Ivan Zhegov considers himself 60% designer and 40% photographer, and is based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
He’s co-creator of the online magazine Dinya – a non-periodical publication about culture, photography and aesthetics, with a strictly personal point of view towards all their aspects. Or, as he would describe it, a personal space, dedicated to sense and beauty.
Five Questions to Ivan Zhegov
How would you describe your photography to someone who has never seen it?
Short visual stories, covering topics that interest me at a certain period in time. Burdened by the world of advertising, where I spent way too much time, I’m trying to find the right balance between minimalism and abstraction on one hand, and realism on the other.
What makes a great photograph?
You can stumble upon many “recipes” for good photography, but for me the right one sounds like this: if you can make the viewer think, then you’ve succeeded in creating a good photograph. After that, only time will tell if it’s great.
What’s your main source of inspiration when you’re behind the camera?
My main inspiration always is to create the “perfect” shot. There’s no stronger inspiration than the WOW effect once you see the result.
How is the photography industry changing in the digital era?
Digitalization made it so that everyone became technically “literate”, which resulted in saving a couple of years mastering the blend/speed/developing process. That freed the way for photographers to get focused on on the creative part of their work. In the future the most valuable will be people with an interesting vision and a capability to tell a story outside of the mainstream, because 1984 is coming.
Have you heard of Blockchain and if so, what are your views on it?
Blockchain is the next Internet, but it will take some time before it becomes widely used in the everyday life. For now it’s mostly related to cryptocurrencies and those can appear dangerous and abstract. In my opinion the next 5 years will be coined by a lot of experiments and searching for a next level of decentralization.
You can find Ivan’s work on 