What is Surva?
Surva is a festival in Bulgaria which starts at the beginning of each year. The main purpose of the event is to chase away evil spirits from people’s homes. Here is a link to a blog post that explains the essence of the Surva festival.
Surva Photography Workshop 2025
In January 2025 I conducted a Surva photography workshop with my dear friend and colleague Luka Esenko from Slovenia. We visited several small villages, one regional and several local festivals to photograph “Kukeri”.
At the beginning of our trip, we visited several groups from mountainous villages where we met with local people to photograph their costumes and masks. These young people that are willing to preserve the traditions, posed for us in superb settings and we managed to come up with amazing images! Weather conditions were with us as mist took over the whole scene creating an unbelievable photogenic atmosphere. The group rated this photo session as the best of the trip. Here are a few images:
Regional Surva festival
Next on our itinerary was a regional festival where groups from the country gathered to perform. It was a two-day event with hundreds of visiting people. We had media passes which allowed us to approach the people with masks and take their pictures. The scenes behind the stage were also very productive for pictures as we managed to peek into the preparation of the people for the stage. Again, the atmosphere of bells, dances, and happy people was all over the place.
On the second day of the event, we had superb snowfall, which contributed even more to the already successful Surva photography workshop. People were happy to pose and we ended up with thousands of pictures. We had plenty of opportunities to experiment with different techniques and compositions.
Local festival of Surva photography workshop
The local festivals are the real way to experience Surva! Over two days, we visited several small villages and attended their authentic celebrations. On the first day of the event, local groups gather on the square of their village and mark the start of Surva with a bonfire. On the second day, the people with masks called survakari walk around their villages and visit every house to chase away evil spirits and wish good health to the owner. The owner on his behalf will have small gifts for the kukeri and will invite them in for a drink or a snack.
During these very local events, you get to feel the personal attitude and enthusiasm of local people. In one of the villages, we met a 96-year-old lady, who was extremely happy to see people visiting her and wishing her good health. I have met her a couple of times and was always very emotional!
The chanting bells and dances of Kukeri keep their enthusiasm from year to year. People are extremely passionate of what they do and cannot wait until the next year! Often we see small children and babies attending these events dressed in national folk costumes.
If you are willing to join me for this Surva photography workshop in Bulgaria in 2026, feel free to sign up via the webpage of Esenko Workshops or contact me for questions using this form.
Gallery of Surva photography Workshop 2025
Here are a few more images from the workshop in 2025:
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