Guardian of the past

Or what happens when you decide to edit an archive shot with the idea of showing that you are a better editor than your pervious self, and then it turns out that you have chosen a completely different shot from the same day.

The story behind the shot:

Most photographers know where this place is - the flooded church at Zhrebchevo dam. As you can see, the shot is old - from 2016 and the church is surrounded by water (now it rarely happens). 

As for the weather - it may not be visible on the pic, but the rain there was almost a torrent (this photo taken with the photographer hiding under a large umbrella).

The story of the place:

Besides a beautiful place for photos with a little spooky look, the Flooded Church, or the St. Ivan Rilski church, as it was its name, was once a place of worship for three villages - Zapalnya, Zrebchevo (which gave the dam its name) and Dolno Panicharevo. The chucrh itself was erected at the end of the 19th century and could have been rescued during the construction of the dam. But they wouldn't (not the villagers, the government). In 1962 the water flooded the three villages, and the church remained at the end of the dam, half-flooded in winter by water, and on land during the summer. It is on the edge of the dam, and it was once on a hill above the villages.

Today, thankfully, probably due to the great media interest in the place, restoration (or conservation, I'm not quite sure) of the temple is under way.

A little more information and how to get there on the Culture Crossroads project page

11 years in the domain

Поздравът на Еос.

Един прекрасен изгрев (изгреви снимам рядко, защото много мразя да ставам рано) осветява Егейско море. Заснех този кадър преди 11 години, кой би помислил, че с него ще започне един проект...

Историята на кадъра може да бъде прочетена тук:

http://patepis.com/?p=68126

Пак там може да се прочете и началото на историята :)

It's been exactly 11 years since I took this picture. When I had no idea what to do with my first camera but had amazing luv with weather. It was how the Culture Crossroads project

started - with this image :) 

Greetings from Eos.

A beautiful sunrise (I rarely take pictures of sunrises, because I really hate getting up early) lights Aegean Sea.

The story behind the shot is available on my blog.

http://bistrastoimenovaphotography.blogspot.bg/2016/09/crete-chasing-minoans-part-two-iraklio.html

Part one here:

http://bistrastoimenovaphotography.blogspot.bg/2016/09/chasing-minoans-part-one-pireaus.html

Sunset in Ouranupoli

A lazy Saturday and a throwback to same time 2 years ago when I had the chance to capture this amazing sunset in Ouranupoli.

This image has been living in the archive for way too long, so high time to bring it out :)

#bistrastoimenova #photography #greeklandscape #greecephotography #greece🇬🇷 #greecetravelgr1_ #greece_is_awesome #travelgreece #travelphotography #harbor #boats #visitgreece #sunset #sea🌊 #sea #seascape #seaside #Mediterranean #summermemories #summer #europe #culturecrossroads #ouranupoli 

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. 

Add caption

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 - the exhibition - some thoughts

For the sake of the exhibition, I used the small café of a friend of mine for the exhibition venue. It is a small cosy place that is to be opened in a week. The panes were hanged along the walls and created a really nice feeling of “being at home” since there is some furniture in the place. Overall, I am pleased with the display (how the images look like when displayed) and I aimed not to show the way the images are suspended (hence the colourless cord used to hang them). 

The event of the exhibition, with the address and the images of it are available online (the event is still ongoing, you can access it here: https://www.facebook.com/events/336460533917160/ ) received a really good reach due to help from colleagues and friends. The friend who owns the place also agreed to do the catering for the venue and to let me use her place as a gallery for as long as I want – hence the exhibition will be on display by the end of May. She even asked if I can leave it even later as it goes well with the interior of the place (it has no wall art so fat and there are too many walls that need covering). 

An image with some of the interior and some of my panes

The size of the panes was discussed with the owner before I ordered the prints so that they do not look too big or ridiculous (the place is a small one so big panes would simply not do) Hence the images were printed at 40 centimeters by the longer side. Not too small but somewhat enough for people to see and read the text. 

There was also an opening video (see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FduVV2n387o and as far as I can see quite a few people have already seen it on my YouTube channel. 

One of the problems about the exhibition was the date – 01 Mat is a bank holiday in Bulgaria and the Orthodox Easter was the previous Sunday so most people had the whole week off and were out of town. Another problem was the location – the place is new and it is not very well geo-tagged so some people got lost on the way to it (I posted a map and directions, just in case). However, it is to be geo-tagged soon so that problem will be eliminated. I expect more people to come after the holidays. 

What I love about it is that allowed me to collaborate with a dear friend of mine and to be part of her dream (to have her own restaurant). Besides, when the place opens, my exhibition will have a second opening and will get a lot of media attention (since my friend is an influencer and a young entrepreneur). 

FMP - final - the exhibition

The exhibition is to be available up till the 31st and the place where it is displayed is to be opened on the 21^st so I expect a lot of visitors. The place owner also expects the media to come so within the next two weeks there is a lot to go on.

So far, people who have seen the exhibition (both on location and online, via the Facebook feed or the YouTube  video) have given only positive feedback. The most popular images (and the most photographed ones – were the ones I call ‘double’, the blend of an old image and a new one of the same location.

So far, I have been praised that I have shown the way a contemporary place looked like 100 years ago and the way it is now (a woman noted that it was a good idea to show not only the ‘blended’ image BUT also the two images side by side so that people can see the landscape in full).

I am awaiting more responses throughout the upcoming weeks. 

This post will serve as a gallery for the exhibition shots: 

FMP - final - title change

The initial title of the project was connected to the two iconic bridges that flank the downtown – the Lions bridge (lavov most) and the Eagles bridge (orlov most). However, taking pictures at the latter (the eagle one) proved to be next to impossible since it is a really busy transport artery and standing in the middle of it at any time of the day to take pictures equals suicide. I did try though but it proved to be fruitless - traffic starts there as early as 6 a.m. and I live at the other end of the city so cannot physically get there earlier. At night, the place is usually a protesters' favourite so it is totally not advisable to be around at that time.

I tried to reach the place several times and even considered standing in the middle of the crossroads or getting up at the crack of dawn to get it right but no ideas proved OK in the end. I needed conistency in my work and most of the images were taken around noon (maybe not the best of times for photography BUT one of the best times for architecture since the shadows are minimal).

I was in two minds about the title from the start. ‘Sofia - Between the Lions and the Eagles - echoes of a lost city’ seemed too long and bulky to me, now good enough for an exhibition title. Plus, given the Bulgarian audience that was the main target, it also seemed too banal (that phrase in Bulgarian is very commonly used and not always with the best of connotations).

During the final preparation process, I decided to use the motto of Sofia as a title – the words “grows but never ages” are written of the town’s coat of arms and are used to symbolise the constant change in the urban environment. Sofia has seen many disasters – from natural ones to numerous invasions – but has always survived. The development of the urban environment shown in some images (all images are old but some show areas that have been completely transformed) convinced me that this is a good title since it is meaningful to Bulgarian people and it is short enough to remember (unlike the working title which proved too long).

The connection to the city of Sofia and its motto will also allow me to exploit this theme in the future as I can possibly seek some support from the municipality or some other governmental institutions. It is easy to remember and even easier to reproduce since the motto of Sofia is common knowledge. 

FMP - final - the exhibition - summary

‘Sofia – grows but never ages’ is about change and development of the urban environment. In it, I tried to explore how famous historical landmarks within the Sofia downtown have changed throughout the years. It mainly focuses on the social aspect of how the cultural-historical environment changes the inherited buildings and how the urban environment changes. This is evident in some of the images where the landmark (now in downtown) was in the outskirts of the city. Most landmarks (included in the final exhibition, that is) have changed very little since they have been opened to the public (in the beginning of the 20th century or the end of the 19th).

Sofia has a long history and throughout the past century, it has undergone many social, political and geographical changes – ranging from totalitarian rule to WWII bombings. Whole districts appeared while other were demolished but some buildings somehow managed to stand the test of time. They exist today, squeezed in between modern shops and restaurants and they tell a different story – of a budding country that somehow managed to get out of the pit of poverty and slavery to be plunged into another pit of total control only sixty years later, within the lifespan of a generation.

That town is long-gone but I tried to trace and connect the bits and pieces of that lost world in my project to see if old Sofia still exists. 

In 2019 it is the 140^th anniversary since Sofia was selected as the capital of Bulgaria and the exhibition ‘Sofia – grows but never ages’ provides a glimpse of what Sofia used to look like in those early days and a comparison to the modern metropolis. When I started the project I didn’t notice that the two coincide but now that I know it, I will try to exploit this to the fullest and try to display the exhibition as much as possible.

Sofia is a contradiction in terms and one cannot be indifferent. It is lloathed by some, loved by others. The capital of Bulgaria is one of the oldest cities in Europe with history spanning across three millennia – even before the time of Constantine the Great, there were settlements at this place. Many nations have passed through this area and each left its mark on the place. Architecture and culture were layered and now what the tourist can see is a palimpsest of styles and eras. 140 years ago, things were different. “Sofia – grows but never ages” aims to show this difference to the public.

Today, it is possible to see the temples of 4 religions within one square kilometer and to take a look into 4000 year old history. Often in our fast-paced daily routine, we do not notice those things around us.

The exhibition “Sofia – grows but never ages" aims to show how the emblematic places in Sofia downtown have changed and to be a bridge between the past and the future. For this reason, I selected real archive photos – provided by the Стара София blog. The contemporary photos are part of the Culture Crossroads project of Bistra Stoimenova Photography.

Each pane (see the FMP file) consists of an old image and a new one taken from roughly the same angle where that was possible. All images used date to the pre-communist and interbellum period (the majority being from the 1920s and 30s). Each pane comes with a QR code which I added to ensure that all the necessary information will be available regardless if I am there or not. It proved very useful for adding text about the place that cannot be fitted into the pane. It is linked to the exhibition website where the history of the place each old image has been added to the old images so that people know what they are seeing.

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 - 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).