The photography is born 200 years ago almost as a form of documentation. For varied decades it was used to the service of the painting and it is not considered art because the photographer doesn’t put anything of his in what creates, unlike the painter, of the sculptor, of the musician.

This way the photographers were considered artisans of the image of serious b, technically able to make to work a tool and nothing more. The photographic cameras were enormous, and the first layings lasted times: it was possible to use only the photo to reproduce static scenes as landscapes. Only toward the beginning of 1900 the photo, thanks to some genial authors that create suggestions and visions with their images, it timidly begins to as a form of art to be approved.Since that moment the photography has known an amazing development with important names that have realized historical photos and celebrations around all over the world

The World Photo Day

The World Photo day, the world’s largest celebration of the art of photography, was created in 2009 by Korske Ara, an Australian photographer and storyteller passionate about inspiring adventure in young people. The reason behind the date chosen is very important for the history of photography: the invention of the Daguerreotype, a photographic process developed in 1837 and presented in the French Academy of Sciences in 1839. A few months later, on August 19th, the French government announced the invention as a gift “free to the world”.

There have been countless innovators before and after this date that has made photography the accessible medium it is today. World Photo Day celebrates the passion encompassed by photography lovers all around the world, past and present.

Under the Slogan “Inspiring positive impact through photography” the day encourages people around the globe to pick up their camera and share a single photo; “to share their world with the world”. Contributors also write something, inspiring them to contemplate the image and their connection to it. The World Photo Day of this year is the 8th global photography celebration.

Interview with Stefan Papuchiev

Director of the Museum of Photography and Contemporary Visual Arts of Kazanlak (Bulgaria).

For the occasion, we decided to interview the director of the Museum of Photography and contemporary visual arts of Kazanlak, Stefan Papukchiev.

Graduated from the Technical University of Gabrovo in Mechanical and Manufacturing Technology, he has been passionate about photography since his childhood and also history, philately, numismatics and heraldry, thanks to the teachings of his father, Ivan Papukchiev, the only heraldic creator in the region.

He published the books “History of the Catholic Church of Eastern Rite”, “St. Joseph”, “Kazanlak”, “History of Bishop Epiphanius Shanov” and “History of the Kilkis Bell”. He is the co-author of a book about the history of the Rose Festival in Kazanlak and he also collaborated in the book “Kazanlak Music Theater”.

The Museum of Photography and Contemporary Visual Arts of Kazanlak

Opened on June 5th, 2015, the Museum of Photography and contemporary visual arts of Kazanlak is housed in the Historical Museum “Iskra”.

First testimoniance for the photography in Kazanlak we have from the time of Felix Scans who writes that in the region of Kazanlak there was  a monk Chrisan Rashov in the Monastery of Maglizh who studied photography in St. Petersburg and he brought his photography skills in Bulgaria. The oldest of his photos are photos of Shipka, photos of the first rose producers and others, but we have only copies of them. Later Chrisan Rashov lerned his relative Hristo Rashov. In 1985 was created one of the most successful photography group in Bulgaria, Kazanlak85.

It shows artifacts from the beginning of photography in Kazanlak region, glass plates from the XIX to the XX Century, old cameras, photos from the archives of Peter Aranudov and others works.

If we talk about photographic equipment, the oldest exhibit is French camera from 1900 with unknown origin. It is suggested to be a local master who made cameras. If we talk about photos we have a lot of old photos from 1860 like dagerotypes, ferrotypes and cotypes, albums of photographers and techniques that are not known in Bulgaria.

The Museum maintains a permanent gallery, with works of masters of photography from different times, as well as works from well-known photo contests in Kazanlak as “The man near me”, the photography workshops “The Valley of Roses” and the Art Multimedia Festival.

Interview with Stefan Papuchiev

Director of the Museum of Photography and Contemporary Visual Arts of Kazanlak (Bulgaria).