanted to incorporate the coloured image into my work as well.

I started looking for a re-photographer that has chosen to break the canon and ditch the black and white for his/her modern images. I thought that the contrast in colours will lead to even starker contrast between the vintage image and the modern one. 

That was when I came across Vincent Zénon Rigaud’s work and was fascinated by it. He is a French photographer dedicated to re-photographing his native town of Reims through the ages. What I loved about his work (when I saw his website I was amazed by the editing idea) is that he not only re-photographs the place, he blends in the two images to create a new, stunning image, encompassing both old and new. (see fig.1 below)

Fig.1 - Vincent Zénon Rigaud – Reims. 2017 (cover of a book by Yann Harlaut)

I loved the approach since it was the first time I see something like that alongside the other re-photography projects, the one Rigaud did stood out. It was unique and not only showed two images side by side, it made a blend of two images, two historical periods and two traditions in one final image which made me stop and think. He definitely had a distinctive style of his own and I would have liked to do something similar. 

Very few people in Bulgaria, if any, are doing re-photography projects, at least none that I am aware of. While looking at the projects of Levere and Maciejewski I saw an idea but nothing that would make me stand out. Their projects are inclined towards documentary photography and I must admit, I am not that much into it to be able to produce something of value in this style.

Rigaud’s project was a different universe for me – artistic, interesting, and even eclectic to some extent. It combined old and new in one photograph (which would be much easier to display) and the final result showed both the stark changes (each of the images is manipulated in such a way so that the final blend shows the most of the changes that occurred in between the captures) and the artist’s view.

I liked his approach in terms of post-processing that I intend to use it in my own project (or adapt it, in case it does not work for the images I select). To me, Rigaud’s work is novel, artistic and documentary. What is more, he primarily works in colour and the style of his other images (non-related to this project) is similar to the style I employ when post-processing my images. I think I have found a way to stand out within the photographic community and the general public since no one has done something like that.

Later on, it dawned on me that even if I do something like Rigaud did, that would be a mere copycat. What was important to my work was that he worked in colour and that his contrasts are even better - working with colour. So I settled for the middle ground - neither monochrome only, as in the projects of Levere and Maciejewski - nor the blend of Rigaud. Most probably will have the two images on one canvas (the old one slightly smaller than the re-photographed - for resolution reasons). 

But that is yet to be arranged. 

FWP - research - the art of re-photography - part 1

As I mentioned in the previous post, I needed to find some practitioners who have done re-photography to see what the genre was like. To me the whole idea was a challenge since there is no one in Bulgaria who has done such a project. I looked globally (and googled 're-photography') to see who are some of the most famous in the field were. After all, if I am to learn, let it be by the best.

One of the first projects that I encountered was Douglas Levere's New York Changing[1] which portrayed the way New York (Manhattan in particular) has changed over the 20th century. The author started in the 1990s and used absolutely the same perspective as the one of the previous images. The images are displayed side by side, showing the differences (or lack of them, in some cases). At first, that seemed like a good approach to me. I was fascinated by the way Levere used the same perspective to show the stark changes. However, as I later discovered, that approach (see fig.1 below) turned out to be one of the most conventional ones and I was aiming for something more ‘artsy’, interesting and attracting attention. To conform with my Eastern European side, I needed something that appealed to me and despite the attention to angle and perspective Levere showed, I disliked the idea to show both images - the vintage and the modern - in monochrome. I have previously written about this but guess I need to repeat it here again - I am a fan of colour photography. Not that monochrome is a bad thing but rarely a picture looks better with the colours taken away. 

As in the image below, the emphasis is on forms, that is good, but I think the image lost from being converted to black and white. Lost the vigour of modernity, the colour of the current world. If I look at the two images, the one that looks better to me is the original image from 1936, because of the variety of forms of the skyscrapers and the interesting  line they form for the viewer. The eye is made to wonder to and from whereas in the second, re-photographer picture, the eye is  blocked by that tall building in the foreground. The thing being black and white automatically makes it less interesting to me compared to the previous one. 

Fig.1 Douglas Levere - From Pier 11, East River, between Old Slip and Wall Street. 1936/1998.

Even though I admired Levere for the meticulous angling and the whole project, something was missing in there for me as I wanted to have photographs that look no less 'beautiful' than their originals. I needed colour and life and most importantly - I needed doable angles. The image above showed to me that it is not enough to have a nice old picture with a stunning landscape if the same place looks like the pic on the right.

So I kept on searching. I thought that there must be someone who did do re-photography and managed to create stunning pieces. So far the ones Levere did were interesting but they didn't make me think 'wow, I want to do something like him'.

I came across Andrzej Maciejewski’s project After Notman while searching for other practitioners. He selected iconic locations in Canada, photographed by William Notman in the 19th century and aimed to re-photograph them reproducing the same light, colours and shades. The project turned out to be a huge success since it was awarded by a local cultural magazine[2].Maciejewski’s approach was also traditional – the images are displayed side by side and the processing is done in such a way that the two images visually resemble each other, as if they had been taken using the same method (see screen grab below). What I liked most and intend to use in my project, however, is the idea to select iconic locations and re-photograph them.

Since the archives are full of images of Sofia that show random places that have changed drastically, it would not make much sense. Maciejewski managed to show not only how the images changed BUT also to make both images look appealing. You see the city changing before you but unlike the images of Levere, here you admire both images. 

Fig.2 (left) William Notman & Son - St. Catherine Street Looking East from Stanley Street, Montreal, QC. 1915 (right)Andrzej Maciejewski - St. Catherine Street Looking East from Stanley Street, Montreal, QC. 2000

The iconic places, however, are a different story. They are recognizable and some have changed drastically. Hence, I compiled a list of the most famous locations around the downtown and intend to employ the idea used by Maciejewski’s and photograph only landmarks, not some random places simply because they have changed a lot. I chose to follow his lead of landmarks since these are the places people use to navigate around the city, the ones they take their children to and the ones that are usually the topic of public debate of someone tries to change them. 

An iconic place, a landmark, is usually something many people can relate to. It has a story that is told and retold and it is most probably photographed more than once so there is an abundance. 

Fig.3 (left) William Notman & Son - Maisonneuve Monument, Place d’Armes, Montreal, QC. 1896 (right)Andrzej Maciejewski - Maisonneuve Monument, Place d’Armes, Montreal, QC 1999

The image above displays exactly what I wanted to show - how something that was once imposing can be dwarfed by the surrounding landscape. Of course, we do not have skyscrapers in Sofia, but we have quite a few places that look like this. Some of the images I have selected resemble the one above of the monument. There is this one thing that is old, once surrounded by buildings that are from the same architectural style and then, 100 later, it is like the odd-one-out.

Loved Maciejewski's approach but still something was missing for me.

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[1] http://www.newyorkchanging.com/

[2] More about the award can be seen here: http://www.scopionetwork.com/pt-pt/node/159?language=en#1