ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

The fine-art photography and applied photography are equally of great importance to Bulgarian art and culture. The educational process includes theoretical lectures and seminars on all disciplines and practical knowledge of the main disciplines in the form of individual exercises, essays and course works. When the student is developing a course work in a studio, he uses lighting and equipment provided by NATFA, black and white and color laboratory or such, provided by NATFA, that meets the necessary technical level of the requirements for practical exercises. After the interdisciplinary education in the first year, the priorities are set on black and white, color, applied and experimental photography; lighting, photographic and computer equipment, etc. The compulsory courses are supplemented by special photographic methods and media, photojournalism, multi-vision, graphic design, history of photography and plastic arts, introduction to history of cinema, aesthetics, etc.

 

FORM OF EDUCATION

The studies are full-time only, with a duration of 4 years. The students graduate with a defense of a diploma work, which consists of a theoretical part and a practical part.

 

QUALIFICATION AND PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

The graduates acquire the educational qualification degree of “Bachelor” with professional qualification “Photographer”. They have the necessary qualification to create fine-art and applied photographs, which could be used in many different aspects of science, technology, everyday life, periodical publications, book publishing, polygraphy, cinema, video, television, exhibits, etc.

The graduates have the opportunity to work in the field of artistic applications of photography and audiovisual series. They could work as photojournalists, photo-editors; managers of audiovisual productions, coordinators of photo exhibits, collections and multimedia products; specialized photographers in sciences, technologies and industries; managers of clubs for photography enthusiasts or professionals; experts in other fields of audiovisual production and new media; the graduates could also continue their education in the educational qualification degree of “Master”.

 

ADMISSION

Specialized exam – “Photography”

When submitting their documents, the candidates are required to deposit a complete portfolio containing 20 black and white, and color, photographs, without passepartout, in format 18×24 cm. or 20×30 cm., with corresponding deviations.

A. Mandatory genres – 10 pcs

Landscape – 2 pcs

Still life – 1 pc, in natural lighting, 1 pc, in artificial lighting

Photo reports – 2 pcs

Portraits – 2 pcs, in natural lighting, 2 pcs, in artificial lighting

 

Photography set (series, cycle) on a freely chosen theme – 10 pcs

The whole set is presented using photocopies on paper and on CD. Each photograph’s resolution should not be lower than 300 dpi, at size 20×30 cm. It is recommended that the black and white photos are developed by the classic processes of silver photography and copied manually. Digitally edited photographs are not allowed. On the back of each photo the candidate must write:

  1. Full name of the prospect-student
  2. Series number (from 1 to 10 for the mandatory genres and from 11 to 20 for those of a chosen theme)
  3. Title of the photograph (required for photos of a chosen theme)
  4. Place and date of shooting (year, month, day)
  5. Camera brand
  6. Which lenses, what brightness and focus distance was used
  7. Filters and other optic and mechanical add-ons
  8. Scheme of the photo, containing: background, camera, lighting equipment (power in watts or joules) and additional equipment (reflective surfaces and photo umbrellas, soft boxes, etc.)

 

The portfolio could contain also: screenplays, essays, poems, short stories, novels, paintings, drawings, photographs, films, original music, performances of songs and music instruments, recordings of music performances and other creative materials chosen by the candidate. The literary materials must be in PDF format and not longer than 10 pages. The visual materials must be in JPG format. The audiovisual materials must be in MPG-4 format and overall not longer than 15 minutes. The sound materials must be in MP-3 format and overall not longer than 15 minutes. The purpose of the portfolio is to fully represent the prospect-students’ abilities, interests, creative inclinations and worldview. When the documents are submitted, the portfolio is sealed in an envelope with the name of the candidate.

Stage 1 – practical exam (anonymous)
A topic is drawn, in the presence of all candidates, on which every one of them shoots a photographic report in exterior, with his own personal digital photo camera and optics. Duration: 2 hours. Each candidate is accompanied by a quaestor of the programme “Photography”. At the exam, each prospect-student presents 18 shots, 6 of which are marked for examination. The candidates who receive a score lower than Average (3.00) drop out of participation in Stage 2.
Stage 2 – oral exam
The taken photographs of those prospect-students allowed to stage 2 are examined by the jury in the presence of each candidate. They analyze the results and answer questions related to the composition, lighting, visual style, and other components. The jury interviews the candidates on materials presented in the portfolio. The purpose of this stage is to get an in-depth notion of the abilities, interests, general knowledge, independent thinking and creative reflectivity of the candidates. The ones who receive a score lower than Average (3.00) drop out of the ranking.