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Lora Dineva
@lora.dineva
Photographer based in Bulgaria
My passion for photography started many years ago, I found a small plastic camera at my house. It wasn’t anything special or of a professional standard, yet I was immediately intrigued by it. Parts of its body were transparent, so I could see the mechanical elements that created the camera. I began questioning how things happen within this device. The very idea of photography as a whole process intrigued me a lot then – from the moment you take the photo, to turning it into a paper copy. Later, at the university, I enrolled in photography and there all the pieces of the puzzle came together. I met many new and interesting people with whom we shared the same passion – photography and studying the process.
"We spent hours in the lab developing black and white films and taking pictures with our own pinhole cameras."
There’s always something new to learn in this art form and I love pushing myself and experimenting with new, unusual shooting techniques or with different cameras – even with just a phone. I believe you can convey the emotion within your heart with any camera you hold in your hands. Obviously, that doesn’t mean I deny the benefit of new technologies. On the contrary, I’ve often spent my days reading reviews of the latest photographic gadget but I think it’s useful from time to time to go back to basics a little bit. Perhaps even to the original form of photography, when you only have a fixed number of frames in the loaded film. This means you have to carefully consider whether a photographic opportunity is really worth it or not.
Now, there are moments where anyone engaged in some creative endeavor will feel a lack of motivation and new ideas. Especially during the situation we are in right now where we can’t travel as much as we want or do most of the things we love. So what I find helps “re-inspire” me when I feel a lack of creativeness is watching a favorite movie or listening to music. In addition to being entertainment, cinema can also be very helpful purely visual. At such moments I always turn to people I value as artists and I know that they have achieved something. There is always new stuff to learn and it is almost guaranteed that you can find something to inspire you, or to make you look at the world around you from another perspective.
It’s great because, within a few hours, the road can take you to many beautiful and largely unknown places. Hidden treasures are what I refer to them as. And in the current era of the pandemic, traveling around my country offers my little moments of escape.
Nature is so inspiring and full of wonders. Within the midst of uncertainty we must focus on the good, find beauty and joy in the everyday and appreciate what is around us.
Drone photography is something I’ve become rather passionate about over recent months. It offers me a completely different point-of-view than when I’m on the ground shooting. It’s almost like opening me up to a whole new universe. I get to see the world again, much in the same way a wide-eyed child is fascinated by everything new and incredible they’re experiencing daily.
"This picture of the icy landscape was something we discovered by accident."
We were trying to find our destination while driving through thick winter fog. But our GPS took us off in the wrong direction. And that’s when we found ourselves surrounded by the frozen meadows, where all the plants had frozen, and the ground below was bright green. This sight was not something I’d seen before, so I knew I had to take the drone up into the air to capture the shot.
"I've also been to photograph on the island of Diaporos, located in the Halkidiki peninsula in the northern part of Greece."
When I did some research on the map I found these strange shapes in the middle of nowhere. We rented a small boat and at some point I decided to launch the drone to investigate a little further. We found out that these were fishing farms, perfectly aligned in the middle of the sea. I find it fascinating how you can explore landscapes beyond the capabilities of the eye with the drone point of view.
Of course, visiting these different places and taking photographs is excellent, but the editing stage is very important to me too. The finished photograph should be able to convey the appropriate emotion accurately. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of overdoing filters and thereby distorting things, but I think that a bit of image processing, where appropriate, can greatly contribute to the end result.
I must have taken many thousands of photographs in my life, so picking my absolute favorite one is tricky. But the first one that comes to mind is “Never ending summer.” Summer was coming to an end during the last days of September, so this was going to be my last encounter with the sea this year.
"Photography has the unique ability to capture both time and emotions."
For me, it’s never just a shot. I remember everything – the time & date, what other events took place that day, what I’ve said to the people around me, the whole experience. In my opinion, this is the true beauty of photography.
I think that everyone should pursue their dreams and nothing is impossible. It just requires a whole lot of effort, time to learn and not falling behind. Of course, there will always be someone out there who is better than you, someone with a newer camera than yours, and maybe with better ideas, but that’s no reason to say “I give up”. On the contrary – you should focus on your uniqueness, the drive behind your passion, what you can offer to the world, and how it contributes to your happiness.
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