Surva 2019 - International Masquerade Games - (Image Heavy)

D7K · Jan 29, 2019

The Surva Festival is a festival held each year in Pernik, Bulgaria.

The festival showcases "Kukeri" from each ethnographic region throughout Bulgaria and internationally with each bringing their own custom, costumes (This first set is from one region, I am still working on editing others), masks and ritual songs and dances. The Kukeri are often now accompanied by girls / women some of which are also dressed as Kukeri but others are dressed in the traditional dress of their region.

The "Kukeri" are elaborately costumed and adorned with bells, accompanied by drums and horns and they perform traditional rituals which are intended to scare away evil spirits.

This is the first time I have attended the festival and was not able to secure a pass to allow me into the main square or to walk freely through the parade route so I was restricted to shooting from behind the barriers, for next year for sure I will be looking to get a pass..

For now I will continue to work on the shots I managed to get this year..

DigiFilm · Jan 29, 2019

You found bigfoot!

Seriously, those are excellent images, fantastic costumes, and some very attractive people.

D7K · Jan 29, 2019

DigiFilm said:
You found bigfoot!

Seriously, those are excellent images, fantastic costumes, and some very attractive people.

Thanks a lot, It was a real treat, I can still hear the bells and the drums even now, for sure stays with you! Those shots of the girls, They grabbed me and asked me to take a couple of shots, the one of the girl looking into the distance is more a candid one.

I'll probably share some more here if anyone is interested, They're not really the kind of images that go down well on my IG profile as it's more landscape and city stuff, but hell, I refuse to be dictated to by "The Grid" that is Instagram.. Looking forward to uploading the whole set at a decent size to my website soon..

If you're interested to know more I'd suggest a quick youtube visit where there's a lot of videos where you can see a bit more of how it all goes down..

D7K · Jan 29, 2019

Switching up the "Bigfoot" Kukeri, Here's a shot from Kukeri from Burgas region.. Here you can see the bells, although these are some of the smaller ones, there were guys varying bells bigger than my head, and some carrying 50+ bells... You cannot imagine the sound when they all start bouncing and drumming... Clearly visible is the regional difference in the costumes..

tirediron · Jan 29, 2019

Very interesting; well done.

D7K · Jan 29, 2019

tirediron said:
Very interesting; well done.

Thanks a lot John.. I know it's a lot of shots, but I was just pulled right in..

D7K · Jan 29, 2019

zulu42 · Jan 29, 2019

Thanks for the nightmares!

Only kidding. Great set!

Braineack · Jan 29, 2019

Something doesn't feel right about the processing in these. very red hue, too much clarity/contrast bump, and lots of pushed shadow recovery.

D7K · Jan 30, 2019

Braineack said:
Something doesn't feel right about the processing in these. very red hue, too much clarity/contrast bump, and lots of pushed shadow recovery.

There is a red hue to them when I look back across them actually, I'll sort that out, No clarity but some detailed highlights applied to a couple. There's minimal shadow recovery across most of the set with the exception of the three girls but appreciate the feedback and will for sure revisit them.