Thoughts on workshops - yes, no, maybe?

Speaking of workshops (since, independently from the weekly activities, I have also thought of the idea, or people made me think of it), I am in two minds. 

My actual plans are for having a series of workshops - I even have an agenda for the whole thing with exact topics and activities to be covered -  after all, in my BA in English Philology, I was trained to be a teacher of English so I have an idea how to create a lesson plan. The idea of the workshops is to tutor people who start from scratch and it is divided into two parts - the basics and a more advanced one. 

The whole idea (as awesome as it sounds) has a few setbacks - I lack a room to hold these meetings and some sponsorship would be required. Another problem is price (if I will be charging at all) - people in Bulgaria simply hate paying for anything! So if the course is free, I am sure there would be some people to sign up but if I set a fee (even if it is as little as 5 EUR) people will skip it simply because the will have to pay. On the other hand, I need some funds since, as we say in Bulgaria 'you need money to buy cheese' so it would be fir to charge them. 

The Bulgarian UNESCO club I work for have already proposed that I do the course as a lecturer for them but I am still reluctant to do so for a few reasons. Reason number one is that they will not be able to certify the people I will be tutoring. After all, what does UNESCO have to do with purely photographic course? The main idea was that I will be helping out to recruit people that are to go on expeditions. The ongoing project of the UNESCO club, Friends of the Bulgarian treasures, is all about digitalizing the Bulgarian cultural, natural and historical heritage and to do that they need not only students that have expertise in the current field but also people who have some knowledge about shooting and composition. 

That is where I come to the fore - as the Photographer-in-Chief of the organization, any images that are taken on expedition anywhere are to pass though my hands for composition, editing and so on. I have also been on several expeditions already (for the sole reason that you need to have a good photographer around when you document an important ritual or site). However, as the project progresses - I have been on board ever since 2016 when it started - we need more photographers as I have other things to cater to (an a project of my own to tend). So, on the one hand, holding a course with them is not a bad idea. Initially, I drew up the lesson plan to cater for their needs. I also have a whole photo guideline book done for them (yet to be uploaded on the website and we plan to have it in print too).

Then I had a second thought. Who am I, after all, to be having a course of this kind? And charge for it? I am not really a very famous name in Bulgaria (fellow photographers know me but it is only them that do) and when people pay, they would like to have a document that they could use. I cannot issue something like that. The UNESCO club cannot either. On the other hand, I am not exactly OK with sharing my tricks of the trade for free. It took me years to learn them (as we say in Bulgarian - you do not learn to be a craftsman, you steal the craft from someone else) and as keen as I am to teach people, I would love to have someone pay me for my work.

So, as the new academic year starts - which means October this year - I will be having talks with the UNESCO club (since they see the opportunity to earn more money). The main target are university students and they are very few during the summer break. 

I thought out a better option that would, if realized, bring me much more. 

It depends on the good will of the Association of Professional Photographers of Bulgaria. I proposed them to have such workshops since most of the members are really famous photographers with years of experience and will have a lot to say. On the other hand, this type of courses would not only bring in money for me and the others, as well as the organization BUT also bring me some fame and prestige. Plus, the Association has the legal right to issue certificates so that problem would also be off the table. Besides, with having more than one professional lecturing (not just the widely unknown me) I would have the opportunity to also learn and have some support from the other colleagues.

The chairperson is enthusiastic but this idea, too, cannot be realized until the summer is over since most people are out of Sofia, having a good time at the seaside. I also need to talk to hep in detail about my idea since I have managed to briefly outline the ideas to her in a phone call. 

Hence, any plans that I have could be realized in a few months time.

WIP development - finding an approach part 1

My idea to do my work in progress portfolio on religious buildings made me much more focused on my task than during the previous module. Even so, having a clear idea of what I want to photograph, didn't help me to get clear what aspects of it I want to photograph. 

Religious buildings, especially those in the city center, have a long and tangled history intertwined with that of the surrounding buildings. I am usually the type of person that starts telling the story of the surroundings so I wanted to have places that tell a story in my portfolio. However, since the overreaching theme was religion, I also wanted to try my hand out at creating more serene images that convey the feeling of communion with God. However, shooting inside the churches was not an option so I had to work out another way to convey that sense. 

It turned out that the serene approach worked with some locations better than others. For example, this place is the biggest church in Sofia and a symbol of Bulgaria too. It is such a famous place that it is somewhat if a cliche. However, I managed to capture this image - a reflection in a puddle that I love very much. 

I love the way this image looks because it definitely shows the place from a unique perspective - as a reflection in a puddle. I have a soft spot for puddles and whenever I see one, I try to find a reflection in it. The light in this image (shot handeld during the blue hour and in a snow storm) and the water give the impression of serenity and make the image surreal. It is not only a picture of a church and depicting its architecture. This is a replica of an older image I created, more or less in the same style but at different time during the day. 

However, it turned out that this was the only place I managed to photograph and get this effect. Not because there are too few puddles on the streets of Sofia but because only this pic worked out that well. 

All other places looked different and had different stories to tell. Still, my initial idea was to try and find a similar way to represent the other places of worship. The next place I tried to photograph like this was the Russian church in Sofia - it is an amazing place in terms of architecture and I very much hoped that I can find some reflections around it to achieve the same effect. 

I saw this reflection of the church in a nearby shop window and was attracted to the contrast between the church and the surveillance camera sign in the right corner. The only problem in this image was that it had totally different impact and idea. This image is more about the contrast between the old and the modern, the religious and the secular, whereas the previous one is more serene, not so straightforward and more open to interpretation. 

At that point during the module, I had no idea what exactly to focus on. Truth be told, I wanted to have it all. To show the different aspects of religious buildings. To create a coherent portfolio, however, I needed to focus on one aspect. 

Still, I had no idea on which aspect to choose. I wanted very much to create serene images like the first one BUT somehow things didn't always work out well. So, when I had the chance to visit Bucharest, all of a sudden, inspiration struck. 

It is a Catholic church in the centre of Bucharest, one of the places that made me think the first time I visited. The reason why this place speaks to me, is that the church is squeezed in between blocks of flats, obviously created during the Communist era, and looks a bit out of place. Imagine people living there, looking through the window and seeing the bell tower. It reminded me of a church in the centre of Sofia so this place was totally on my to-shoot list. 

When I took this image it dawned on me that most of the images I already had are similar to this. There is some contrast, there is a story. The places I wanted to photograph all had dramatic stories and weren't simply places of worship but buildings that needed to have their stories told. I've always been a fan of history so anywhere I go, I try to learn more about the things I see. 

This image changed my mind and I decided to go with the flow and create the images I wanted and focus on the contrast between the old and the new in the modern city. I found an approach but I was yet to find out what I needed. 

Critical contextualization of my work - inspiration talk - part 2.2 - foreign artists far from home

Speaking of inspiration, it does not end with local artists. One of the photographers I look up to is based at the other end of Europe. 

His name is Frank Leinz and he is also an avid landscape and travel photographer. I came across his works by pure chance, someone from my Facebook friend list had shared an image of his and I immediately became a fan. Truth be told, I often use Facebook to scout for amazing photographs and use groups as both a means to promote my work AND a way to learn. 

Frank is a also a travel photographer BUT unlike Krasi Matarov he is not a fan of camping at the place for days to get the perfect shot. I love his ability to create dream-like scenes, regardless of the weather conditions, season or location:

Fig 1 –  Leinz, Frank – Mystery Castle,  2016

Leinz was obviously lucky with the mist and the drama in the clouds but apart from that, there is something subtle in the image. It is still a very popular location, Burg Eltz castle in Germany but it doesn't scream out loud "I am a commercial" or "I am a cliché" and I try to incorporate this into my approach, too. This is a very popular 'photographic' place but as you can see from the pic, there is no one in the frame. No humans, not even a silhouette. 

We have that trait in common as we both tend to leave people out of the frame. I have had this habit  ever since 2010 - it all started with a excursion to Italy during Easter when more than 10 million people had the same thing in mind. To avoid having crowds in my shots, I had to devise a way to avoid having people in the frame (wasn't that at image editing good to clone them out). Ever since, I always try to keep the 'human population' in an image to the minimum. 

One of the reasons I came up with is that some scenes look better without a living soul around to give you the impression that you are the only one seeing this now, as if you are in the image itself. Another reason is that to me, images with lots of tourists in them may have some documentary value BUT they look rather like the snapshots most tourists come home with than the images I aim at. 

Fig2 –  Leinz, Frank – Beangil Sea Cave,  2016

The image above is taken at a very popular beach in Portugal, favourite to all visitors but still, Leinz made sure that no one is 'blocking' the view and if you see the place, you are the only human being in the frame (if we count out the photographer that created it). 

Ever since I applied for Falmouth, I've tried to experiment with putting a human element into the frame to get more 'artsy' images and I started questioning this habit. 

This image is one of my attempts to put people in the frame (which would normally be left without them) to get more impact:

To me, this image really works - because the place, Rila monastery in Bulgaria, is also very famous all over the Balkans. I have visited multiple times and I've tried to keep people out of the frame. The last time I went there, in December 2017, I added this image of the person getting out of the monastery. My initial idea was to keep him as a silhouette. One of my motivations was that I haven't seen anyone do something like this and I was looking for unique angles.

Another thing I admire about Frank Leinz' work is the use of long exposure in some images, such as this one:

Fig 3. Leinz, Frank - Pure, 2016

It is a classic landscape technique, especially effective in scenes when there is some water and kind of a cliche but I keep adoring the dreamy impact it has, maybe because the human eye cannot catch that slow motion. 

Another reason I fall for images like this is that I lack the patience (and the opportunity/ logistics) to create something like this. I would really like to try it but I rarely have the time to wait that long at a location (and I suspect I lack in equipment, too). 

Still, I will try to make an effort and see if the technique would work for me. 

References: 

• Frank Leinz’s Facebook page

Available at:

https://www.facebook.com/fldesign.info

[accessed 13 April  2018]

List of figures:

Figure 1 – LEINZ, Frank – Mystery Castle,  2016

Available at:

https://www.facebook.com/fldesign.info/photos/a.502329203234609.1073741828.502320593235470/892397237561135/?type=3&theater 

[accessed 13 April  2018]

Figure 2 – LEINZ, Frank – Beangil Sea Cave,  2016

Available at:

https://www.facebook.com/fldesign.info/photos/a.502329203234609.1073741828.502320593235470/857367027730823/?type=3&theater 

[accessed 13 April  2018]

Figure 3 - Leinz, Frank - Pure, 2016

Available at:

https://www.facebook.com/fldesign.info/photos/a.502329203234609.1073741828.502320593235470/810809369053256/?type=3&theater

[accessed 13 April  2018]

Critical contextualization of my work - inspiration talk - part 2.1 - foreign artists close to home

My fascination with travel photography started a long time ago and one of the people that sparked my interest was George Meis. More than six years ago, I came across some of his bookmark series in a small bookstore in Crete. I was mesmerized by his style, the locations and the colourful images so I immediately became a fan and started collecting the bookmarks (I am also an avid reader so it is a pleasure to not only have them but use them on a daily basis).

When I started doing Culture Crossroads, even before I was aware of it, Geogre Meis was one of the first people that came to my mind. Mainly because he does what I intend to do - he is Greek and has toured roughly all of Greece, photographing what's on offer regardless of time of the day, weather conditions and location. 

Fig. 1 Meis, George – Zakintos,  2017

George Meis does not stray from iconic locations, on the contrary, he is famous for capturing these places in a new way (which is an approach I also try to incorporate).

What I love about his style is that he shows Greece the way it is - sunny and hot (most of his images feature dull blue cloudless sky - from photographic point of view and endless blue sea). I am sure he could have created other images, similarly striking to those Krasi Matarov creates but instead, Meis creates images that correspond to what a visitor might encounter - especially if you go on vacation.

In this sense, the works of Meis are more similar to what I intend to create - document what I see on the spot rather than wait for months for one killer image. Meis has traveled around Greece and like me, his style tends to be more similar to the hunter approach - preferring to go around and "hunt" for locations, scenery or moments.

I also love that Meis seems to be more moderate in terms of image editing - no elaborate stacking, no multiple exposures, only (seems to me) colour enhancing. Meis' images seem bright, full of life.

I do not always agree with his choice of framing though - such as this image of the iconic town in Santorini island, Oia:

Fig 2. Meis, George –  Santorini,  2017

This image, shows the iconic location for landscape sunset shots at Santorini but obviously when Meis went there, the scene was nothing like amazing. Nevertheless, he still took a picture and it can be seen on the home page of his website. This one, at least to me, is not good enough - it does show Meis' signature style and post-processing technique BUT to me this is simply not good enough. I would have waited for either the blue or the golden hour. Even though, the image as presented is an unconventional way to show an otherwise clichéd location (this terrace in Oia must have been photographed by millions of tourists), I would like to create images that stand out.

After all, Meis has spent the better part of his life working to turn his name into a brand whereas I doubt many people know me so I am rather reluctant to do this (yet).

Still, I love his documentary-yet-pleasing approach and the bright colours (somehow, fail to see the world in monochrome) but as for the excessive contrast (which seems to be quite boosted in some images) I'd rather tone it down. Another matter is, that sometimes the Mediterranean sea looks  in surreal shades of blue that are perfectly real, if you have been there to see for yourself, as with this image of the harbour at Rhodes:

Fig.3 Meis, George – Rhodes,  2017

To me, the images of Meis speak of a warm welcome, beautiful landscapes and long tangled history. I've been in love with his work for such a long time that I am afraid my critical assessment of it is rather biased. I'd love to create images that document what I see and that are true to what I see (without the excessive over-editing) but I would also want that dream-like qualities of the images of Krasi Matarov.

More on inspiration and influence - in the next post. 

References: 

Geogre Meis official website
Available at:
http://meisstudio.gr/about/
[accessed 11 April  2018]

List of figures:

Figure 6 – MEIS, George – Zakintos,  2017
Available at:
http://meisstudio.gr/about/
[accessed 11 April  2018]

Figure 7 – MEIS, George – Rhodes,  2017
Available at:
http://meisstudio.gr/about/
[accessed 11 April  2018]

Figure 8 – MEIS, George – Santorini,  2017
Available at:
http://meisstudio.gr/about/
[accessed 11 April  2018]

Collaborations - how to promote a budding project part 2

Having 'done my homework' with social media, I started looking for other ways to promote my works and the project as a whole. The first idea that came to my mind was to try and collaborate with someone. My first and most logical choice was to write an email to the Fading Sofia project and ask they if they need better images for their website, the idea being that I use their information and make sure to include a link to their page whereas they use my pictures and include a link to my page. 

Here is how their home page looks like - if you click on a point, you see the location and an image of the place so I'd love to have my images there. 

In a previous post I wrote that the site was down and probably that mail was lost somewhere so I might need to write up again as the site functions anew. It is very well indexed on Google and the project as a whole aims to tell stories so I'd love to work with them. 

Another collaboration opportunity I noticed was the recent launch of Balkanium magazine. I came across it in a sponsored post on Facebook and I checked it out. 

To give you an insight of what the project is about, I will quote their info page:

'Balkanium is a photography magazine that was started as a documentary photography master degree project in Belgrade, Serbia. Main intention is to show interesting moments of life and people of the Balkans, that will spread a bit more positive view of this region and life in general. Also, people and countries of the Balkans are not enough connected, beside classic media information’s that are mainly focused on political themes and events. We thought that we should build a platform where we can learn about each other more through photo stories about different people and themes around us. Professional photographers will be here to create that bond and platform.

Balkanium tends to make a team of photographers, one from each Balkan country. If You are interested You can read more here. Balkanium stories exist to try to break some prejudices, make someone’s day, and share quality information’s in the sea of others.

Anđela Petrovski

Photographer and Founder'

I wrote a quick email and explained that we can help each other since our projects have a lot in common and explained that I seek to popularize my project on their magazine as well and they were delighted to have me. Now, there is an open call for photographers to submit articles and I am about to send out my first story for publication within the next few weeks. 

Another collaboration I found useful was with the colleagues from Patepis.com - the biggest travel website and blog in Bulgaria. This is a screengrab of my most recent post there - it is a really long post so that's just the admin note on my work. 

I personally know the admins and they have been publishing my works for the past two years. I use Patepis.com to promote my work as a photographer (because the site is really well indexed on Google) but also to indulge my passion for writing - so it's a win-win for both sides.

What is more, the stories in Patepis.com are in Bulgarian only which balances with the English-only project and gives my Bulgarian followers something to read. 

Another recent collaboration is with the Bulgaria Official channel -  they also plan a campaign for popularizing Bulgaria and asked me to join the team since they love my stories and images. I asked if I can use their platform to popularize my project and they were OK with it. Actions are to be taken there since the project there is in the planning stage. 

I also became a member of the Bulgarian Association of Professional photographers and they, too said they will give me the opportunity to showcase my work, once I have a larger portfolio of things to show and when the project gets more audience. 

What needs to be done is to launch the website and start advertising the project to the places I visit. I've planned to print out some business cards to hand out to people to let them know what this thing is. 

Social media - how to promote a budding project part 1

When you have a budding project on your hands, you cannot seek financial gain at the very beginning. At least not in Bulgaria where people are used to trying to avoid paying for services they deem 'too easy to do' such as photography. I've been told multiple times that my work is easy because 'you simply press a button all day' and I've been laughed at because I said I am tired. 

Generally, the Bulgarian audience is a tough call. So, to present my work as something of value, I devised an approach that would make me stand out from the crowd of good photographers with stunning images (because, even as small a market as Bulgaria is, there are a lot of colleagues with good works). 

So the first step was to create a Facebook page and to invite everyone I know to like it. However, this approach wasn't as effective as I hoped since I currently have less than 200 likes. On the other hand, the change of Facebook algorithm which cut the access of non-sponsored content to the feeds of users was quite the setback. I've also noticed that the first 200 likes (or followers) are usually the hardest ones to get since people somehow perceive pages with more likes as the ones worth visiting. 

From my other Facebook page, the one I use to promote all my work, I've noticed that a good image on its own will do no good to the page and will not attract more people UNLESS it is accompanied by the story behind the shot and something personal - for example, travel and safety information, or some history, or my struggles for the shot on location. I've received lots of positive feedback on the texts I write in my personal blog and Facebook page so I decided to put this approach to work for Culture Crossroads. 

Here is a screengrab of one of my latest posts on it - a video of the celebrations of 140 years since the Liberation of Bulgaria. This is relatively short post and aims at attracting more people to the page - since Facebook algorithm puts forward pages that have recently uploaded videos. Plus, behind-the-scenes videos are a good way to attract more people to see the places for themselves and were part of Culture Crossroads from the very beginning. I am still a novice at image processing so the process is a bit slow but it starts to pay off as people react and share my content more often. 

All videos are also uploaded to my YouYube channel so I make sure to have a decent description with a lot of links in it. So far the video above had the best reach. 

A usual post I do for the page looks like this (the pic is a bit blurred because I had to zoom out to get the whole text in one screen grab):

On Culture Crossroads Facebook page I aim to give the history and significance of the place - the project is in English only since it's aimed at international audience. On this page, I also try to give some useful travel information - in case someone wants to visit the place and links to useful websites. 

The Bulgarian version, some photo tips and the story behind the shot are set aside for my personal photo page, where I talk about the shot as such and what cost me to take it as well as a really brief explanation of what is on the pic, redirecting to the Culture Crossroads page (to attract more people). 

The broader cultural context I try to present on the Culture Crossroads blog - where you can find a few (not so many since each post takes a lot of time to compile) posts with information. Here is a screengrab from my most recent post, concerning Martenitsa - an ancient Balkan tradition in which I discuss the legends behind the ritual. 

I also set up an Instagram account to reach out to a wider audience and, even though I am not an Instagram guru, I think it is doing well for the few posts it has. My secret of getting more followers there is to tag channels that would share my content and tag me in it (so far, I've managed to reach out with each post). I also keep tagging the project if I post an image related to it on my personal profile, too. 

I've done this so far but I plan to launch the website of the project (which is taking forever to write up since I do it myself and I am not a computer programmer) and keep posting more regularly. 

Recreating old shots and why weather matters in travel photography

In travel photography, what matters is the moment - but not just any moment as it is in sports. You need that WOW moment to make people want to visit the place. You need an amazing image that would make the others crave to see the place, to be there or.. to be you.

As it is most of my stories, it all starts with an image - in my case - this one: 

Rethimno port in 2009 - I really love the clouds and colours. This image, despite the technical deficiencies - being taken with a compact camera in JPEG - remains one of my favourites. 

At that time, I had no idea what I was doing. Really. I was 17 and I've just gotten my first digital camera. To me Crete, because the image above is from there, was a land of wonders full of strange and amazing things. So there I was, wandering around and frantically taking pictures of anything I laid my eyes on. The port, the fortress and the streets - anything that I found extraordinary. I didn't bother about composition or fuss with settings - the only thing I knew how to use at the time was the scene selection option (later on, I discovered the manual mode of the camera but back in 2009, that was terra incognita).

Here are some of the other images I took in 2009: 

The entrance of the Venetian fort at Rethimno - image from that time in 2009

The port of Rethimno with the famous lighthouse. Picture was taken in 2009.

The insides of the Venetian fortress - again 2009

These images were taken, loved and cherished as an amazing memory from a great adventure. But that was when the story ended. Soon after the return to Bulgaria, these images were totally forgotten. Two years later, when I had to apply for university, photography was nowhere near my choice of profession. It didn't even cross my mind that I could be a photographer. Instead, I chose to be a linguist and to study English - to have a 'decent profession'. Then, all of a sudden, in 2011, I had an idea of starting to share my work online. I found a website and started uploading my work. 

I keep saying this but if the users of the website hadn't told me that I was no good, that I lacked the skills and the equipment to be decent photographer, I wouldn't have become one. It was by sheer stubbornness that I started saving money to buy a camera, and taught myself composition and post-processing. It was all by trial and error. 

Somewhere during that process though, I decided that maybe what matters is skills and equipment. The more I progressed, the better images I took so I thought it was all skills. After the initial bullying I discarded anything taken before 2012 and concentrated on new content.

But as I progressed and learned new post-processing skills, I started re-editing old images, digging in the archives to see if I can 'save' an old image with a new and better edit. That's how one cloudy October day last year, I came across the images from 2009. I was doing a travelogue for a Bulgarian website and wanted to show some images (travelogues always go well with images and since I am a photographer, I am famous in this site for submitting articles with a lot of images). This time, however, instead of just exporting the file out of Lightroom, I created a PSD file and went to Photoshop. The result was stunning - to me at least. Colleagues though told me it was too colourful, too HDR-like and so on.

I'm posting the image again, in case you don't remember what it was.

It was NOT and HDR so I can't say I was pleased with the feedback but I decided that the next time I go to Crete, I will revisit Rethimno and try to retake the image. Now that I'm good and skillful photographer, have all the equipment and so on it's just bound to be a stunning one. 

The irony is, that since 2009 I have been to Crete two more times BUT I didn't go to Rethimno then. There were so many other places I wanted to visit that I couldn't. This time I was dead-set on going again.

As I decided to work on the Culture Crossroads project I was sure that I want to add Crete in it. You can visit the project's page and blog for more information. 

Crete welcomed me with cold weather for the end of September - I didn't expect to be with a jacket on the beach - but otherwise amazing weather for images - dramatic clouds all over the sky, dynamic weather shifting in an hour from bright sun to torrential rain. I was delighted to finally nail some of the images I've been imagining ever since 2014 (the previous time I managed to visit Crete). 

Rethimno, of course was at the top of my list but given the distances on the island - and the so many locations I wanted to visit - it was left for the very last day - because at that time we would have a whole day before boarding the night ferry to Athens. So I waited (I'll skip though several other locations since they deserve a post of their own) for that day to come. 

Weather decided to play a trick on me though and show me that skills and equipment are worth nothing if you are unlucky enough to get dull weather conditions. Rethimno welcomed me with 30 degrees Celsius, heat, sun just shining in my lens and not a single cloud in the sky. The very moment I saw the light was harsh and in the wrong direction and the sky was dull I was absolutely disappointed.

The before and after of one of the images from that day. As you can see, the original is not much to talk about.

After all, I counted so much on this location - Rethimno is famous for its Venetian style small houses that reflect in the crystal-clear waters of the port. But what reflections when the sun is shining directly in my lens (despite the hood) and all I see is a big black nothing where the houses should be. This time, I thought, even RAW files and Photoshop cannot save the day. Still, since "I ain't not quitter" as the song line goes, I started wandering around the port to find the exact same location of the image from 2009. 

I have good photographic memory so I found it - guess what - that boat from the picture was still there! Parked at the same place. I was delighted to find it but disappointed that the sky isn't more interesting. Still, I thought, that would serve for a good blog post illustration of how skills alone cannot help much.

The recreated shot - as you can see, it is nowhere near the splendour of the original of 2009.

I didn't stop there and decided that since I am here for the first time in 8 years, I should try to do my best and create something usable. After all, professional photographers say that there's no such thing as bad lighting.

This image, taken just two steps to the side (this is the very same boat from 2009) proved to be much better than the recreated shot. Plus, it proved one of my theories that skills do matter and make a difference. Back in 2009, I just snapped a shot of the boat and moved on. Last month, I spent half an hour photographing it from all possible angles.

The image above proves that equipment does matter too - it was originally taken in RAW so I had much more freedom and opportunities to 'save it' so I did my best (I guess a Photoshop master would do much better but currently, this is as far as I can go). Apart from post-processing skills though, this image is not much to talk about. I like how it looks now but if I was using the same camera from 2009, an image like that (look at the print screen above) would just be lost to post-processing - after all, you cannot get that many details from a JPEG.

Here is another image - from the Venetian fort at Rethimno - that shows how many nasty tricks bad weather can play on you.

I love the architectural details in this image, love the lines, the windows, door and stairs BUT something is missing in this image. To me, that is the dramatic sky. I would have turned this into black and white but for the purpose of this blog decided to leave it in its original coloured version so that you see what I mean.
Don't get me wrong, it IS a good shot BUT it could have been way better. Same goes for all other images.

A bit discouraged by the blazing sun, I decided to turn my back to on it and go for something that is illuminated. And then saw the lighthouse - the famous lighthouse of Rethimno, one of the most beautiful ones in whole Greece.

I love reflections. I'm addicted to them and these almost mirror-like reflections in the still water of the harbour made me gasp. I really like this shot but again, still think there is room for improvement.

I left Rethimno with quite a few images worth editing but very few WOW images in my opinion. This had nothing to do with equipment or skill - these will have a role in post-processing - as you can see, I did my best to present something good.

Problem is that sometimes equipment and skills are not enough to create the amazing picture-postcard shot you aim at. That happens not because you're not good enough but simply because you didn't go to the place at the right time. This is one of the reasons why I will have to go to Rethimno again to get the dramatic shots I want (it would be a pleasure to be there again :) ).

The story also has a moral - no matter how bad the conditions look like, you should NEVER EVER give up on taking pictures, If I had done so when I saw that the retaken photo sucks and returned to the table by the water, I wouldn't have created anything worth seeing (or editing, for that matter).

Images are always there and even if sometimes they don't look the way we want them to, they too tell a story :) 

What's in a name? Who is a professional photographer?

One of the images I created back then. I have some amazing images from Crete BUT these are not one of the great ones. As you can see the weather was nowhere near spectacular and nothing looks interesting on the pic. Still, I was able to do this only BECAUSE the pros made some room for me and my compact camera.

I didn't call myself photographer when I started out. In fact, it took me years to even think of myself as one. I remember one of the first times when I was impressed by the way 'professionals' behaved: it was on that memorable trip to Crete. Actually, it was on the Acropolis in Athens - then, I remember, it was crowded with photographers using gear of all kinds. They were all standing at one and the same spot - where the best view is. I went up there and was amazed that all those 'pros' with 'big black professional cameras' made room for me and even showed me the place where I can photograph the best view. That was the first time I noticed something like that.

When I got my DSLR, I still didn't call myself a photographer. To outsiders, seeing the big black thing, it was absolutely obvious that I WAS, in fact, a professional (why else, carry that heavy scary thing around?). When asked, I said 'yes' laughing. It took me 3 years to really start claiming with confidence that, yes, I am a photographer. A professional. And it took me another year to start demanding the respect owed to such.

These days I have to edit some images created by a colleague - I call him a colleague BUT he still calls himself a 'hobby-photographer'. Truth is that the guy does photo-shoots with models and so on BUT he is still reluctant to state (especially to me) that he is a professional photographer.  Still, since we happened to work together for some time - he has an eye for people shots.

That's me - one of the images that colleague of mine created while we worked together.

This made me think - who has, after all, the right to call himself/herself a photographer? So I decided to conduct a bit of research.

The first place I went to is the website of the association of professional photographers in Bulgaria (link to their website can be found at the end of this post), where it is said that a professional photographer is:

A) getting more than half of his/her income from photography

B) studying photography as a degree at some university or college

Still, I think that this is not enough to define the whole process of calling oneself a 'pro' - I've met countless people who have a BA in photography but are terrible at it. This doesn't make them 'professionals'. I've also met wonderful talents that take pictures in their spare time and are better than most 'pros'. There is something mystical in the whole idea of calling oneself a photographer - as if that gives you some kind of mystical, even mythical status of 'the person who creates masterpieces with one click of the camera'.

So I decided to search the net and see what the great minds of the past have to say about photography. I searched through various quotes about photography but couldn't find a single one about 'professional' photography said by the famous photographers of the past. Somehow these people didn't think that you need to earn this and this and that to call oneself a photographer. You need to see the world in a certain way, you need the 'eye for detail'.

Money comes when there is talent. If there is talent or people who are willing to pay. Or both. Being a professional in what you do comes BEFORE getting money for it, that's what I think. Somehow the photographers of the past have seen it, unlike us, who try to divide into groups: pros and amateurs, those having a degree and those who are self-taught, even to landscapers and wedding photographers.

A degree can only hone the skills you already have but it alone will not make you a professional photographer. Talent alone will help you create something no one else has done (or just very few have thought of doing) but without the knowledge it would take a lot of time (trust me, I know that).

Being a professional is a feeling, a state of mind, not a degree. It takes some time (and some bravery) to state it out loud.

References:
http://photographers.bg
https://petapixel.com/2014/03/11/50-photography-quotes-inspire/ 
https://petapixel.com/2014/05/29/70-inspirational-quotes-photographers/

Photography creates worlds. But whose worlds? The viewer's, the photographer's or both?

“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”

Ansel Adams
1902 – 1984

When I took this image, the only thing that was going on in my mind as an idea was to capture the candlelight from the insights of the church. The picture was taken at Rila monastery, A UNESCO World Heritage site and the biggest and probably oldest monastery on the Balkan peninsula. The monastery was built somewhere in the 10th century and now it houses the holy relics of its founder - the hermit and healer Saint John of Rila. Taking pictures inside the church (unless you have 101 permits from God knows who) is strictly forbidden so the only thing that was going on on my mind at the moment was to capture the candlelight glowing from the insides of the church and to show the true spirit of a Eastern Orthodox temple.

Later on, when I edited the image and uploaded it on the net, one of my followers saw a face on the stones, at the bottom of the image. I had to look twice for it, but once I saw it, the image looks quite creepy. Here is an enlarged version of the image, just to show how the face (of an old man with a big nose, in my opinion) shows on the image:

It has been there the whole time, watching me as I took the image and then showing up even better during post-production BUT it wasn't me who spotted it, it was another person - the all-mighty and all-seeing viewer.

This leads to the logical question - photography creates worlds, that's for sure, but does it create the world of the photographer (or the artist) or the world of the viewer?

Here are two wonderful examples where photography (and Photoshop) went to the extreme in favour of art and creating a fictional world:

Just two of the images in Beliy Den's amazing portfolio.

The first one comes from the website of a Russian photographer and visual artist (as he calls himself) - his pseudonym is Beliy Den. He does put photography to the extreme to create a fictional world that is absolutely spectacular. He transforms what he sees through the lens into something that is not exactly the same, it's set in a different world.

The other (also extreme) example comes from the portfolio of another Slavic artist - the Ukrainian photographer Anya Anti. She decided to create an image that would show the 'butterflies in stomach' concept that went viral:

That's Anya Anti herself, by the way. This was supposed to be a creative self-portrait. It definitely worked.

Anya also created a time-lapse video that shows exactly how she did it - step by step. What I'm trying to tell with these two images is that sometimes the photographer's reality is so extreme, that the viewer has no choice BUT see what the photographer wanted them to see. But what happens if the image isn't that straightforward?

For example, when you do travel photography, like me (at least, I hope to be doing that) - there are things that you simply cannot leave out of the image - like the atmosphere, the people or the amazing scenery. What do people see then?

Here is another example - old but gold

I saw the tree and the rocks, my mother saw a stone face (again, faces everywhere!) looking towards the tree. Because of that association, the image got its name - Stone Face.

Somehow with the other types of photography, things don't go that straightforward - the photographer creates something, which corresponds to what he/she wants to show  to the rest of the world BUT the viewer sees something totally different, according to their own perceptions and abilities to analyze the world and photography.

Ansel Adams does have a point up there (I chose the quote for a reason) but I think that two people is not enough - because it gets quite crowded in both the photographer's and the viewer's heads - they carry with them all their concepts, perceptions, and prejudices to help them conceptualize and make sense of the surroundings.

Photography is as much in the lens as it is in the eye of the beholder.

Sources:
http://beliyden.ru/#prettyPhoto
https://anya-anti.com

Photographer ≠ a single profession

When I was at high school, I was hopeless at Physics. Nothing could make me understand the equations or memorize the formulas.
Later on, when I took up photography, I found out that contrary to all logic (and most of my preferences) it is all Physics. Light angles, reflections, lenses, mirrors. What was not logic, was technical staff (I was never a tech-bimbo but I've never been a sys-admin either). So, willy-nilly, I learned about Physics and camera parts, how they work together and so on.
Later on, I discovered that being a photographer mean much more than randomly snapping at things around you.
So, I decided to compile a list of all the things a photographer has to do (that photographer is me, by the way) for all those who think taking a picture is a piece of cake and that sums up being a photographer.
You need to know:

• some information about the thing: ideally the historical, cultural and anthropological background of the place - that includes having MORE THAN BASIC idea of archeology, architecture, warfare, social and cultural history, ethnic groups and the list goes on and on and on.
• some social skills - to talk to people and make them pose for you or even to get some information from them.
• camera equipment handling - this means knowing your gear inside out and being able to work with it with your eyes closed. Plus, you are expected to work and 'be fluent' in more than one brand and its specifics - I've had to use five different brands. You need to know about lenses, tripods, filters and so on and so forth.
• posing 
• event shooting and how to behave at that time
• lighting (studio lighting, I mean)
• your rights and the laws about copyright, private property and photography of the respective country - so that you don't get into trouble.
• some social networking skills (Facebook and Instagram at least) and SEO (search engine optimization) in order to promote your work.
• sales and marketing skills to get yourself some clients.
• html codes - because at some point you'll need a website
• blogging to tell your story to the world.
• graphic design - because of the two above and the demands of your clients
• post-processing (on more than one type software)
• videography and video retouching
• sound editing (because you never know)
• licensing and copyright - so that you know which kind of license you lent whom, why and for how long. I mention it again, but it differs in different countries
• printing, color spaces and different materials - this is separate because it is a whole domain in post-production
• networking - you never know who will be useful for what
• presentation skills - for obvious reasons such as portfolio display
• first aid and basic survival skills - everything can happen on location and you need to keep yourself and the people around you safe
• writing - you'll need to write at least the titles of your images and that is not always easy
• basic self-defense - which includes a lot of common sense and self preservation instinct
• basic meteorology - to know which weather causes what and how to handle that.

This list can go for a long time and I intend to update it. Point is, that unlike most people who get a single profession, specialize for it at university for some time and then go on working in that field without having to learn new things which have nothing to do with their domain, photographers have to do that all the time.
Photography means much more than just clicking a shutter.