Talking architecture with MrPanyGoff
This week, the Signpost continues its coverage of editors combating systemic bias by contributing featured content on underrepresented geographical areas. We interview MrPanyGoff, who has contributed eight of twelve featured pictures listed at WikiProject Bulgaria. His main focus is on pictures of buildings (MrPanyGoff's featured picture of the nave of the Hagia Sophia Church in Sofia is displayed above). MrPanyGoff is also an occasional contributor to the Did you know? section of the main page.
"Every village also has structures that should be photographed to complete the collection of knowledge and ideas about the world. So people, give us good photos not only of Manhattan or Paris but also of the Bronx and the small town of Kamnik, Slovenia."
On taking pictures and nominating them as featured picture candidates.
"First of all, you should have an intuition of encyclopedic value. Not every building has it, but at the same time not only cathedrals or palaces are symbols of some particular place. Every village also has structures that should be photographed to complete the collection of knowledge and ideas about the world. One advantage of Wikipedia is the lack of technical and economic constraints. So people, give us good photos not only of Manhattan or Paris but also of the Bronx and the small town of Kamnik, Slovenia.
Of course, there are some technical matters which you should take into consideration. Choosing the time of the day, considering the course of the sun and the crowd, are probably the most important things."
On his interest in photography and architecture:
"I think that if someone knows the language of some of the arts, he understands all the arts. It is one and the same language. A few years ago, I was mostly into the area of art photography. Some of my works were chosen for three or four public exhibitions and then I went back to one of my first passion—encyclopedias. I started writing my first own encyclopedia when I was about 10 years old. So, I would like to take photos of every place in the world as well as to write about these places. At the same time, I've never left the field of the architecture."
On writing about Bulgaria.
"There are almost no sources. It is very difficult. It took me so much time and effort just to find out who is the architect of such a great symbol of Sofia as the building of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Actually, I prefer ten "C"-level articles covering the main aspects of the topic than one featured article. Of course, once we cover all the topics with C-level articles then we should going to develop them into a featured ones."