A chemical engineer gone photographer employs his passion for flying to show Bulgaria from a different perspective.

Spasena Baramova

Meet Alexander Ivanov. A 58-year-old man looking at least a decade younger, with a feeling of tranquillity about him, seen often in people who live away from the fuss of the big city. With the help of Edno magazine, he recently staged the breathtaking 360° Bulgaria exhibition, an impressive view of Bulgarian nature from high above, consisting of 120 photographs taken from a paraglider by Ivanov in person. Having seen the exhibition, it came as no surprise to find out he has won two first prize awards from National Geographic – Bulgaria. Here is what Ivanov told Month2Come about himself, his work and the exhibition.

How did you get into photography?
I graduated many years ago from the Chemical Technology Institute in Bourgas; I am a chemical engineer. I worked what I studied for seven years. It was exactly in Bourgas, however, that there was this amazing photo club, in which I started doing photography and actually began participating in both national and international salons. This was at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1988 I decided to occupy myself only with photography.

What is your preferred subject in photography?
I have been shooting nature for many years, since my very first film. I started with my nephew, who was two years old at the time. He was a very beautiful, very lively, very genuine child and it was because of him that I bought my first camera. I was only 23 years old. The times were different back then, we worked with black-and-white films, took black-and-white pictures. In fact, my first film was of my nephew and the things around him. I grew up in the countryside and these are some very nice memories of my childhood years. I am from a village eight km from the town of Kazanluk. I have been living in Kazanluk for what...maybe 24 years now. It is a good place to live, but, unfortunately, not a good place to work.

So you mainly shoot nature. Why is that?
Well, it seems I find it easier to communicate with nature. I find it more difficult with people because it requires communication, it requires time. I can't just take the camera and shoot somebody I don't know. To me a portrait really requires time and knowing the person, which is not always possible. While with nature I know that sometimes things happen, sometimes they don't, but I have understood a very simple thing, a very private thing for myself – if something grasps me, if something touches me, usually the photo turns out good. I probably look very funny, pottering about, searching for an angle. But a good landscape photographer always needs to be nature-sensitive. For many years I used to shoot only the beauty of nature. I used to think there were enough ugly things in life so as to allow myself to shoot ugly things in my spare time (while I was still working as a chemical engineer). This lasted until the end of the 1990s, when I took my son to show him an amazing forest I had shot about 10 years before. I was shocked to see how these huge, centuries-old oak trees had been devastated by people. This was my turning point. I did the Tale for the Wood exhibition, which I showed in six places in Bulgaria. Since then I started shooting things as they are, without polishing them, but also without smearing them. I insist on showing facts as they are, on the documentary side of photography. It is its best weapon.

What about your passion for flying? How did that start?
I started flying when I turned 50. I have been in the air for about 180 hours total. I strongly advise you to try it because it's a miracle. I have been flying with a paraglider for a year and a half now, before that I used to fly with a motor hang glider, but the paraglider is far more exciting. I fly with very experienced pilots, I can't fly alone. The pilot steers the paraglider, while I sit in the front, at the best place, where it's magical, you can see everything before you. From there I take my photographs. As much and as well as I try to describe flying though, it's all just a retelling of an emotion you can't grasp unless you feel it for yourself.

Tell me more about the 360° Bulgaria exhibition
It was shot over eight years. The first couple of these years I did not have the idea of doing an exhibition. The idea came afterwards. The exhibition consists of 120 photographs, which is a really big number, and was a great challenge for me. I think the world would not be the same without Bulgaria. Bulgaria may be small, but we really have everything, even pelicans if you wish  (the photo of the pink pelicans in the Vaya lake won Ivanov National Geographic's first prize in the animals section). At the end of October, Edno magazine contacted me and we started organising things.