Who is the most impressive of the women in Sofia? Bulgarian photographer Vihren Georgiev is looking for an answer to this question through his new project in which he collects many faces of women whom he encountered, accidentally or not, in the capital city.

Women of Sofia is out on the market five years after the release of the first photo album of the same author which was a collection of faces and was entitled People of Sofia.

"I came across most of those people by chance, in the streets, without a specific purpose and idea," says Vihren Georgiev. And each of the female images captured by his camera has attracted the photographer's attention with something uncommon. Among the faces from these masterfully photographed "pages of life", there are mothers with their daughters and pets, gallery owners, artists, prima ballerinas, women with a cause, young girls with big smiles. There are also dignified elderly ladies who remember the history of their city and willingly share their memories.

Born in the city of Ruse on the Danube, Vihren Georgiev has lived in the Bulgarian capital for many years, so here he finds a field for expression and creativity. “I am unable to distinguish the most exciting of all female images, each person I captured on my camera in the street has grabbed my attention with something unusual. These are random women who impressed me with a certain quality”, photographer Vihren Georgiev said in a interview for “Before everyone else” show on BNR’s Horizon channel.

"Sometimes we start talking, other times I ask them to write to me in my page so we could stay in touch. There are also those images without text where only the photo is placed. I am of the opinion that each photograph should speak for itself, instead of telling a story about it. Women's colours are varied, vivid and different. They are an explosion of colours. There are black and white photographs, but they are deliberately made to have a greater impact. There are almost no celebrities in the book, only four well-known names. Among them are TV and radio hosts. Regarding the Bulgarian National Radio, on the pages of the album one can see the photo of Valeria Nikolova, host of the show "Horizon for you". I do everything guided by my intuition. It also guides me in choosing which people I want to photograph - these are women who are professionals and are emblems, a benchmark in their field. “

In his next photographic project, Vihren Georgiev will analyze the changes in people's faces during and after the pandemic we are now going through.  "The paradox is that in March and April, when there were not many people infected and sick with coronavirus in our country, everyone was very worried and did not leave their homes. Now, when there are many more sick people and even victims of the virus, a carefree attitude can be felt here in Sofia, and this is a strange and inexplicable phenomenon for me," the photographer says, sharing his impressions.

The Women of Sofia album is available in a bilingual Bulgarian-English edition.

Editor: Gergana Mancheva / on interview  of Diana Doncheva for Horizont - BNR

English Rossitsa Petcova

Photos: courtesy of Vihren Georgiev