Let's Have a Toast

 ...for one hell of a year.

I've decided to look back at 2020 through the photos I've took with my phone. So much happened and this year I felt as if it was much longer just because everything changed so quickly. At the beginning I had a job at the school, I was running to the Academy because I had to work with the students there, I was taking photos for a gallery and so on. And then suddenly all that was keeping me so busy vanished. Now I work on my own projects alone at home and on rare occasions not alone. I picked the following photos, because they bring me certain memories or just because I like them (so selfish of me). Be prepared for a looooong post.

The new year started at the seaside. I've always dreamt of seeing the sea in winter. I imagined it would be the color of steel and the waves would be big and powerful. Well that I didn't see. Last January was strangely warm at the beginning, the water was so still and everything seemed so calm. As my friends and I walked in the Sea Garden of Burgas we got the attention of a pack of cats. They followed us around and tried to get our attention which to be honest wasn't hard.

In February I was still teaching at the school and didn't have so much time to myself. This whole adventure was mentally exhausting. One day as I was going home I noticed a nylon bag with oranges hanging on a trash can. A few days later I noticed this bag, hanged in the same style on a different trash can. Since that I saw many more similar scenes. So now that's a thing stuck in my head and I've shot a fair amount of these.

Almost every school year there's a period of breaks because of the flu. March started like this and just as we thought we would go back to school, the first case of Covid-19 was registered in the country. Of course no one expected that even though Italy, Spain, England...were already on lockdown. I'd never forget the first week of online education - I used Discord and the kids loved it. Then April came, time seemed to move faster. Working from home has its benefits but what to do when you're not working? I would put on my headphones and walk for hours taking photos.

May is somewhat a mist to me even though it's one of my favorite months. Most of the time I would be teaching and then I would go out for walks. It was somewhat monotonous living. My birthday didn't happen this year I've decided that. So now I'm a year younger.

June got busy real quick. As I was teaching classes online, I got to work with students from the Academy again. The tasks they had to shoot were outside in the grounds of University of Forestry and there are some interesting botanical gardens. We got to find that they have a Tree of the year contest and found the ones from 2014, 2016, 2017. There were lots of ticks in the grass and a colleague of mine used a reversed lens and tweezers to get them out. It was fun.

Most of July I was at the Academy or out in the sun with friends. It felt as if there was no virus on a killing spree. This summer I had the greatest luck - almost every week a summer rain (like a grandiose summer storm) would just pour down on me. But I felt free and happy most of the time, because I was surrounded by great people.

Cats and love for the sea - August. August was a good adventure - I went to the sea with a friend and took tons of photos. There was one misfortune though - the best shots I took were on a film which was not loaded correctly into the camera - so now they'll be forever in my head. I grabbed some mud from the bottom of a really dark water and spread it all over my body, went on a date with a man-boy and paid for his drink. I went to my hometown and in general had a good time without being afraid for my health all the time.

Oh the warm nights of September talking with friends 'till the early hours...So I quit the school because I value my sanity and was so excited of this camp that the Academy organizes for first-year students in Yundola. They study and do tasks, it's not just fun and games. For the first time in four years I got to go for more than 2-3 days. The quiet nights, cold mornings and the mountain, all the dogs running around - it was nice.

In October I started the blog. I felt the urge for writing and what better way. I'm not so good with words so I probably can't write fiction, but I do have one really important thing in my life and that's photography, so why not write about that. In the mean time I was working with the students on various tasks they had. What drove me mad was that I was taking more photos than them and was more excited. I still don't understand how could you be in it just for the money you can make as a photographer.

My cousin that lives in the States was in Sofia for 2 months, because she was home office. I always liked her a lot but we didn't communicate as much. Now we had the opportunity to go out and have fun and actually get to know each other. It was fun going out, drinking Bloody Mary and talking about art. I miss her and hope she comes again next year or I could just fly to New York and see her. November was interesting and diverse month. All the students had to shoot with pinhole cameras, I also did and will soon share my photos.

At the end of November we were again under lockdown. In December I stayed at home most of the time. I've started getting slightly mad. I missed human interaction. I did lots of things but everything seemed pointless. Maybe it's just holiday season or the weather but everything was so gloomy. I was thinking of starting some new projects that I had in mind but it didn't feel right. So it was a month of excessive movie watching and book reading, and drawing. Aaaaand this unbelievable year ended with a good amount of white wine and a headache on the next day. Yay!