“A Thief of Moments” - Petya Petrova between the brush and the photographic lens

Far from her homeland, yet closer to it than ever before - this is how Petya Petrova’s life journey has unfolded. For a quarter of a century she has lived in Germany, yet in her paintings and through her camera lens the beauty of the Bulgarian woman, the magic of traditional costumes, and the pulse of Bulgarian folklore continue to come alive. For her, art is not merely inspiration, but a way to preserve and pass on a fragment of Bulgaria to future generations.

Petya Petrova graduated in painting from the St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo. Before leaving for Aachen, Germany, where she has lived for the past 25 years, she worked as an art teacher in three high schools in her hometown of Gorna Oryahovitsa. In 2000, due to circumstances, Petya found herself unemployed and decided to seek professional fulfillment abroad, despite always having felt deeply connected to her roots.

“I chose Germany because I thought dreams came true there instantly. Well, that’s not exactly the case,” our fellow Bulgarian says today.

In Germany, she works in the field of social services. Her soul, however, is devoted to painting and photography. Petya paints every day, mostly in the evenings, as a way to unwind from her busy routine. She shares that it was abroad that she rediscovered Bulgaria as a source of beauty and inspiration. She loves painting Bulgarian women dressed in authentic folk costumes. Perhaps that is why her works bring to mine one of Bulgaria’s greatest artists, Vladimir Dimitrov-Maistora (the Master).

“I paint works dedicated to Bulgarian folklore - the beauty of the Bulgarian woman, traditional Bulgarian costumes, traditions, and everything connected to Bulgaria. For some time, my niece was my favorite model, because in my view she embodies the ideal of the Bulgarian woman not only from the past century, but today as well. At the moment, there is a lovely young girl who is my latest muse. She dances in our dance group in Aachen… Every Bulgarian, no matter where they are, should never forget their roots. A painting remains for a long time, and that is why, through painting, I try to recreate and bequeath to future generations a small piece of Bulgaria.”

Petya Petrova has held exhibitions both in Bulgaria and abroad. She is the first Bulgarian woman admitted to present her paintings in one of the buildings of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Besides painting, her other great passion is photography. She says her fascination with it began in her childhood years.

“I was in primary school when my father decided to devote himself seriously to photography. He turned the basement into a photo laboratory. When I first stepped into that place, which looked like a photo studio, I was captivated by the very idea of developing my own photographs. Back then, that was very difficult,” Petya recalls.

To this day, she vividly remembers the first camera that fell into her hands - an old Zenit.

“That was my father’s camera, which he was very proud of. It makes me smile when I remember it, because at the time I understood nothing, but I had a great desire to learn how to take photographs. Later, it turned out that I fulfilled a childhood dream - to deal with photography.”

Petya shares that she loves photographing moving subjects, people, and animals. She organizes her own photo trips to interesting places that allow her to unleash her creative imagination.

“I love photographing anything that involves movement. I especially love taking photos of horses. Even in portraits, I try to introduce movement. When I photograph people, I look for them to express some kind of motion, not just emotion… In recent years, I have given up organized trips. I organize my own photo journeys. I prepare my routes myself. I calculate how long it will take to reach a certain area or interesting location so that I can be there at the right time and capture the light, which is most important in photography,” Petrova says.

What does photography give her in terms of emotions and perceptions?

“Photography is empathy and pleasure – capturing the right moment, from the right angle, with sufficient expressiveness. It brings the same satisfaction as painting a picture. The two cannot be compared much because they are different, but the pleasure is immense.”

Do her two passions - painting and photography - compete for her scarce free time?

“Sometimes I face a ‘Shakespearean dilemma’ - photography or painting. In such moments, I remember the words of a painter friend who says that first and foremost we are artists. So I try to paint rather than photograph, although both bring me great joy.”

During these 25 years in Germany, Petya has never stopped longing for Bulgaria. That is why folklore holds a prominent place in her creative work. She loves attending festivals in Bulgaria, because there the emotions and colors are especially intense - a true blessing for a photographer.

“Festivals are precisely the place where emotions and colors are highly concentrated. There, a photographer has the opportunity to peek behind the scenes of a performance by musical or dance ensembles. To be present with their lens at the feverish preparations of some of the performers or simply to observe the joy of the audience. Last year, another of my dreams came true - to attend the National Festival of Folk Art in Koprivshtitsa, which takes place once every five years. I was invited as an accompanying photographer of a music group from the village of Parvomaytsi. It is an event with rapidly changing characters, people around you or on stage. You have to act very quickly. Often it comes down to fractions of a second, and you must react swiftly. For that purpose, I use two cameras and alternate between them, or carry both with me. For a woman, it is a bit difficult because that means a lot of weight. I even have my own expression when I manage to get a good shot. I say, ‘I stole that moment.’”

Jokingly, Petya calls herself a “Thief of Moments,” because from experience she knows that a good photographer must “steal” the important moments for themselves.

“When someone decides to pursue photography professionally, they must know exactly what and how to arrange within that tiny window through which the photographer’s eye looks. Because the moment can fly away in a fraction of a second, and a true photographer must capture it. It’s not just about grabbing a phone or camera and pressing the button - you have to know how to do it. I notice that people are returning to photography and appreciating it on a new level. Those with a more artistic perspective have begun to value photography, and that makes me very happy,” Petya Petrova says at the end of the conversation.

English: Rositsa Petkova