Snowy Bozhentsi

posted in: Blog | 2

Bozhentsi is the name of one of the most well preserved traditional village in Bulgaria. It is an architectural and historical reserve since 1964 and is also part of UNESCO‘s cultural monuments. This year I was lucky to be in the area when a whole day of snowing was expected. I wouldn’t miss this chance to film this magnificent and quiet (especially in these pandemic times) village, so I prepared myself for a whole day of shooting and driving in the snow. It was a beautiful snowy day and I decided to film in the mountains first and to come back to Bozhentsi at dusk. I wanted to film the village covered in snow within the blue hour with the lights of street lanterns and house windows shining. When I returned to the village just before dark, the conditions were perfect – everything was covered with a fresh thick layer of snow, the lights were on and it was still quietly snowing. Nothing was moving on the streets except for some cats, that are so typical for Bulgarian villages. It was so magical and peaceful.

You can see these mesmerizing scenes here: https://youtu.be/ne7g_Os_8hM

The traditional architecture of an old Bulgarian house from this region is very well preserved in Bozhentsi.
This village is normally very popular with tourists, but these pandemic times made the streets very quiet.
An old cafe and cakes shop.
Time to go back home from a great day of shooting 🙂

Alpine Snow

posted in: Blog | 0

Last winter, me and some friends went on a ski holiday in the French Alps. We were quite lucky with the weather, as it was snowing almost every day and the snow over the roofs of houses grew to about a meter thickness. I used the opportunity to film a scene of the falling snow and to make a video of it. It can be seen here: https://youtu.be/v_JyzOVZVM0

On the last day of skiing, the only snowboarder in the group and my great friend, decided that he was going to rest. Brilliant! I had wanted to try getting on a snowboard for a while now and seized the chance. He gave me a few basic lessons that I practiced for a while and then I jumped on the lift. Soon I was staying up on the board and sliding for a a few minutes, without falling and I was enjoying it so much that I was converted. I decided that I am going to get myself a board and learn how to ride properly. I never got really good with the ski anyway and only really enjoyed speeding down the slopes 😉

Fields of White

posted in: Blog | 0

The winter was not over yet, so I decided to go to Rila National Park for some winter footage. The hut is only an hour away from where you can leave your car, but still sits around 2000m above the sea level. Along the clearly marked path, on the way to the hut and back, I managed to film some nice shots and record some good sounds with which I made a few long videos. These videos can be seen here: https://youtu.be/CUaybv1jdHw, here: https://youtu.be/X-NY0YVmdg4 and here: https://youtu.be/0fHaQdacCmM

On the two days I spent up at the hut, I made long treks in the thick snow further up the mountain. I was lucky that on both days there have been other people that have walked up before me. I was walking over their steps, which made it much easier for me, as I still hadn’t bought myself some snowshoes. I filmed a lot of the pure raw mountain scenery covered in white snowy blanket. I tested my new drone’s abilities and was very happy with it’s stability, even in strong wind. In the end I made a short video of this incredible landscape, soundtracked by the amazing ambient music, so generously offered by Stellardrone: https://stellardrone.bandcamp.com/ The video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/2pmgu6Yfbb8

Snowy River

posted in: Blog | 0

After a day of heavy snowing, I decided to go to my favourite nearby Strandja Natural Park and try to film the beauty of the freshly fallen snow. As I didn’t want to drive on the slippery roads, I took the bus, that surprisingly was still running. I got off near this little river and spent most of the day walking along it in knee-deep snow, filming different scenes. I didn’t have snowshoes at the time and at end of the short winter day, I caught the bus back quite tired, but happy that I managed to film this fleeting beauty. You can watch the video with some relaxing piano music here: https://youtu.be/IfFCtzMMGPc

There’s also a video available from this shoot with a single unchanging scene: https://youtu.be/0EY28tdiFlc