Portrait Session for the Photographer Eddy Kelele

Recently I had the honour to photograph a fellow colleague - the Girona based sport and documentary photographer Eddy Kelele. There is always a different feeling when photographing another photographer. Something between fear of the quality control and an honour that I’ve been trusted by someone who actually knows what the game is all about.

Eddy is an incredible person and professional. With decades of experience, published photography books and portfolio full of commercial and cultural photographs that will remain in history.

He was one of the first people I’ve worked with when I moved to Spain. I assisted him in a shoot with the professional basketball player and top medalist Laia Palau for La Vanguardia. I was with almost zero Spanish (Castellano) and nervous as hell. But my professionalism and experience took over, helping me to remain calm and concentrated.

The shoot was quite quick as it goes in such environments, well scheduled, with perfectly mapped location spots and poses. The experience was great and very nurturing. We had a great time and the final result was better that I’ve imagined.

This time around the task was different. Eddy asked me to take some portraits of him for a project he’s currently working on. Of course, I agreed straight away - it’s always a pleasure getting involved in anything related to photography.

We were supposed to do one quick photo. Instead, we ended up playing for 4 hours, changed 3 different light settings, 2 outfits and completely lost perception about time. The job definitely got done perfectly, but also we had a lot of fun.

We used 2 constant lights on each side of his face, a white background and at the end the door near by to make the background look black - photographers’ tricks and treats ;)

But I’ll tell you a secret - we didn’t actually his proper studio as it was supposed to be “just ONE quick photo” and his studio seemed too far away for us (3 min walk :D). So, we decided to set up a little studio in the pasillo in his house. Literally meter by meter square space, but you don’t really need much of a space for a classic portrait.

And here are the results - just another proof that you can create anywhere if you want to. With or without a proper studio, with or without a proper camera, what you’ve got is what you need to make something good right now.

Portrait of an Artist - Violinist

It always a pleasure working with musicians. The passion the hate to the act of playing is so incredible to see. This is a part of a photo session that Erminia has hired me to do. Music is not her profession, but the love to art is as strong. She wanted to memorise herself with the her most favourite hobby.

Location shoot with the music band LSDD

Despite the global situation with Covid, I’ve managed to travel back home and make the most of my time there. My home city has always been an inspiration to me - form the beach, to forests and cityscapes all the way to… old airplanes? - why not!

I’ve had already arranged with the music band LSDD to photograph them on location. And “strangely” enough their upcoming second album is about a story involving a plane crash in an area around Varna. So it couldn’t be more perfect! The only big thing I needed to figure out was how to arrange everything and everyone. This was my very first time photographing a band and I can’t lie - I did feel very nervous. But what a better way to release a fear than facing it straight on? Luckily they are such a funny bunch of people and I’ve had way too much fun doing my job than I actually expected.

The plane itself was on my location list for a long time. I didn’t know how exactly it looks like, how big it is or what else is around it. But from what I had seen from others who had been there, I knew I want to go and create there.

I stared my preparation advance. I was going home only for 3 weeks and I had to fit everything in. I arranged the time, styling and feel of the shoot with the band in advance. Once I landed in Varna and before the actual photo shoot, I went to see the plane to gain an idea about the size and space around it. To see how I can work with this massive prop, that later on we turned into a photography set.

So 1 week later with 4 cars full of equipment, snacks and drinks, 7 of us went and had a blast. As it is an unsupervised area, there was a lot of rubbish I didn’t wanted on my photographs. So firstly we cleaned up the ‘set’ and covered up a few bad graffiti.

We shot in front, at the back, on the side, inside and on top of the plane from afternoon to after dark, catching the gorgeous, gold sunset light in between. As it usually happens on sets, we had some technical issues, but nothing major than could stop us of achieving the desired result. We brought a smoke machine and colourful stage light with us to add on to the feeling.

I had a great support by my assistant Jivko Manev, without whom it would’ve been much harder to achieve the results I wanted. Plus he did a great #BTS drone video of the whole shoot.

Overall, the shoot went well, we had loads of fun and I learned a lot more about woking on location, with group of new people and patiently managing every obstacle that comes round. I can’t wait to work agin with L.S.D.D. and Jivko Manev!

You can listen to L.S.D.D. on YouTube or Spotify.
And also make sure you check out Jivko’s music band

A Festive Self

Some time ago during a Christmas season I’ve started asking myself about the meaning of Family. I re-analyse all the family examples I know and all the information I’ve collected. From past to present, painting out to myself a detailed picture of the best family description I can give. I’m amazed how somewhere along the way family relationships can drift away from love and carrying. And yet how strongly connected to our truth we still remain.

There is a saying in Bulgaria - “The blood doesn’t become water”, which stands for the importance and connection between family members. In spiritual world is known that souls come to Earth in groups, in which their title changes, but the group remains together in every life. Which means our family is our “soul tribe” and we’ll also be together in the next life. So the issues we have with a family member is something that came from the past and if not sorted out, will continue to come back until it’s resolved. Or better - forgiven! A burden let go into the nothingness, causes the weightless feeling of love. What a relieve! And yet, how stubborn we could remain, letting the ego runs the show?

What a game life is!

This Christmas I had more time for myself than usual. Caught in thoughts I created my kind of festive season 2019. Lights down low, favourite tracks on. Let’s go…

I hope you’re having a wonderful time wherever you are this year, hope you’re joyful and merry! I hope you received the presents you most looked forward to and that you gifted yourself something meaningful too. If this wasn’t the best Christmas for you, don’t forget “this will too shall pass”.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Decade Everyone!

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Location shoot with the musician Polina

The biggest pleasure for me is working with talents. A collaboration between energies for the co-creation of something beautiful, meaningful and honest is something I always look for a a creative.

This is Polina Antonova - an incredible voice, musician and woman. She is based in Varna, Bulgaria, but her voice will take you around the glove in an elegant effortlessness. The tenderness of her soul vibrates bright and clear through her personal work, and her exclusive weekly Spotify playlist just wrap everything up in a bundle of flavour.

We shot on location in a warm summer night. The green wall behind her is 100% real - one of my favourite locations in the city, which I always keep in my sleeve as an option. I wanted to compliment her outfit with a high contrast background. Something vivid and majestic but at the same time natural and organic.

On the way to our location I saw a great, old door that caught my attention. I had to take a few frames to experiment with the look of the shoot. Turned out to be another great contrast complimenting the vision.

More about Polina you could find on her Facebook page or simply follow her on Instagram @p.juniee.

Make sure you have a listen to her music on Soundcloud

And to finish the experience - tune in every week to her Spotify playlist Vibe With Me and let it takes you away…

Many thanks to my assistant Rosie from Ro Pro Studio, with who I often work on locations and without whom this would have become a very different type of photoshoot.