australia issue 613
Oct 2016
Sophia Terra-Ziva
Sydney - photographers
"With three consecutive awards from International Photography Awards, Los Angeles (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016), I am a photographic writer who flirts with words and visually narrates.
I was born in Bulgaria and life took me to Australia more than 20 years ago, where I settled in Sydney, met my husband and now we enjoy our beautiful two daughters.
I got a Masters Degree in Philology and one in the Science of Dramatic Art from the National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, and though I worked as a theatre critic, a journalist and a news editor in Bulgaria and in a number of corporate environments, I always stayed true to my first love of storytelling when I moved to Australia. Whether it was in the form of the written word, stage performance or visual narrating, I have accumulated a lifetime of knowledge about world culture and art and now, through photography, I have found a way of expressing my stories visually.
To me, the art of food photography is more than just documenting the obvious. I see it as a way of conveying feelings, as a way of taking my audience to different places of emotions. I look at my photography as a still shot of some storybook or an old motion picture. With every image, I welcome the viewers to enter the world of food redolent of memories, emotions, moods, and thoughts; to evoke the depth of our simple consumer-being and take a different look at the simple things that nourish us as human beings and thinking creatures."