It was the second time I went to Bulgaria to photograph a documentary. I learned about the history of Dimitrovgrad from Bulgarian friends. For me, there were several possibilities to have a successful outcome and to make it an interesting subject. Visually, it was promising, rich in history, and interesting encounters. And journalistically it was also interesting because Bulgaria, which is still plagued by major corruption problems, was about to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union.
Being a good photographer is not enough to make a good documentary, you also have to think about the magazine that would be potentially interested in history, its journalistic angle, its inclusion in the news of the moment, etc. During my first years, I found, produced and sold my stories myself. I collaborated with journalists from the editorial offices of the magazines or newspapers to which I sold the documentaries, but only once the story had been photographed. It was a risk I had to take because there was no guarantee that I would sell the stories, but you get nothing for nothing...
In the case of this documentary in Dimitrovgrad, the first city of communist architecture in Bulgaria, I later collaborated with Andrew MacDowall, who is a regular journalist with the Guardian UK, after I showed him my images and the potential of the story. Now I am fortunate enough to get commissions from magazines, but it took many years, some failures and frustrations, but also great memories and successful bets!