About

I was 12 when I first laid my hands on a Smena photo camera and it has to be admitted I was quite lucky; I would never have been able to get answers to my endless questions about photography if it hadn’t been for the photo studio around the back of my house. A master worked there. When I first saw his works hanging on the walls of the studio I was captivated and simply couldn’t look away. As a result my desire to be a photographer myself was given a huge boost.

There was one photograph in particular that really stunned me. It depicted a horse, it was greater than 30x40 in size and on top of that it was in colour. I asked the master in bewilderment, “How were you able to make a colour photograph?” At the time only black and white film was widely available … He replied, ‘Well, Emil, it’s a long story, you probably wouldn’t understand if I told you now, but to cut it short I painted in the colours by hand’. It was all extremely interesting and I was looking forward to being able to create similar pictures myself … I spent all my free time at the photo studio. The master and I became friends and I began to help him. Most of the time I just watched him work and memorised what he did, if there was something I didn’t understand I would ask questions and he would answer them.

I lived on the first floor of a five storey building. After the building was renovated my parents were permitted to use the basement that was accessible from the kitchen. The walls of the basement were papered and there was a rug on the floor, in other words it felt like a real room. This basement became my first photo studio and it was there that I experimented and applied in practice what I had learned from the master.

I remember the joy I felt when I printed my first pictures. The most fascinating moment was when the image was appearing on the paper. It was like watching a child being born. However, most of the time the film would get overexposed to light for different reasons. Each time this happened I felt totally devastated and angry, yet I never stopped; my determination always prevailed. As time went by mistakes became rarer and little by little I began getting it right. I took pictures of the other kids I played with, of my parents, sisters and brothers. I never parted with my camera. My enthusiasm lasted several years. After I turned sixteen, though, I gave up photography and took up wood carving, inlaying and drawing. Nonetheless, thirteen years later I began taking photographs again; the second time around I was drawn to this form of art with renewed force.

In my life I’ve done different kinds of things but I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy doing any of them as I am now doing photography. I’m sure the first seeds of my love for photography were planted back in my childhood and now I can say with certainty it is exactly what I need.