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Vlado Karamazov discovered two very important things in the fall of 2017: the rhodopes and the camera.
At the time he was filming the crime series “Devil’s Throat” and so he lived for two months in Smolyan and the surrounding villages. Then he was forever captivated by the beauty of the majestic mountain. But this is also the period when his passion for photography became so strong that he already accepted it as his second calling. After acting, of course.
Therefore, in recent years, rhodopes and camera photography have become an integral part of Karamazov’s life. In addition, they help you become one of the world’s names in photography and become a finalist in a prestigious annual American Smithsonian Institution competition. He enters with two shots, one of whom is 11-year-old Yusuf from the village of Krastava.
“I often travel through the Rhodopes, where most of the small settlements are almost deserted or only with older people. But when I went to the Yundol region, I was surprised that the villages were full of life, with young people and children playing in all the streets, ”says Karamazov.
At the end of
your trip
reaches the cross,
where he sees many children again. One of them, Yusuf, immediately agreed to show him around the town. “He was very open, awake, he began to lead us. And only when I saw how cool he was, I was no longer interested in anything else and started shooting only at him, ”recalls Karamazov. The shots with the boy became so good that they won more than one or two awards from the Karamazov photo contests.
So he decided to get them out on paper, print them out on large sheets, put them in the trunk, and go back to the Rhodopes. When he arrives in Krastava, it turns out that Yusuf is at school. This does not stop the actor: he goes to the boy’s classroom, gives him the gift, and all the children have smiles on their faces.
Only a few months later, Karamazov learned that two of his photographs, one of them with Yusuf, titled The Boy on the Mountain, had been selected by an international jury of finalists in the Smithsonian magazine competition.
As soon as he finds out about the selection, Vlado immediately calls to praise Yusuf. “He was so happy, it is a great event for him and for all the people. Yesterday I heard him again, he is in seventh heaven. I remember Yusuf, his parents who live and work abroad, his brother and his grandmother, who now they take care of him. “
The other shot, with which the actor entered the prestigious photography contest, was made at the beginning of last year. Shortly after the first wave of coronavirus was announced in Bulgaria and people were advised to stay home to protect themselves from the infection, Vlado decided to move in with his parents for a while. This will help them more and you won’t worry about jeopardizing their health.
With their parents
is isolated in
family
home and does not go out
almost nowhere
The weather outside is sunny and warm and Vlado really wants to get back into photography. But where to go, what to shoot?
The only place where you would feel calmer is the backyard of the house. So take the macro lens, which allows the camera to get as close to the subject as possible and discover a new world through it. Turns out, you can film unexpected scenes and objects not elsewhere, but in your backyard.
So every day he finds new objects and animals to photograph, and among them is a group of snails. For 3-4 days, Karamazov did not stop photographing small animals: he tried them on a different background, moved them from one place to another.
Spray them with water,
to help them
to survive
“It just came to our knowledge then. I was very happy that even in that isolation I could practice photography, to make progress in it.” Many of the snails do not survive in the end, so Vlado decides to title the painting with them “Goodbye, family”, making an association with the pandemic in which we all live. “Since only one of the snails survived, I made a comparison with the people who died in the pandemic and how their loved ones should continue their journey without them,” says the actor.
The Smithsonian contest is free and hundreds of people from around the world submit their photos. So the competition is really fierce. But the strainer for participation is also very large. One of the conditions is that there is no photomanipulation. That’s why when the Smithsonian likes a photo, they ask the author to send them the raw version, to make sure it hasn’t been changed in any way. In the next stage, you need to submit documents; if there is a person in the photo, for example, you must give written permission for it to be used. If there is a child in the painting, his parents must agree to show him. “Contracts are signed that if a photo is selected, it can be shown around the world in exhibitions, in various media,” says the actor.
He began to take photography more seriously after a conversation with director Pavel Vesnakov. In addition to their joint work on “Devil’s Throat,” the two have plenty of time to discuss Vlado’s hobby.
Vesnakov he
encourages
keep shooting
giving you some practical advice, it even tells you what gear to wear.
Imperceptibly, Karamazov deepened more and more in his knowledge and experience in photography. He reads a lot, he is interested, he buys different equipment. And so he went to the photography contests, in which he found inspiration and motivation. Sam decided to participate in the Smithsonian race 2 years ago, hitting them 5-6 of his shots. Soon the finalists are out, he also votes for his favorites and still dreams of seeing his photo on the website of the American magazine. One day this came true: his photo was chosen by the Smithsonian for a photo of the day. This is actually the title opportunity featured on the site and further encourages the actor to continue pursuing his newfound passion.
With his photos Vlado also won awards such as the bronze medal of the Italian international contest Natural World 2020, the three awards of another world contest – Chromatic Photo Awards 2020, in the most prestigious categories “Portrait”, “Travel” and “People”. . Last March, the world’s largest copyright photography platform published two photos of him from his travels in the Rhodopes and Norway. At the beginning of the year, Karamazov won second place in a competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Italian edition of Vogue magazine published two photos of him. In February
won the gold
and a silver medal
from one of the leading Brits
international exhibitions
– 75th Hall of Photography in Bristol. His photo also won a gold medal in a world competition in Spain.
Now the grand prize is his two shots in the 18th edition of the Smithsonian competition. In it, each photographer fights not so much for the first place as for being chosen among the finalists. They are organized into six categories, each with 10 photos. People from all over the world, amateurs, amateurs, professionals, can vote for them until March 31st. At the end, the photo with the most votes from the public will be chosen and the jury will select the best of each category, as well as their favorite among the 60 finalists.
As soon as he tells for the first time about his success in this competition, everyone around Vlado is really happy. Relatives, colleagues and strangers share their story so that more people can learn about it and vote in the contest. “There is a patriotic spirit and people can easily unite around a really good cause. They are fed up with problems and when they see something real and nice related to our country, they write, they comment,” says Vlado.
Along with the coronary crisis, he became quite isolated and felt that he had to make an effort to return to his previous way of life. The pandemic also has a strong impact on their professional commitments in the theater. After a 7-month break, he returned to the stage of the National Theater in October, and at the beginning of January, in his iconic production at the 199 Theater “The fisherman and his soul. “But it’s still weird: we play in front of a small audience, as needed, with a 30% room capacity. You can’t feel people’s reaction to the masks on their faces. There is no noise in the theater to which we are used to it “.
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