"Fresco-Hunting" Photo Research Expedition to Medieval Balkan Churches, Balkan Heritage Field School, Bankya, Bulgaria, May 24–June 8, 2024 (2024)

The "Fresco-Hunting" Photo Research Expedition to Medieval Balkan Churches provides a unique opportunity for students and volunteers to take part in an expedition to document abandoned medieval churches/chapels and their frescos in western Bulgaria, and to visit many other Christian Orthodox churches, monasteries, museums and archaeological sites in Sofia and western Bulgaria. The expedition and the field school are coordinated by the Balkan Heritage Foundation (BHF).    

Participants receive training in survey management, digital photography, surveys of architecture and iconographic program, technical drawing, use of dumpy level, developing archives of digital images etc., introduction to Byzantine art,  architecture and religious iconography as well as photogrammetry, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and other photographic techniques for documentation of cultural heritage. 

The field school is designed for students and young specialists in heritage, archaeology and conservation as well as artists.

All candidates are expected to have some familiarity with the basic principles of photography and DSLR cameras.