Hello!
My name is Michaela. I am quirky and quick to empathize. I love storytelling because it has the power to help us relate to each other.
I’m a Bulgarian-Turkish freelance photojournalist based in the Balkans (primarily Bulgaria) and San Francisco, California.
I have found my calling in witnessing and documenting marginalized people in nuanced ways. My work has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Der Spiegel, to name a few.
I founded Photo Workshop 66, a documentary photography workshop for refugee children from the Middle East who migrate without their parents. In its three years, it was supported by 6 dozens of photographers, who donated their old gear to be gifted to the children. The UNHCR, IOM, the Bulgarian Red Cross and other organizations also pitched in to make it possible.
I’m an alumna of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. During my time there, I was a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting fellow, I participated in the Eddie Adams Workshop and I worked for the Investigative Reporting Program.
I’m a triathlete and mom to a cool and curious, multiethnic kid. Raising him with a sense of belonging keeps me up at night.
My reporting interests revolve around areas I have a personal connection to: parenthood, migration, belonging, the connection between humans and the environment.
I’d love to hear from you!
Call: 608.515.9966
Email: michaela.vatcheva@gmail.com
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