• overview
  • portraits
  • stories
    • Resilience and Breastfeeding
    • An Ocean for Brown Women
    • What Katena Wants
    • King Lotus Boy
  • writing
  • Photo Workshop 66
  • about
  • Menu

Michaela Vatcheva

  • overview
  • portraits
  • stories
    • Resilience and Breastfeeding
    • An Ocean for Brown Women
    • What Katena Wants
    • King Lotus Boy
  • writing
  • Photo Workshop 66
  • about

Dancing on a longboard has its roots in surf longboard cross steps, but it’s more accessible in many ways. I’m really stoked to explore it and diving into the local community has already been a beautiful experience. After weeks of researc
I’ve been making progress in my windsurfing. I’ve had the privilege of riding with the mind blowingly-skilled @kolevyoan once a year since 2015 and this year, I got to ride a 120L board without a center board (i.e. relatively small, not s
Every chance I get to be in the Black Sea, I try to capture how it makes me feel because it’s truly a bottomless source of peace and happiness for me. This year, the photo that comes closest was taken by my awesome cousin @aleksandrakakova duri
I got to shoot an epic assignment on Saturday for the @sfchronicle at @outsidelands Learned a lot, laughed, sprinted, got to taste the VIP food, even shed a tear after leaving the @greenday photo pit. Seeing @robertglasper live again was so beautif
Proud to be part of this (out of my league) powerful group of mother-photographers who share vulnerably about creating and sustaining new humans during the pandemic: @toriferenc @nadiya_nacorda @lil_milty and @davillasana (who is one of my mentors in
Kai had his first hair cut today. I was feeling really anxious about taking him, so I reached for my camera to process. His hair was in his eyes all the time. But knowing now how it went down, I regret not paying and leaving as soon as I saw how sc
Did you know that when you’re tiny, they give you your covid shot in your thigh? Kai got his first shot of Moderna on monday. He didn’t love it in the moment, but the local vaccination community site @unidosensaludsf gave him a little tru
This whole experience was hard on my kid. Not just commencement (i found him asleep on my husband’s lap within minutes of us walking across the stage together). Everything: travel, working late nights, absent-mindedness during playtime. The one
I graduated last weekend! Swipe through for the proverbial (and glam) version of the credits of this giant production. First, my baby, who has the biggest impact on who I am today. My family, who all sacrificed so much and rearranged their lives enti
Braiding my hair while laboring on January 13, 2021. Peak Covid surge, no vaccines yet. The happiness and joy of welcoming Kai into the world helped me withstand everything that went wrong with his birth. In the darkest of times, I discovered within
In Jeong and I are super lucky. We got to work with the magical Jacob Bloomfield-Misrach @x.o._j from @imrsv_sound on the sound for our upcoming film, The Safest Place. We had a blast and learned so much! Thank you, Jake 🙌🏼 📷 @doyo_kim
I’m so stoked to have one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken published in @whalebonemagazine ⚡️⚡️⚡️It’s an honorable mention in the Human category of their dope photo contest. If you want a print for a dad in your life, you can b
What makes me late for my edits most evenings. Worth it! (Sorry @doyo_kim )
Got to spend some time playing with this friend today. He got his first jade donut (thanks for helping me pick it out @hoangjewelry and @chinatownvolunteercoalition 🥰)
xīnnián kuàilè from this happy abu eating a dumpling 😂🐯🧧
A year ago. I'm cut and stitched up, nine layers deep, wearing a plastic mesh grocery bag for underwear and a pad thicker than my road cycling bibs. It smells of witch hazel. Both my arms are bruised from many failed attempts at starting an IV. Breas
Wishing everyone a healthy and happy end of the year! Specifically, wishing lots of love and joy to those who are alone on the holidays, to those who drove cross country to keep a loved one company, to those who chose to stay home to keep us all safe
2021 was the most joy-filled year of my life. Controversial statement, I know! It was a tough year for many, and it was tough for us, too. My birthing experience was traumatic and I’ll be healing from it my whole life, probably. (No wonder: giv
Hi from Arizona! In Jeong and I are filming 🤩 📷 by @doyo_kim
I found out I’d been accepted into the Eddie Adams Workshop the night we had a power outage in Sofia (see just a few posts below). It seemed absolutely surreal to go from Ovcha Kupel to the world’s photojournalistic elite. Ruth @fremson ,
Dancing on a longboard has its roots in surf longboard cross steps, but it’s more accessible in many ways. I’m really stoked to explore it and diving into the local community has already been a beautiful experience. After weeks of researc I’ve been making progress in my windsurfing. I’ve had the privilege of riding with the mind blowingly-skilled @kolevyoan once a year since 2015 and this year, I got to ride a 120L board without a center board (i.e. relatively small, not s Every chance I get to be in the Black Sea, I try to capture how it makes me feel because it’s truly a bottomless source of peace and happiness for me. This year, the photo that comes closest was taken by my awesome cousin @aleksandrakakova duri I got to shoot an epic assignment on Saturday for the @sfchronicle at @outsidelands Learned a lot, laughed, sprinted, got to taste the VIP food, even shed a tear after leaving the @greenday photo pit. Seeing @robertglasper live again was so beautif Proud to be part of this (out of my league) powerful group of mother-photographers who share vulnerably about creating and sustaining new humans during the pandemic: @toriferenc @nadiya_nacorda @lil_milty and @davillasana (who is one of my mentors in Kai had his first hair cut today. I was feeling really anxious about taking him, so I reached for my camera to process. His hair was in his eyes all the time. But knowing now how it went down, I regret not paying and leaving as soon as I saw how sc Did you know that when you’re tiny, they give you your covid shot in your thigh? Kai got his first shot of Moderna on monday. He didn’t love it in the moment, but the local vaccination community site @unidosensaludsf gave him a little tru This whole experience was hard on my kid. Not just commencement (i found him asleep on my husband’s lap within minutes of us walking across the stage together). Everything: travel, working late nights, absent-mindedness during playtime. The one I graduated last weekend! Swipe through for the proverbial (and glam) version of the credits of this giant production. First, my baby, who has the biggest impact on who I am today. My family, who all sacrificed so much and rearranged their lives enti Braiding my hair while laboring on January 13, 2021. Peak Covid surge, no vaccines yet. The happiness and joy of welcoming Kai into the world helped me withstand everything that went wrong with his birth. In the darkest of times, I discovered within In Jeong and I are super lucky. We got to work with the magical Jacob Bloomfield-Misrach @x.o._j from @imrsv_sound on the sound for our upcoming film, The Safest Place. We had a blast and learned so much! Thank you, Jake 🙌🏼 📷 @doyo_kim I’m so stoked to have one of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken published in @whalebonemagazine ⚡️⚡️⚡️It’s an honorable mention in the Human category of their dope photo contest. If you want a print for a dad in your life, you can b What makes me late for my edits most evenings. Worth it! (Sorry @doyo_kim ) Got to spend some time playing with this friend today. He got his first jade donut (thanks for helping me pick it out @hoangjewelry and @chinatownvolunteercoalition 🥰) xīnnián kuàilè from this happy abu eating a dumpling 😂🐯🧧 A year ago. I'm cut and stitched up, nine layers deep, wearing a plastic mesh grocery bag for underwear and a pad thicker than my road cycling bibs. It smells of witch hazel. Both my arms are bruised from many failed attempts at starting an IV. Breas Wishing everyone a healthy and happy end of the year! Specifically, wishing lots of love and joy to those who are alone on the holidays, to those who drove cross country to keep a loved one company, to those who chose to stay home to keep us all safe 2021 was the most joy-filled year of my life. Controversial statement, I know! It was a tough year for many, and it was tough for us, too. My birthing experience was traumatic and I’ll be healing from it my whole life, probably. (No wonder: giv Hi from Arizona! In Jeong and I are filming 🤩 📷 by @doyo_kim I found out I’d been accepted into the Eddie Adams Workshop the night we had a power outage in Sofia (see just a few posts below). It seemed absolutely surreal to go from Ovcha Kupel to the world’s photojournalistic elite. Ruth @fremson ,