KQED NEWS FIX -- Jassen Todorov doesn’t seem possible. He’s an aerial photographer, a licensed pilot, a Music professor at SF State and an acclaimed violinist whose concerts take him around the world.
He grew up in Bulgaria in a family of musicians and started playing the violin at age 5. When he was 17, he was given a full scholarship to the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California. His music has been getting attention for almost two decades. Now his photographs are being noticed, too.
This month Todorov’s picture of Koehn Lake in the Mojave Desert won a first-place International Photography Award and he was named Nature Photographer of the Year in the contest’s non-professional nature category, which drew 2,449 entries. Earlier this year, his image of Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone finished second in the Sony World Photography Awards.
Photo: Jassen Todorov’s shot of Koehn Lake in the Mojave Desert at sunset, which won first place in the non-professional nature category of the International Photography Awards.