Public Republic

Maya Kolarova’s interview with the photographer Tsvetomir Stanivoev
Translation: Zlatina Dimitrova

Tsvetomir Stanivoev: The good end result justifies the time you’ve spent searching success.

Photo: Archive

Tell me about the first time you discovered art?

My mother paints when she has time and inspiration. When I was six or seven years old she painted a bunch of flowers on a black page from an old photo album, in close detail. They were painted with drawing pens and the bright colors stood out on the black page. It was something very different from everything I had seen before. I was very impressed.

That encouraged me to try something like that but I frequently looked at the picture. Now I realize that something beautiful may be made of materials at hand. The flowers would have been perfectly good even painted on an ordinary white paper. But I haven’t seen any other painting on a page of a photo album yet.


Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

What part does art take in life?

I don’t know. “Art” is a rather weighty word. Every artist wants to give life to his or her work. The good end result justifies the time you’ve spent searching for success.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

What does art give you – as a sensation, an emotion, a feeling…?

When I see, hear, read something which never occurred to me it could be created by a person, I get impressed by the artist’s mind, it leads my interest to that artist’s work, technique and approach. It makes me happy and inspires me to create something myself.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Ever since I was a student I wanted to make beautiful pictures but I didn’t have the ambition to do that seriously. It never entered my mind that some day I would be interviewed and I would talk about my pictures.

Photo:Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Then I met a friend who was a photographer. Once he let me take several pictures with his camera and I fell for it – and I’m still in love with photography.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Why did you choose photography specifically?

It seems to be easy and interesting; it’s more practical than playing an instrument or painting. It is interesting to press the button and save something for one thousandth of a second – something the human eye is unable to do. Today you can see the picture in the instant – have a look, analyze it – it’s great.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Who/what made you choose it as a profession?

Shooting makes you see more than what one is used to seeing, makes you see each part of everything. It is something disregarded and repressed in our everyday life. It opens your heart to the world. It gives me pleasure.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Then someone should give you a hand and be there to tell you what your mistakes are, when you are doing fine, and at the same time let you grow. I work three jobs, two of which are closely related to photography, the third one is to carry around advertising materials.

During the weekend I take my camera and go shooting what you show here. Everything completes the picture, the week, the job, even carrying around those advertising materials. I had a chance, I was given the opportunity and I took it.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

What makes photography different from any other art?

The precision. You save a scene in that rectangle and when someone sees a copy, they see what it really was, and if you have caught the right moment, it arouses thoughts and emotions. The canvas is in the hands of the painter and in the painter’s mind, who chooses where to place the tree and the person in the canvas rectangle. A painter could give them the condition he or she wishes.

While shooting you should have seen the events before they actually happen, you need to be in the right place before they happen and when your subjects show emotion, then react. If you don’t react, you don’t have a picture and you don’t have a story.

By carrying a camera with you keeps you on the alert about what’s going on around you and you realize how many things surround you. I don’t know whether it is clear while reading. It should be felt.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

How does photography reflect your real nature?

It shows how far I can see and how much I am open to what’s happening, to the world.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Who/What influences your work as a photographer?

I used to take pictures of people I found interesting. I was interested in them only because I wanted to shoot them. Those pictures didn’t come out well because I wasn’t interested in the people, in what made them tick. I wasn’t satisfied with the photos.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Then I began doing the opposite – I started taking care of the people first, and only afterwards, of the photos I want to take. I am honest with them and they can feel it and become relaxed, natural and they reward you with the smile or the look you have expected. Then it is a good picture.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

You should respect your object. Once I decided I wanted to take pictures in the cemetery of Sofia. I took the camera and went there. I was impressed by the gravestones. I’m not a believer but I respect the faith of those buried there so before and after taking a picture I touched the gravestone and made the sign of the cross. I think that was the way to express my respect to the ones who were there.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

What is your “photographic philosophy” and how does it influence your life?

As a photographer I get the opportunity to take part in everything, even if indirectly, to see everything. Not everyone has such a privilege. I want to see birth, death, love, hate, etc. It all happen everyday without me or you causing it. That is life, our everyday life and I want to document it. It influences my life making me search always, everywhere. I am not shooting all the time and I don’t know where the story would come from. So I always have to try.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Is it hard to create art today?

No, it’s not. You may get inspired by anything as far as you are enthusiastic. Maybe it is harder to sell it but this is a long way for me that stage and I’m not completely sure. I don’t think I’m creating art. I just document the places and people according to my vision of them. The art elements make the pictures more forceful, more interesting and easy to perceive.

Photo: Tsvetomir Stanivoev

Tzvetomir Stanivoeff about himself

I have been involved in photography since 2006. Coincidently, I started working as a photographer for a newspaper from the very beginning and at the same time I worked at a photo studio. So I had the chance to see the whole process from taking a picture to printing it and to take part in it directly. I was interested in everything inspiring me to take pictures – landscapes, architecture, animals, people, abandoned places, streets, almost everything one could imagine.

In the course of time I got interested in portraits, specifically. I got interested in people, started looking at the passer-bys, searching. I like spontaneous street photos.

I travel over Bulgaria, mainly over villages and neighborhoods looking for authentic characters. I am interested in people; I am excited about their stories, their lives. The feeling to get into the house of a man from a village in the country, to portray him in his own place, is wonderful.

I don’t define myself as a photographer. I like the provocation of photography over my mind while looking for a good photo. I am impressed by minorities. They are interesting not only for a picture but as people too.

I think that a good picture is the one that shows motion, life. People can best transmit that feeling when the right moment is caught by the photographer. The more I go deeper, looking for interesting people, the better I realize that the desire to take a picture of someone is not enough. It is essential for the end result that your subject is interesting even if only for a talk.