Dimitar Bakalov, hailing from the picturesque and historically rich country of Bulgaria, has carved a unique niche in the realms of sports and photography.
Born in the 1980s in Bulgaria, he received his education at the “Vasil Levski” National Academy of Sciences in Sofia, specializing as a basketball coach and pursuing a second major in Sports Management. From 2000 to 2011, he worked in his family’s international transport business while simultaneously organizing sports camps and dedicating himself to photography, blending documentary and street photography styles in his personal projects.
For Dimitar, street and documentary photography, as well as photography in general, is an art form that captures real life as it unfolds on the streets. It’s about seizing fleeting moments, sometimes reflecting the pain or joy in people’s eyes. He believes that if one has the eyes to see, then they possess the heart and soul to appreciate the little things. According to him, small gestures and details on the street communicate more than a thousand words. Photography has always been an integral part of his self-expression over the years, representing his passion and love.
Dimitar maintains that photography should seduce, shape, and most importantly, evoke an emotional response. He aims to touch and inspire, to recreate human thoughts and feelings through his images. He hopes his photographs will move others, conveying his inner world and the messages they bear. His fascination with photography began in 1988-1989 when he was still a child, influenced primarily by his grandfather, who gifted him a Russian Smena 8M camera. From him, Dimitar learned the power of art and how photography offers a worldview. Later, his father, a creative individual who had a business from the early 1990s, professionally turned to cinematography, photography, and wood carving, further integrating photography into Dimitar’s world. Unaware at the time of the creative power this tool granted him, Dimitar discovered the genre of street photography, instantly falling in love with it and the documentary style as a means to capture and reflect on the reality around him.
