A long time ago...in a Galaxy far far away...I bought a print from this artist in a gallery

[Mira]

http://jackovassilev.com/

The print I own is the fifth in the line-up, the two old women drunk on old wine and laughing together.
I could not afford it at the time at all, but got the price haggled down, and paid in cash I borrowed off all of those around me because I felt I just had to have that photograph.

So I found the website last week - just curious to see if there is one - and wrote into the blue thinking it was a studio - wanting to see what the thing was worth in money. I already know what it's worth in joy on my wall.

To my great surprise the photographer himself wrote back and he appreciated my love for his work, and was really sweet and probably really old.
That made my day.
I hope you like what you see, I suspect you will. To me this is more than just humanly interesting - these people look like my grandmother and beyond on my mother's side, Hungarians, and Yugoslavs all, and I know I'm a part of it all.
It's a nice feeling.

[Binkie The Clown]

1. That's art! That's amazing.

I grab a camera and take pictures when what I really want to do is grab a camera and make art. I just can't seem to do it. It's photos like that that make me realize how inadequate my own snapshots are. I'm in awe. I love them.

[Mira]

3. I'm glad you see what I see.

Now of course he wants to sell me another, at a really good (not yet determined) price.
Could you chose?

[alfredo]

2. I love his portraits.

[Mira]

4. Some of the portraits

remind me of your work. In a different time, and a different country.

[alfredo]

5. I can't imagine myself anywhere near his images.

[Mira]

6. I can.

Like I said it's a different time, and I am really glad you don't see what he saw in your environment.
Did you study the one "Cry of Freedom"? It's haunting, and the arrangement of the image parts is making my mind swim.

[alfredo]

7. That is a wonderful photo, but for me I like the Standing Brothers.

Tchonka,Monka,Lalcho in the Classroom reminds me of a triptych.

Motherhood reminds of Dorthea Lange's work.

[Mira]

8. Yes - to your observations.

I have started an email conversation with his wife. I asked her about the "Cry for Freedom" image, and wanted her to ask him about some background about it, I found this to be the surprising response:
==
Regarding the image:"Cry of freedom":is not compose ,this is the reaction of two friends who was sharing home made brandy on the bench,in small village in Bulgaria,and the news from the radio coming from loud speaker Brought the grates words for Freedom for Bulgaria,being 45 years under dictatorship!(this is 1989,the year after the falling of Berlin wall)
Jacko was preforming international photojournalism for some years and consider this image like the best one he done in his professional live,and as a artist and human being ,is his favorite of all.The image is very strong and emotional,I believe after sharing the story ,u understand totally the power of that photo.
==
I am awed, and newly amazed by the image, no longer in a way that is disturbing, but one that shows how close despair and extreme elation can look alike.

[alfredo]

9. It looked like he had earned that cry.

[Solly Mack]

10. Cool. Wonderful portraits!

I used to think I could haggle, then I lived in Germany. Now, I know I can haggle.

[trusty elf]

11. He's really good, isn't he!

Beautiful photographs! That was money well spent, Mira!